http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php en pingcharity@yahoo.com Copyright 2012 2012-01-31T15:15:49+00:00 http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/ http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/sdfsdf 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. 2012-01-31T15:15:49+00:00 http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/ http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/sdfsdf Have a look at the recent work carrried out in Njongon,fantastic,now we can rear sheep . 2011-06-10T15:55:40+00:00 http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/ http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/sdfsdf May 2011. Some statistics on our progressWater usage in the 3 villages.Njongon 3,883,000 litres (Nov 09)M’bullet Ba 3,864,000litres (Nov 09)Bafaluto 16,938,000litres (April 07)The variations reflect the size of the villages, but overall works out at around 18 litres per person per day. The systems are designed to provide 30 lts per person per day which is the World Health Organisation’s recommended figure for developing countries. Our systems are clearly not being over loaded and will cope with future growth.The maintenance company is being paid directly from each village’s Water Committee’s Fund. contributed to by all village households. All the electrical & pumping systems are working well and all taps and pipe work are routinely checked.M,Bullet Ba the largest village currently has Dalasis 34000 deposited in their water maintenance fund and Njongon has D18652 deposited. Bafaluto recently sold a small plot of land to cover exceptional maintenance after the electrical storm caused damage.In the vegetable gardens there are 116 families with plots in Njongon and 56 families with plots in Bafaluto and they are producing harvests of a variety of vegetables and the women pay D325 to join and then D25 per harvest.About 50% of the vegetables are eaten in the village and the balance sold at the local market and the proceeds divided between the village development fund and the individual growers.The beekeepers now have over 50 hives to look after and again the proceeds are divided between the individuals who are responsible for them and the village development fund. They produce honey for consumption and the beeswax is used among other things to “waterproof” the exterior of our bricks.Last year we introduced the making of beaded jewellery to the women and they are now selling it in the local market as well as at birth and marriage ceremonies.Pens for goats, ducks & hens, have been erected and an Animal House for the breeding & raising of rams is now completed.The brick machines are in commercial use and the young men making the bricks now earn a fair wage related to their output. They have the potential to turn out over 1000 bricks a day. We now need a good salesman !We are so proud of the giant steps all three villages are making in becoming self sufficient. This was only made possible by the support you gave us & the trust you put in PING Charity that we would get the job done. When given the opportunity the villagers have shown the commitment to bring the various projects to fruition. Well done everyone. But we cannot live on past glories. There are at least another 7 villages we know of who are equally deserving of having Clean Drinking Water & some economic activity to enable people to rise above a life of poverty & pure subsistence. To replicate the success we have had with the first 3 villages we need approximately Euro60.000 per village. 2011-05-16T15:01:03+00:00 http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/ http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/sdfsdf During the first months of 2011 our projects in The Gambia have blossomed with the water systems all fully operational ,and even better the villagers have gathered a fund of 25000 dl (about 600 STG) to support the water system into the future.These funds are being generated by themselves with the brickmaking machines ,beekeeping,and the vegetable gardens. You can see from the photos below that the gardens are producing great crops which ar helping the diet and being sold in the market.We have had several donors visit the sites and reported back how delighted they are with the progress and what temendous work Momadou and his team are completing.The original 20 beehives have now grown to 53 in Njongon.The women are making and selling local beads .A new chicken and duck house is being completed which will also accomodate the goats ,as you can see in the photos.We are delighted that the projects are developing their own impetus now and hope you can see how our model has benifitted so many.Unfortunately there are several villages all waiting for help as well,please consider sending a donation or visit our jewellery pages and buy a lovely birthday present as all the funds from that go to our project. 2011-04-14T13:36:56+00:00 http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/ http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/sdfsdf The Gambia has had terrible electric storms which damaged our invertors which convert the energy to draw up the water,so they have now been fixed and work carried out on the Bafaluto tank completed.So all sytems are go again. Jewellery Sales.You never know when an idea comes along that really works. We are now making and selling jewellery to raise more money for PING. A new section in the web site will show what is available and we can make pieces to suit specific dresses and occasions. It has already raised 7000stg in the last 5 months , and all that money has gone to Gambia. Pamela taught the girls in Mbullet Bah how to make the bracelets and necklaces and they have made some as well and posted them to us and we are selling them . .Some of the stones we bought in The Gambia have made up beautifully with semi precious stones. Most of our semi precious stones are from Thailand. Thanks to Andrea and Siobhan for their work in making and selling along with ourselves.If you would like to see the jewellery just e mail us and we can send you photos on flickrThe water is flowing in all three villages and we are delighted with the progress of the market gardens, and crops are being produced in both wet and dry seasons.The major work in the last three months is a new animal house and a new brick making area, these have been constructed beside the bore hole and solar panel areas, and it will be permanently manned for security.Money is being accumulated in the villages to pay for the water maintenance and we are consolidating at present to ensure everything is moving along correctly in all three locations and we have very little funds with all economies so toughbut if anyone out there can help us we would love to hear from you as there are many more villages who need our help. 2010-11-16T11:37:24+00:00 http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/ http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/sdfsdf That is what we saw on the faces of the villagers last week in Njongon and MBullet Ba. Thanks to all the people who have helped us raise the funds,and especially to all the people from Cyprus who contributed 60,000 euro to the project.in 2009.The total project was delivered on time and in budget working out at a cost of 30 euros per head of population. The Borehole is 300 ft(90 mts) deep.  There are 48 solar panels with a heavy duty invertor providing energy to the submersible pump drawing the water up to the storage tank ,capacity 25,000 litres of water. The village youths had dug 4.5 km of trenches to run the pipe distribution to the standpipes. Incredibly hard work in such high temperatures. M’Bullet Ba has its standpipes in the centre of the village at the end of the long 3km pipeline and Njongon has its standpipes spread around the village. The two villages worked together and share the responsibility for the central area where the borehole and solar panels and tank are located. This area is securely fenced off but will have a full time security guard at night. Using our own bricks & trained construction team we will build a proper Production Facility adjacent to this area which will house our 2 brick making machines. We have a tractor & trailer which will bring raw materials to the machines & gives us the ability to deliver finished bricks to future customers. This building activity provides good employment for a number of men & contributes to the Village Development Fund The population of the two villages is well over 3,000 people who now have clean drinking water for the first time,and they have economic activities to pay the for future maintenance. There is a maintenance contract in place and arrangements in place already for collecting a levy from each family. The market gardens are looking good with three harvests a year being achieved by some .The tractor is being used to till larger areas of land adjacent to the villages. The training school is still teaching the local youths about agriculture,bee keeping,animal husbandry and tie and dying. Their education has increased to include plumbing, carpentry and general construction . The villagers gratitude was immense but we had all worked as a team and their trench digging was substantial , indeed critical in achieving the end result. The women were also essential in the organisation of this work and really appreciate that their kids will have clean drinking water. No more gathering sticks to boil water ,they just turn on the tap !  We are however very aware that all the families still have the back-breaking task of carrying water from the Stand pipes to their homes. This is done in 18/20 litre yellow containers, that’s 18/20 KGs each. Alot of this is done by the kids. We have identified a product which contains 90 lts of water & can be easily “rolled” home, it’s a Hippo Roller (www.hipporoller.org) . They are manufactured in S Africa and to date the company has made in excess of 300,000, distributed mainly in Southern African countries. Our target in 2010 is to bring in a 20ft container of these at a cost of $21,000 (Euro 16,000) On our website we will be offering people the opportunity to buy a single (or more ) Hippo Roller, cost $125 (Euro 90) We also spent time in Bafaluto our first village where after 3 years the tank is being maintained and water flows around 11 standpipes. Their market garden is doing really well and has brought significant economic development to the village. There is even a Beauty Salon & a Business Centre primarily selling cement & building blocks to the folk who are attracted to come & settle in Bafaluto. No sooner were the celebrations over but we were taken to an even poorer group of villages a few kms down the road who are desperate for clean water!  So please act now and help us because we have proven that we have a successful, “good value for money”, model that really works in providing a long term sustainable source o Sheer Joy 2010-04-10T11:00:19+00:00 http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/ http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/sdfsdf We are delighted to report that the Cycle for Gambia team raised 60000 euro. This was pledged or collected by the team from Cycle for Gambia while we were in Cyprus and it gave us a great deal of muscle to negotiate with the water system & solar energy company. Straight off the flight we went to the company’s offices and started to examine what could be achieved with the additional funds. We were already 3/4 of the way through Njongon’s water system and now we could begin to look at the third village M’Bollet Bah. A large village of over 2,000 folk. Initial estimates looked like 84,000 Euro would be needed to complete Njongon AND put a full system into M’Bollet bah, so we decided to rethink things & to go to the villages over the next few days and discuss it with them. You need to appreciate Gambians do not jump up and down when you say you have money coming, they have heard it all before from other NGOs and government departments, and then nothing happens. We learnt this from our first village of Bafaluto that they only celebrated when they saw actual work being carried out. After visiting Bafaluto the next day and seeing the success and the impact of the clean water, babies and mothers were healthier and they had a great market garden.  We were uplifted with what had been achieved with our help and their hard labour. Back to the North Bank, we talked to the leaders in Njongon who agreed to help dig the trenches for their water distribution system and to reduce the distribution network from 2.5km down to 1.5km to save money. They were very sympathetic & aware of the difficulty of raising money during these times of recession. Following this meeting we came up with a possible alternative approach for M’Bollet Bah. Could we service M’bollet Bah from the already completed Njongon bore hole? Could we increase the pumping capacity, with more solar panels, could we upgrade the inverter and finally could the water be gravity fed over 3 km to Mbollet Bah. We did not want to incur the cost of an intermediate pumping station. We took this new idea back to the water system & solar energy company and they set to work investigating the feasibility. A few hours later they gave us a “thumbs up” & soon came up with a price for this revised system. M’bollet Bah villagers had already agreed to digging the trenches for their distribution pipes. We now can get clean water to 3000+ villagers (1000 in Njongon and 2000+ in M’Bollet Bah) for just 52,000 euro more! A saving of over 30K.Wonderful value for money! Any extra funds can be used to increase the distribution network or provide Hippo Rollers (www.hipporoller.org), since the 52,000 will provide an absolute minimum number of stand pipes in each village: a lot of carrying of water will still be necessary, but it will be Clean Water. Reaction in M’Bollet Bah is cautionary as they have heard it all before, but Njongon are very happy as they already have their water tank and bore hole completed. We were delighted that they readily agreed to reduce their distribution network to help their neighbour. and had no complaints about the delays in their water being finished as we have to wait for new upgraded equipment to arrive. They said they couldn’t be comfortable having a full water distribution system if it meant their neighbour didn’t have any clean water at all. It was quite humbling & a lesson for all of us, how readily Njongon were willing to settle for less to ensure their neighbours got something . The leaders of M’Bollet Bah have been trying to get clean water for over 14 years and have had many promises but nothing ever came of them. At our meeting with them the chief was offering to stand down, as he had not been able to achieve this basic requirement for his people. They are proud people but this group of middle-aged village elders (male & female) begged us to help them.  We found this really tough and we are so glad that all the effort Sunil, Dave, Leslie and the rest of the Cyprus team have put in allowed us to tell them we will make their dream of Clean Water a reality. Long term we can see the benefits from our first village, Bafaluto , and the impact on health with many less infant mortalities in the last year, healthier adults, a better quality of life for the women (the women in M’Bollet Bah currently have a 4 km round trip to carry 25lt of water which then needs boiling, not to mention the work of gathering the sticks for the fire!), more education time for the children, more people staying in the villages and people moving into the village due to it having Clean Water. All families pay a small amount into a village fund for the upkeep of the water system and maintenance of the market garden fencing. The borehole is 80/90 metres deep and the quality of the pump, inverter and solar panels are top class. With good maintenance they will have many many years of clean water. . We need more funds to take the water around M’bollet Bah, about 15k euro to have taps available in different parts of this large village. We were asked to look at another project which is 10km north past Njongon, towards the Senegal border, with three small villages who could operate off one borehole, one tank, & one set of solar panels & pumping system and then we’d pipe water to the 3 villages. But Njongon & M’Bollet Bah projects will be brought to a final conclusion before we think of moving on to another project sometime next year. If you can help, please donate today, we are really making a difference on the ground and it is a joy to see!!! 2009-12-07T09:59:12+00:00 http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/ http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/sdfsdf The Gambia had a pretty bad wet season this year and they had houses damaged and one of the brick machines shelters blown over, but the villagers are working hard at establishing a new more secure location for the brick machines and brick production is starting again this week. The tractor is ploughing big areas for commercial planting and is very useful moving raw materials & finished bricks. Momodou Joof has still got 20 to 24 young adults in the training school learning about the brick-making, general construction, bee keeping and all aspects of rural agriculture. We are lucky to have some supporters also very actively involved in raising finance and taking a personal interest since they visited the projects last year. Edwina Grant took out a OH projector and teaching materials, which are being used in the newly built training centre to bring more info to the students. Our friend Sunil Mystry from Cyprus visited the projects last spring and is currently putting the finishing touches to the training for a 750 km bike ride around the island, he will be accompanied by two friends Check out their web site www.cyclingforgambia.com They plan to start the Cycle on 1st November and have done a fantastic job getting support & have featured on local radio and in newspapers, their target is to raise 60k.  This will cover cost of the complete Clean Water system in Njongon a village of 850 folk. Thanks to Ciclisport Ltd. Moneymore Northern Ireland for providing the bikes for the ride around Cyprus . Maya Coxon also visited The Gambia with us and has taken a keen interest in the bee keeping project , financially supporting the two villages and getting involved in how it all works by getting a beehive of her own in the UK. The solar panels to pump the water up to the water tank are ordered and should be in place with clean water running before Christmas in Njongon.Village. Brian and I will be in The Gambia in November to negotiate the costs for the next village and set out the strategy for 2010, plus check back on how Bafaluto, the first village, is progressing. If you can help with a donation of any kind, maybe as a Christmas present to a friend or you would like to visit the projects please call us on; 0034606561581. 2009-10-23T12:48:32+00:00 http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/ http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/sdfsdf The Training Centre at Njongon has enrolled more students now and they are being organised by Mr Joof in several useful ways. The bore hole at Njongon has been dug and capped,which is the first stage for our project to have clean water for this village of 800 folk . The second stage is now the construction of the water storage tank .Here are photos of the tank being constructed, The commercial company doing the building have their own team but are also using our own students from the FFG training centre,so the students are learning the techniques as well as providing the bricks from our two brick machines,which has kept the price down. The girls (who are also attending the Future Farmers of the Gambia training centre in Njongon) have been experimenting with dying fabrics and will be able to sell these in the market . The colours are fantastic as you can see in the photos. 2009-05-09T11:07:03+00:00 http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/ http://www.pingcharity.co.uk/index.php/news/article/sdfsdf Training Centre completed in Njongon. The boys and girls who have started to attend the Training Centre in Njongon are fulfilling a life long dream of Momodou Joof our partner in the Gambia. Over 25 years ago he set up the Future Farmers of the Gambia to provide training for the rural youths. It seemed like it would never happen but with a lot of work by the young people, some help from Swedish friends and our donations for the building materials we now have a school which can take up to 20 students . They can stay on site full time and learn all aspects of agriculture and animal husbandry. This knowledge & skill will encourage and enable them to stay in the rural area and develop market gardens and animal breeding and discourage them from the towns with their bright lights & inevitable problems of urban poverty & unemployment and all that that leads to.  This year there is no charge for the course, hopefully this will avoid any dropout. It is expected that we will get government approval & this will allow us to levy a small fee & “perhaps” attract some Gov’t support. Currently there are beehives, a garden, a brick machine to train on, some animals and very importantly, use of the new tractor which can be hired out with the students to local villages. Under supervision they can learn and earn some income for the Centre. We are still looking for help to provide toilets and showers but the project is ‘ploughing’ ahead with a very enthusiastic bunch of students.Here are photos showing the buildings at the training school as they developed over the last 4 months to completion. 2009-04-03T08:30:53+00:00