The Training Village Fund

Greetings RPCVs from The Gambia! 

When you first arrived in The Gambia, did you live or train in one of these training villages? 

Bambako      Bumari      FulaKunda      Jalambereh      Jataba   

Jenneri (Gennieri)          Jiffarong          Jiroff          Kaiaf          Kwinella     

Medina Sancha     Massembe     Nema     Nema Kuta     Sankandi   
​  
Sare Samba         Soma         Wurokang

There are eager students from these former Peace Corps training villages who want to continue in school but can't for lack of funds.  Would you consider helping your original toma's relatives and neighbors with a scholarship donation to a dedicated fund for training villages? 

After their initial training, Peace Corps volunteers are not posted to training villages. Life is not easy in Kiang, and it got harder when the tourists stopped coming due to COVID.  When we started talking with schools and village leaders about the numbers of young people who had dropped out or had never started school, we were prepared for some sad stories.  But definitely not to the extent that we found.  We signed up 168 in a few weeks; by Christmas 2020, we had more than 300.  By now, the number has climbed close to 500.  We have done what we can, and several RPCVs have stepped up to support their former training village.  But we still need more help. So we started this special fund to try to help as many of these young people as we can.  $3/month funds one student.  $30 per month funds 10 students.  If you are already donating, you're already helping.  But if you're not, please join us to give the gift of education.