GambiaRising is a small, committed team of Gambians and Americans working to make it possible for deserving Gambian students to stay in school. Every dollar of new donations for scholarships goes directly to support the students; a Board member pays all overhead, and none of our team receive any pay for their work on behalf of those we serve. Currently, we support students in more than 80 different Gambian schools from nursery school through Gambia College and the University of The Gambia.
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Isatou is a teacher at St. Matthew’s Lower Basic Cycle School in Kaimo. She also lives with her son at the school. Isatou is responsible for students in the catchment area of St. Matthew’s School as well as Sibanor. She has also helped a teacher from St. Matthew's go back to Gambia College to get their degree, with support from GambiaRising.
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Originally from Fula Bantang, Mariama now teaches at Lamin Daranka Lower Basic Cycle School. With assistance from her husband Ebrima (a former Peace Corps intern who now works at the U.S. Embassy), she has helped more than a dozen students from her home of Lamin Daranka to apply for support to enroll in (or go back to) school, and is our liaison with them. She has also helped several teachers from Lamin Daranka go back to Gambia College to get their degree, with support from GambiaRising.
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After interning at Peace Corps The Gambia for one year, Ebrima became one of the first scholarship recipients of GambiaRising. Having graduated with a degree in accounting, he now directs a student enrichment program founded by returned Peace Corps volunteers, Ascend Together. He also works part time as an accountant. Ebrima lives in Sinchu Alhagie, north of the Banjul airport, and coordinates our program for more than a dozen schools in the area. You can read more about him here: http://createsend.com/t/t-BD7D31653F375EFD
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Since returning to The U.S in late 2016, Paige Walters proudly joined the GambiaRising's Board of Trustees, after serving as a Gambia Peace Corps Volunteer from 2014-16 in the Upper River Region of the country. In her tenure as a PCV, Paige’s biggest accomplishment was developing and seeing through a country long “marathon,” with the guidance and support of GambiaRising. She was trained to serve as a Health Education Volunteer, and during Paige’s time in country she worked closely with women and children and educated her Sarahule village on preventative health measures.
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Stephen is a member of GambiaRising’s Board of Trustees. He served as an Education sector Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia from 2015 to 2017, in the village of Seno Bajonki, near Soma Town. Stephen is a graduate of SIT Graduate Institute, where he earned his master’s degree in sustainable development, and is Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for the International Foundation For Electoral Systems.
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Father Jarju is the Catholic Education Secretary in The Gambia, managing all the public schools under the Secretariat's jurisdiction in the country. Due to the excellence of administration in this network of schools, GambiaRising has worked with several of them closely. These are former "mission schools" but are now fully part of the Gambian public school system, with a non-denominational curriculum identical to other public schools. But they are administered under contract from the Gambian Education Ministry. We could not do this without the friendship and support of Father Jarju. Before becoming Secretary, Father Jarju was Principal of St. Peter's Senior Secondary School in Lamin, where we also worked with him.
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Jon Vallee loved The Gambia and its people. In his retirement, he travelled there often and worked with his friends to directly benefit upcountry Gambians. In recent years, his focus has been on his partnership with GambiaRising and our UpCountry Coordinator Kebba Sanyang first to improve St. Therese's Basic Cycle School in Fula Bantang, then, when he found out he had only a few years to live, to inspire and organize the building of a senior secondary school in Fula Bantang. Jon left us in early 2017, but his work will continue to benefit young Gambians for generations to come. He was a great friend and partner.
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