Category: 2015

"Another fantastic week in the sunshine with the Gunjur Project. I didn't think we could top last year, but we have! I truly believe that we have empowered the women of Gunjur this year and look forward to hearing about how they continue to grow and develop" - Laura W "The projects that Cheshire Forest Girlguiding took part in were life changing for many people. This was a big part of the week's...

After returning from The Gambia in 2014, Sue, Mandy and Rachael A all decided to sponsor a child through their schooling. Our 2014 group also decided to sponsor a child for 3 years at school.  We were lucky enough to meet all those girls this year.   Mandy meeting her 5 year old girl   Rachael A meeting her girl, Kaddy, plus Fatou our group girl   Fatou on the left - sponsored by...

We are paying for a playground to be built next to a new primary school and nursery, this is costing 112,500 Gambian Dalasi (about £1800). You can see in a different blog the mural we painted on the wall next to it - these photos are of the playground under construction.  We will have photos of the finished playground sent to us soon.   More photos: Gambia 2015 Album on Flickr

We have paid to have a playground built next to a brand new primary school and nursery. Alongside this playground is a large wall, which we painted an educational mural on.     More photos: Gambia 2015 Album on Flickr

We had 2 eye professionals in our team, so we decided to do some eye testing to help the local community. Rachel is an orthoptist and Lucy is a dispenser, so they teamed up to run this session. We collected hundreds of prescription glasses in the UK and sent them over before we went. In the morning, we tested the 30 women who were learning first aid with us, then in the afternoon we had 40+...

Today we had 30 women with us from the Kulokoch community association. We spent the day teaching them first aid skills, in a training put together by our team A&E nurses Jemma & Steph. They learnt about CPR, malaria prevention, wound management and when to get help, basic first aid skills, water sanitation & hygiene, infection control and eye hygiene. We had 3 resusci Anne dolls...

Today we have been for a walk to the local fishing village. Fishing is one of the main industries in this part of The Gambia. They catch yellow tailed mullet and sea snails.   Dried fish In the smoke house Fishing boats We planted some trees to give much needed shade and some tomatoes in the local Women's Association garden.     Carrying water from the well We also gave the Gunjur...

Today we had a group of local teenage girls come to see us at Gunjur Project. We ran 2 peer education sessions with them, firstly on self esteem, then on menstrual hygiene. It was a really successful and rewarding session. As they were leaving, they were telling our Gambian guide Alagi how much they'd enjoyed it and they were going to stick all the positive words about themselves by their bed....

At the end of Scout and Guide camp, our Gambian hosts put on a grand display with lots of marching and music. It is an impressive sight to see and hear and they had spent a lot of time practising.   Leaders pictures with Gambian Girl Guide Leaders and Scout Leaders The Scouts marching band We were so proud to see the Guides had formed a band and they looked so smart in their Uniform which...