Hello, from sunny Gambia

Hi everyone!

Blogging today from an air-conditioned internet cafe in sunny Gambia, the sun is glorious and I know you will all be shivering away in Plymouth and wrapped up in winter coats and boots yearning for the Spring and a little warmth.

However, this morning I had to fetch 12 buckets of water from our well just to do the washing, all by hand and when I hung it to dry (super quick in this heat!) the washing line broke, the clothes fell on the sand and I had to rinse the whole lot again.

So, Plymouth may be cold but gosh it would be nice to have one of your washing machines or even a quick fix of electricity to charge my mobile phone without having to travel for half an hour to do it!

The classroom/library roof is now finished and the exterior walls are being plastered over the next few days.

I'm getting excited now as I can see an end to the hard building work. My husband Modou has been on site from dawn till dusk working incredibly hard to see the building work succeed.

I've set up a play project in Madiana and from morning to early evening there is a constant stream of 30-40 children aged 3-15 in the compound playing with some fantastic outdoor toys and games, donated by many of you.

We have a sports day set which I finish off with at the end of each day (a hint to the kids to go home when we've finished!), the children whoop with delight as they compete with egg and spoon, sack, three-legged and bean bag races.

They get prizes of books, pencils, soft toys etc, again donations from Plymouth.

Last week I had a visit from Traci Thorn of Plympton who came down for the day and saw the project in action, it was lovely to chat and catch up with a fellow Plymothian.

I'm sure Traci will be back again, the Gambia is like that, kind of gets you hooked!

I am particularly interested in linking up with any teachers in the UK who would like to set up a link here or even organise a school trip to The Gambia. I would be more than happy to assist and feel that the UK children would really gain a great deal and learn a lot from visiting Africa. I certainly have.

I'm hoping to come back to Plymouth in the late Spring to give talks in schools and to fundraise for the projects.

Meanwhile if anyone has any ideas or words of encouragement, feel free to contact me on my email, dwdebs@aol.com

Until next time, Debbie Williams