A School for Brikamanding

In The Gambia's Lower River Region, south of the Kiang West National Park and between the Bintong Bolong and the River Gambia, lie three villages: Kuli Kunda, Jamaru, and Brikamanding.

Kuli Kunda has a school that goes up to grade 6, to whom the children of Jamaru can walk the 2 km each day.  But of the 53 school-aged children in Brikamanding, only 8 are in school.  The distance of 4 km (2-1/2 miles each way) is just too far for a child of 5 or 6 to walk to and from school, ...and so most never do.

Further up country, in the Fulladu West District of the Central River Region, 907 students are now in schools built by hand by their communities with materials supplied by GambiaRising's donors. That's 11% of the children in grades 1 to 6 in Fulladu West.  Might Brikamanding do the same,  our Coordinator asked.  "Talk with the community first," we replied.  So Coordinator Alieu Gaye, who is a teacher at the Kuli Kunda school, called a meeting. The alkalo (village chief) was enthusiastic.  So was the community.  They would happily do the work to build a school, and they would send their children if such a school was available.

The alkalo worked with Alieu to write a letter to the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education.  

Alieu has since met with the Regional Director and the Ministry's Cluster Monitor.  The village meets the government's guideline of providing a school for every child within 3 km of their home.  But while they wait for formal approval, one factor looms: the seasonal rainy season is July to September, and making mud bricks is time consuming but impossible to do in the rain!  So they wanted to get started as soon as they know that the cement and roofing materials to protect the walls will be available when those rains come.  

We hope you will join us and help this community provide the school that their children deserve.

Progress Report:

Enough funds were raised to get started. But the same remoteness that led to needing a school also made getting materials there complicated. The first batch of cement was loaded onto the roofs of three different "bush taxis" en route from Soma to Sandandi, then to Kuli Kunda, and then to Brikamanding:

Then the villagers went to work making bricks for the first classroom:

Then Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education insisted that two classrooms be built. This time, Alieu found a supplier of cement in Sankandi, and even a truck to deliver it as far as Kuli Kunda:

But that truck could not make the final leg to Brikamanding. So a caravan of donkey carts took over. One tire went flat, so boys helped to push. It was dark when they arrived but the men were still working.

It is planting time so the men and women are working in the fields all day. But progress is being made:

In early August, the walls were getting high, and more materials were needed. Since the rains had made it good for planting, Alieu filled a taxi with metal, wood, and TREES, and brought them from Jarra Soma to Brikamanding.  The children all turned out for the tree planting.

 On September 6, 2020 a team from the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MOBSE) visited the school. The progress was reviewed, and the community turned out to meet with them.  A checklist was created that the community (and GambiaRising) would commit to.  The team from MOBSE would be taking their report to Banjul for planning meetings for teacher assignments for the next school year.

The roofing materials were not easy to transport.  Then came the doors and the window covers.

The government insisted on disinfecting the classrooms:

The desks are being built near the coast.  Getting them to the school was a bit complicated, but they were on their way:

The opening of schools was delayed to late October due to COVID-19.  And the team got everything done.