Hi everyone from Madiana Village, The Gambia,

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the 360 pounds that Traci Thorn brought out with her to help us with our school project.

We now have two lovely loos which the children seem to use far more frequently than is normal!! We are also going to sort out the water pump and buy some extra chairs and tables.

All that will be done this week and it is thanks to your contributions that we have been able to make these improvements.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I had enough furniture for 25 children but usually more than 40 turn up!!

Traci is over with us at the moment and has spent lots of time helping out with the children. It is nice for me to have the attention on someone else for a while as it can be a little overwhelming at times.

I was sad to see a lovely German volunteer, Hildegard Thaler, leave last week after spending 3 months in the village living with a local family.

Hilde is in her 60s and is a total dream with the children, having worked in Kindergartens in Germany for many years; she will be sadly missed until she returns next January.

Thank you Hilde for your kindess and time, you are missed every day!

Over the past week Modou and I have been trying to combat the termite problem which has hit us hard. The little blighters have been munching away at the wooden window frames in the school and on the roofing sticks too.

We have also lost two boxes of books that were in storage as the ants ate through the cardboard and damaged them beyond use.
I couldn't believe it and am now open to any suggestions from those educated in the field of termite destruction as to how we can permanently solve this problem.

Suggestions happily accepted by email at dwdebs@aol.com. Hope I won't be reported to the RSPCA!

A few people have been in contact with me about the possibility of coming out to The Gambia to do voluntary work with us. We are keen to have anyone involved in teaching or healthcare or any students who would like to gain experience abroad whilst improving their cv.

There are lots of Gap-Year opportunities available with many different organisations but they usually involve very high costs running into thousands of pounds sometimes.

We can offer placements here at very affordable rates so that everyone benefits from the experience.

If you or anyone you know is interested in finding out more then please do not hesitate to contact me by phone/text 00220 7376880, via this site or by email.

Signing off now and looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks again, without you this would not have been possible.