Every Little Bit Helps
January 31 2012
It is a difficult time to raise money for worthwhile African projects when Europe is struggling and everyone understandably looks to their own concerns thus we have found it very hard to raise enough for the next Clean Water project.
Pamela started to make and sell jewellery last year and in this time has raised approximately 15,000.Euro, that with other donations has all gone to the Gambia to help the existing three villages with Clean Water to become more self-sustaining villages. They are doing well; getting their vegetables to market, selling honey from hives they have made themselves, improving their brick making & building skills enabling them to repair their own homes which always suffer in the wet season and they’ve even put toilets in the Training Centre !
If anyone is interested in selling some jewellery or designing & making some, please contact us.
We still aim at some point, hopefully late 2012, to install Clean Water in the 4th village but at the moment with our limited funds we are commencing a smaller venture which will provide employment & contribute some funds for future projects. We have purchased a piece of land (only 270 Euro) with frontage to the main Highway (well, it’s a sealed road) from Banjul to Senegal. Here the boys from the Training Centre will build a display area to show the range of bricks and the building skills they’ve developed. With our own tractor and trailer we can deliver bricks far & wide.
In this same area we will sell other products from the local villages, honey & vegetables and tie-dyed material & jewellery! which Pamela introduced to the girls.
Bread (and rice of course) is a staple part of the local diet; we have plans to build a very fuel-efficient commercial oven which will give long term employment to ladies from nearby Njongon village (the 2nd village which got Clean Water).
Our research on the fuel-efficient commercial oven has shown us that there are much more efficient & healthier ways to cook rather than on the traditional 3-stone stove that burns lots of wood and gives off lots of smoke & soot particles which are well known to cause respiratory problems. Our plans in this area will need a little “selling” to the ladies! More on this after our visit this month.
