GambiaRising's new expanded organization
August 25, 2013
GambiaRising began with a few friends of Mike McConnell who sent checks to support several students whose cases came to his attention while he was Country Director for Peace Corps in The Gambia. When he returned to the U.S. at the end of 2009, more friends offered to do the same and they formally sought IRS cognition as a tax-exempt California trust. Today our Board of Trustees includes five returned Peace Corps volunteers and others who served in The Gambia are helping the program in various ways.
On the ground, much of the early program development was in partnership with Father Jean Diagne who was parish priest in Bansang and Vice Principal at St. Therese’s Basic Cycle (K-9) School in upcountry Fula Bantang, a full day’s drive up country from the capital. When Father Jean was re-posted to Senegal, Kebba Sanyang, the Principal of St. Therese’s, began playing a larger role. For students in the area around the capital (the districts known as the Kombos), the staff at the Catholic Education Secretariat offices headed by Dr. Emil Kujabi, with Education Secretary Dawda Faye became central. (The Secretariat, under contract with the government administers a network of public schools originally built by the church.) And in the Northern River Region (across the River Gambia), the former Principal of St. Therese’s, Matthew Gomez, began coordinating with the students we were supporting at St. Michael’s school there.
At Peace Corps, Lamin Cham continues to provide invaluable support with banking, technology, and coordinating contact with our early students. And Ebrima Bah and other staff at Peace Corps help us as their schedules allow.
This fall, Father Jean will be re-locating again; this time to Cameroon for several years of further studies for his work in the seminary in Dakar. Father Moses Drammeh, a Gambian who I have been working with since January, will take over as National Coordinator. Father Moses lives in Lamin (in the Kombos) and is Rector of the seminary at St. Peter’s there. And Kebba Sanyang will take on more responsibility for the students in upcountry schools along the South Bank.
All of the people working on the program are working without pay, and are pleased to be able to assist the deserving students who your donations are keeping in school. You can read more about our team at http://www.gambiarising.org/about-us.html
GambiaRising began with a few friends of Mike McConnell who sent checks to support several students whose cases came to his attention while he was Country Director for Peace Corps in The Gambia. When he returned to the U.S. at the end of 2009, more friends offered to do the same and they formally sought IRS cognition as a tax-exempt California trust. Today our Board of Trustees includes five returned Peace Corps volunteers and others who served in The Gambia are helping the program in various ways.
On the ground, much of the early program development was in partnership with Father Jean Diagne who was parish priest in Bansang and Vice Principal at St. Therese’s Basic Cycle (K-9) School in upcountry Fula Bantang, a full day’s drive up country from the capital. When Father Jean was re-posted to Senegal, Kebba Sanyang, the Principal of St. Therese’s, began playing a larger role. For students in the area around the capital (the districts known as the Kombos), the staff at the Catholic Education Secretariat offices headed by Dr. Emil Kujabi, with Education Secretary Dawda Faye became central. (The Secretariat, under contract with the government administers a network of public schools originally built by the church.) And in the Northern River Region (across the River Gambia), the former Principal of St. Therese’s, Matthew Gomez, began coordinating with the students we were supporting at St. Michael’s school there.
At Peace Corps, Lamin Cham continues to provide invaluable support with banking, technology, and coordinating contact with our early students. And Ebrima Bah and other staff at Peace Corps help us as their schedules allow.
This fall, Father Jean will be re-locating again; this time to Cameroon for several years of further studies for his work in the seminary in Dakar. Father Moses Drammeh, a Gambian who I have been working with since January, will take over as National Coordinator. Father Moses lives in Lamin (in the Kombos) and is Rector of the seminary at St. Peter’s there. And Kebba Sanyang will take on more responsibility for the students in upcountry schools along the South Bank.
All of the people working on the program are working without pay, and are pleased to be able to assist the deserving students who your donations are keeping in school. You can read more about our team at http://www.gambiarising.org/about-us.html