A reunion of almost all of the Dales Team which took the school buses to the Gambia in November 2006 gave David Pointon an opportunity to describe his dream of helping the blind children who can’t reach the school at Kanifing, Serrekunda near Banjul.

 

A car ferry leaving Banjul. The Gambia River is a major barrier between the North and South of the country.

After a great meal prepared by Elaine and Charles Wood at their home in Richmond, North Yorkshire, we wished Ken Nicholas a happy birthday and swapped stories. Then David told us about his plans and how two members of the Rotary Club of Wensleydale and their wives have already expressed an interest in joining him and Ken on the journey to the Gambia in January 2010. Pip said that one possible fund raising event might be a charity auction in Leyburn next year. So if anyone has any ideas for that please let us know.

And now for details of David’s project:

The Gambia has very few proper roads and outside the capital Banjul, little infrastructure. North of the river where it is estimated there are 300 blind children there is little support. It is not possible to get these children to the school near Serrekunda and they are in mainstream schools with no specialist support. David is raising a team to develop and deliver a course for training teachers. This also means taking it to them. The course is part of a generic special needs course being developed in cooperation with the Gambian College and the Government of the Gambia. He is co-ordinating this national course, and as part of that, wanting to get a vehicle to convert into a mobile training facility - drive it to the Gambia, use it to train the teachers in the mainstream schools and then leave it there for others to use for training in other special educational needs.

Pip Land, December 2008

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