David Pointon and Ken Nicholas had a successful and busy time in the Gambia after their drive overland in March. Half the proceeds from the sale of the car that they drove overland was given to the school.

Within 24 hours of getting back to England Ken was in hospital with acute appendicitis. Thankfully he has made a full recovery.

While in the Gambia he provided some health education and, with David and Lamin Saidy, painted the playground equipment one hot Saturday morning. Pictured are Lamin and Ken at work.

The three sacks of educational and tactile toys David and Ken delivered to the school were given to the nursery class. But the children were not used to playing with toys and so needed some help. This was provided by Martin Bradbury and Helen Porter.

"We made a lot of progress while we were there. I spent a lot of time monitoring what was actually happening in the classrooms," said David.

He also helped Martin and Helen with a training day for peripatetic teachers, besides discussing with the Gambian Education Ministry and the Gambian teacher training college about setting up a generic special needs course.

David explained that as the schools are so dispersed and transport is not easy it would be better if all teachers knew how to help disabled children. Overseas volunteers would be brought in to deliver the course.

Ken and David were very encouraged to see the rag rugs being made thanks to the visits of Heather Ritchie of Reeth. "The rug makers are doing really well. The rugs are very colourful and well made," said Ken. For more details see (RugAid website)

The Govi Resource Centre was particularly grateful for the assistance that had been received from the braille unit at Full Sutton prison at York in trying to solve the problem of providing text books for secondary students.

Pip Land June 2008