Power and Water at St. Therese's
July 23, 2012
When a Peace Corps volunteer introduced me to Father Jean Diagne in 2009, he was parish priest for the up-country Bansang parish in the Central River Region of The Gambia. Since St. Therese's school at Fula Bantang was in his parish, and since he saw the welfare and education of the 800 students in this K-9 public school as part of his mission to help all the people of this largely Muslim parish, he visited the school nearly every day.
And so when he and I began working together on our scholarship program, it was only natural that we start with the school and families he knew best. And when Kebba Sanyang, already a minor legend among Peace Corps volunteers as a righteous and capable administrator, was named Principal there, we decided to focus most of our scholarship work on this remote up-country school and its students.
In a part of the world with so many issues to address, GambiaRising chose to focus primarily on providing financial support so that students whose families were not able to pay their school fees, could stay in school, especially girls in the higher grades. But that does not mean we are not interested in other kinds of support for the school and for the quality of their schooling.
So when a Seattle philanthropist told me in 2010 that she was bringing bicycles to The Gambia to donate to schools for students who lived so far away from school that it was a barrier to their staying in school, I encouraged her to visit St. Therese's and meet Kebba. She did so, and left ten bicycles with the school. Later last year I got a call from one of her donors, who had visited all the schools where bikes had been donated and had been impressed by what he saw at St.Therese's. A self-made American small business owner, he told me "I like to visit schools, unannounced, at 8 AM," he told me. "At most, at 8 AM teachers are making tea, students are playing. Not at St. Therese's. At 8 AM, the bell rang, students went to the classrooms, teachers were teaching. Kebba is running a tight ship."
Over the past year, this businessman and I have had many conversations; sometimes about bikes; sometimes about St. Therese's; sometimes about development in general. Although we have never met face to face (he lives in Wyoming), I consider him a friend. And working with Kebba Sanyang, with several contractors he has come to know in The Gambia, and with assistance from several Peace Corps volunteers in the area, his confidence in Kebba and his generosity have led to a number of wonderful outcomes.
1) The water pump at the school has been completely rebuilt; the school now has running water (here's a short video I took in January: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Ho9LdJJiI). (You can hear Father Jean and Kebba talking in the background.)
2) Twenty more bicycles have been donated to the school - ten more new ones from HopeFirst in Seattle, and ten purchased from the January Peace Corps auction of used bikes turned in by volunteers after their service was complete.
When a Peace Corps volunteer introduced me to Father Jean Diagne in 2009, he was parish priest for the up-country Bansang parish in the Central River Region of The Gambia. Since St. Therese's school at Fula Bantang was in his parish, and since he saw the welfare and education of the 800 students in this K-9 public school as part of his mission to help all the people of this largely Muslim parish, he visited the school nearly every day.
And so when he and I began working together on our scholarship program, it was only natural that we start with the school and families he knew best. And when Kebba Sanyang, already a minor legend among Peace Corps volunteers as a righteous and capable administrator, was named Principal there, we decided to focus most of our scholarship work on this remote up-country school and its students.
In a part of the world with so many issues to address, GambiaRising chose to focus primarily on providing financial support so that students whose families were not able to pay their school fees, could stay in school, especially girls in the higher grades. But that does not mean we are not interested in other kinds of support for the school and for the quality of their schooling.
So when a Seattle philanthropist told me in 2010 that she was bringing bicycles to The Gambia to donate to schools for students who lived so far away from school that it was a barrier to their staying in school, I encouraged her to visit St. Therese's and meet Kebba. She did so, and left ten bicycles with the school. Later last year I got a call from one of her donors, who had visited all the schools where bikes had been donated and had been impressed by what he saw at St.Therese's. A self-made American small business owner, he told me "I like to visit schools, unannounced, at 8 AM," he told me. "At most, at 8 AM teachers are making tea, students are playing. Not at St. Therese's. At 8 AM, the bell rang, students went to the classrooms, teachers were teaching. Kebba is running a tight ship."
Over the past year, this businessman and I have had many conversations; sometimes about bikes; sometimes about St. Therese's; sometimes about development in general. Although we have never met face to face (he lives in Wyoming), I consider him a friend. And working with Kebba Sanyang, with several contractors he has come to know in The Gambia, and with assistance from several Peace Corps volunteers in the area, his confidence in Kebba and his generosity have led to a number of wonderful outcomes.
1) The water pump at the school has been completely rebuilt; the school now has running water (here's a short video I took in January: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-Ho9LdJJiI). (You can hear Father Jean and Kebba talking in the background.)
2) Twenty more bicycles have been donated to the school - ten more new ones from HopeFirst in Seattle, and ten purchased from the January Peace Corps auction of used bikes turned in by volunteers after their service was complete.
3) And as of this week, right up there with fresh water as a dramatic change, the school now has electricity. A small new solar system has been installed. Classrooms will have light; teachers can charge their cell phones. There will even be enough power to run a computer or two and a small DVD system.
My old collection of educational and uplifting DVDs has been located at the Peace Corps offices and will be sent to the school for those long weekends when teachers formerly dreamed of moving to the city. (Believe it or not, when I asked Father Jean to discuss with Kebba what we could do to encourage good teachers to stay in this remote school; they replied: electricity.) Here are a few photos of the work done last week:
So while we continue to talk to everyone we know about how to expand our scholarship program, hoping to be able to support more students in the coming school year, the good activity at St. Therese's has encouraged others to help in ways we are not equipped to do. And so a virtuous circle continues to turn.
I hope you can be a part of it in the coming school year.
Mike McConnell
Managing Trustee
GambiaRising Charitable Trust
1500 Park Ave PH1
Emeryville, CA 94608
www.gambiarising.org
So while we continue to talk to everyone we know about how to expand our scholarship program, hoping to be able to support more students in the coming school year, the good activity at St. Therese's has encouraged others to help in ways we are not equipped to do. And so a virtuous circle continues to turn.
I hope you can be a part of it in the coming school year.
Mike McConnell
Managing Trustee
GambiaRising Charitable Trust
1500 Park Ave PH1
Emeryville, CA 94608
www.gambiarising.org