WYCE Blog

Independence Day Celebrations

The children of Gambia’s Kombo (Western) region celebrated Independence Day on the 15^th of March 2008, despite the fact that Independence Day was actually on the 18^th of February. The celebration was held in nearby Darsilami, the Town of Peace (like Dar es Salaam, Tanzania). There was a full day of festivities, which were a lot of fun, even though it was a long day in the hot Gambian sun. 59 schools from the region attended the celebration, which was stationed at Darsilami’s primary school.

One child from each of the schools was chosen to represent a child minister and there was a procession of all the child versions of the political figures to kick off the festivities. Then the child President was brought out in a motorcade and child guards pushed everyone back as they would for the real President. Yaya, a student from WYCE school, was dressed up in a suit as he was selected to represent the Secretary of State for Higher Education. It was fascinating to see the child ministers because they chose boys or girls depending on whether the actual official was a man or a woman, so the child Vice President was a little girl as the real V.P. is a woman. In addition, the child ministers were dressed according to how the minister actually dresses, either in formal Western clothing or traditional Muslim attire.

The program began with each of the schools lining up and marching around the football pitch. However, more than marching, this part involved standing around in the baking hot sun for two hours while all the children were lined up and organized for the march. After the schools finally marched around the pitch, they gathered in rows for the arrival of the ministers and then sang the Gambian national anthem and listened to a few speeches, including one from the child Presidents, which unfortunately no one could hear. The children held up surprisingly well and were very well behaved, but some of the teachers and I were dying in the heat.

After a few hours the marching and speeches were over and everyone gathered in the shade for lunch, which the teachers had prepared the day before. Unfortunately, the lunch break lasted for almost three hours, so everyone got bored and restless. The teachers had a break, while Gemma, Emily and I played with the kids and tried to keep them entertained.

Around 4:30 it was time for the sports events to begin, but none of the students from Madina Salaam participated, instead we sat and watched the races and cheered on the other schools. The races were hilarious; there were typical running races and three-legged races, but there were also events such as running with a bucket of water on your head. I couldn’t believe how calm and behaved the children were, as by this point we had been there for about ten hours! We finally left to go back to Madina Salaam around 7:00, with everyone exhausted from the day. It was a great day of fun with the children, who really seemed to enjoy the day out.

Sharon Richter (WYCE Volunteer)

Football Match: Gambia vs Mauritania

On Saturday, several WYCE volunteers and staff members went to a football match at Independence Stadium, the only football stadium in the Gambian. The match was Gambia vs. Mauritania for the African Nations Championship, a qualifying game for the next Africa Cup of Nations. As I am from the United States, where we do not follow football (despite the arrival of David Beckham), it was the first football match I had ever been too!

We got to the stadium a few hours before the match was set to begin, in order to get tickets and good seats in the shaded section. As we arrived at the stadium, we saw the buses for each team bringing the players to the match, escorted by police cars with lights and sirens blaring.

Before the game began, there was music playing throughout the stadium; the music was very good, but it turned out to all be advertisements for Africell, the largest mobile phone provider in the Gambia. A few of us danced along in the stands to kill time until the game began.

Independence Stadium is actually quite nice, although there is no score board or even a clock to mark the time of the game. In addition there are no seats, except in the V.I.P. section; everyone just sits on rows of concrete steps around the stadium. Because Gambia is a Muslim country, no alcohol is sold at the stadium, which I think helps keep the crowd under control, unlike British football fans. There were women walking through the stands selling food and drinks from buckets carried on their heads.

I really liked the Gambian uniforms, which were designed to reflect the Gambian flag, with red jerseys, blue shorts and green socks. The Mauritanians were in yellow and green, the colours of the baseball cap Talibo was wearing, which we promptly made him remove. After a rather sloppy first half, the Gambians stepped up their game in the second half. The match ended in a 1-1 tie (there was no shoot-out), which was a slightly disappointing ending to an otherwise great day.

Sharon Richter (WYCE Volunteer)

Story of the WYCE Bee Farm project

The WYCE Bee Farm began in November 2005 when a number of hives that had been given to WYCE by E.K.Sarr, the chairman of WYCE Gambia were recovered from their storage place at the WYCE lodge and were cleaned up and made fit for habitation by bees. The hives were a mixture of KTB (Kenyan Top Bar) and Dadants (frame hives similar to those that we use in the U.K.). They had been stacked up beside a building and were slowly being destroyed by termites. In a short time they were made ready for use and were baited with short strips of foundation which would help to attract bees.

 

     KTB Hives          Dadant Hives

While this early work was being done we were introduced to Kebee Famara Touray, a qualified and experienced beekeeper who lived in the next village to Madina. He immediately offered advice as to how the hives should be positioned and set up and very soon it was obvious that he would be the ideal person to oversee and manage this bee project. So the 25 hives were set out on tyres and very soon they became occupied with bees  -  they came in naturally as Kebee said they would, if they were baited with wax foundation.

Prepared hive set out in bush area

In addition to managing the bees it was decided that a training programme should be started for any local people who would like to learn how to keep bees. Kebee would be their tutor. 5 men from the village came forward.

Setting out for a night's beekeeping.   

Kebee observing a hive

One of their first achievements was to erect a shade area to protect the bees from the intense sun and also from the heavy rain in the rainy season. This was duly constructed from materials obtained locally. However, the extreme weather of the 2007 rains destroyed much of leaf covering and so in February 2008 a lot of repair work was carried out and half of the shade was created using corrugated sheeting. If this proves to be successful the other half will be completed in 2009. The village carpenters were employed to do this repair work. By the end of March the rest of the shade was established using palm leaves and then soon after the hives were returned to their original places under the cover ( they had been moved out so that the shade replacement work could be carried out).

Eighteen months into the project a beehouse was built 50 yards away from the apiary site. The purpose of this was to provide an area where hives could be contructed, training could be carried out and honey could be extracted. This has been well used so far and in the future it is hoped that it will be used even more. There has not been a huge honey crop to date but hopefully this will improve with time and the sale of it will boost the general funds of the WYCE charity.

Combs with KTB   Frame of bees from

Hives honey         KTB Hive

In February 2008 one of the trainees was taken on as a member of staff to manage and care for the bee farm. He is Yankuba Ding Ding and his early responsibilities have included clearing unwanted vegetation from around the site(a real fire danger as it dries out), setting out a fence around the bee farm, putting water out for the bees and also watering and caring for the trees in the adjacent wood lot. In the future he will manage th e bees themselves and carry out the necessary manipulations of the hives.

The Bee house in Jan 08

The final honey product

Everything is now in place for the WYCE bee farm to really take off and be very positive in the production of honey and other bee products. Kebee remains an integral part of the project as a consultant and trainer. It is hoped that more young people from Madina will come forward to learn how to keep bees to assist in their generation of income and production of a food resource. It is also envisaged that Madina Beekeepers will become registered with the Gambia Beekeepers Association and that the WYCE project will be recognized as a national resource within Gambia. Many individuals and groups in the UK have supported this project and we are extremely grateful to them -  they are too many to list! We look to the future with great optimism and hope to soon report on a wonderful honey harvest from Madina bees.

Phil Healey

Local Cookery Evening - 27.03.08

Our first ever cookery evening at WYCE was a great success. To get in the ‘ladies in the mood’ (men of course were banned from the cookery), the African ladies dressed us in traditional robes and head tie, what a pretty sight we made!

Mama took charge and gave us all African names.  We collected wood and with help from Mai we made two fires: one for meat domada and one for the vegetarian equivalent.

Mama, Sarjo and Mai gave us all a task to do and kept a careful eye on us! We chopped vegetables (some from the Lodge garden), cut the beef, pounded pepper, peanut paste and tomato paste and put it all in the big pots to cook.  Lots of pushing the fire took place and a great deal of stirring.

While we were waiting for the food to cook we practiced our drumming and some even danced.

Some of the ladies ventured to the village shop for more paste and as dusk fell it was time to put the rice onto boil.

We swept the area in traditional African style before we could eat and Mama invited us all to share the food by saying “Alna na seman” (come for dinner).  Large bowls of domada and rice were prepared for us to share; the men had their own and ate somewhere else.

We crouched on the floor and using our hands, shared our meal together- a truly magical moment.

Vicki Kavanagh (WYCE Volunteer)

Spread the Word

Hi All,

This was just a quick message to let you all know that WYCE was now on Facebook and on Myspace! Please sign up to both of them and try to spread the word about the amazing work we do to as many people as possible! 2008 will be the year WYCE goes Global!

Thanks to all of you for your help and support.

All my best,

Axelle Douine

Updates from Madina

Dear All,

This one will be short as there is a long line at this internet cafe. I just wanted to let you all know that I am having a great time. WYCE has now filled up with 12 more volunteers, and we have been getting a lot of work done on the gardens, etc. at the lodge. This morning we packed 200 plastic bags with "soil" (actually wet sand with a bit of manure) which tomorrow we will add orange seeds to grow trees for the annual tree planting in August. The young trees are sold in England as a plant a tree type thing to raise money for Madina and the fruits when the trees mature also become a revenue source for the village.

Two interesting things I've learned working in the gardens here. First, banana trees only grow bananas once and then they die. However, if you cut the stalks/trunks when you harvest the bananas they will regrow and produce bananas again. Second, cashews grow on trees. The nuts grow out of the bottom of a fruit, which is delicious. They are unique, and the texture is strange - the meat is rather dry but they are very juicy so you don't really notice. Right now our big cashew tree is just getting ripe, so when it is all ripe with fruit we want to try to make cashew fruit juice.

I will sign off now, but hopefully I will get to an internet cafe again next weekend, as we are planning another trip into town for some shopping.

Happy Easter and Happy almost Passover to you all!

Love,

Sharon (WYCE Volunteer)

Commonwealth Day

Monday was Commonwealth Day in the Gambia, being celebrated for the first time in Madina Salaam. To celebrate, the children of the Wonder Years Centre of Excellence came to school dressed in traditional Gambian clothes, particular to their tribe, with their hair specially plaited for the day with beads, cowry shells and candies attached. They brought with them an array of traditional foods, prepared by their mothers, to be shared and eaten by all at lunch time.

Once assembled at the school, the children lined up and began a march through the Village, accompanied by traditional drumming. Emily and Gemma, the British staff, and I joined the march, with the children racing up to us for the chance to hold our hands as we walked. As soon as a kid wandered off, another would appear to grab the free hand. The children marched first to the village Imam’s compound, where they gathered in a circle for traditional dancing. The children of the four tribes in Madina Salaam (Mandinka, Wolof, Fulla and Balanta) each took turns in the centre of the circle, demonstrating their unique dances while everyone clapped along with the drumming. The march then continued to Alkalo’s compound, the village mayor, where the dancing circle was repeated for his benefit. Finally, the children marched to the WYCE lodge, where even more elaborate dancing took place for the benefit of the staff here and for E.K.

E.K. then gave a speech to the gathered children about Commonwealth Day and why it is celebrated. Though he began the speech in English, he soon switched into Mandinka, which was easier for the children to understand, but meant that we never did learn the meaning of Commonwealth Day. It is in honour of the British Commonwealth and its influence in the Gambia, but we are unsure of the specifics.

The celebration ended back at the school, where lunch was served in the customary style – everyone gathered around a bowl, eating with their hands. There were many kinds of traditional Gambian food, most of which were rice dishes with meat and sauce poured over the top. The children arranged themselves in small circles around a bowl and everyone enjoyed the near feast. The teachers and WYCE staff ate with the children, with Gemma and I moving about the groups, trying several different dishes. Most of the dishes were excellent, although a few were not to our Western tastes, often being extremely spicy.

 

It was a great day full of celebration, and it was enjoyed by all. I am now eagerly awaiting the Independence Day celebration next weekend!

Sharon Richter, WYCE volunteer 10/03/08

Awareness Evening

This was just a quick email to say a big thank you to those of you who turned up on our very first Awareness Evening last Thursday! I am very pleased to say that everything went superbly and that it was a great first trial!

We're hoping to organise another one very soon and try to host a few all throughout the country to make sure we get the chance to meet you all.

If you would like anymore information or would like me to email you the power point presentation that was delivered, just email me at wyce_axelle@hotmail.co.uk.

I look forward to hearing from you all.

Lots of love

Axelle Douine

Bee Farm

The past month has been very busy at the bee farm with Phil’s arrival and a newly appointed attendant. At then moment there are 23 hives fully occupied with bees (18 KTB and 5 Dadants) with 2 more Dadants empty and awaiting entry of swarms. All hives were examined during his stay; a few had wax moth but the majority were very strong with plenty of brood - a sign that there is potentially a good honey crop around the corner. Some old comb was removed to encourage the bees to build new. Two hives that had been empty and stood out in the open had become occupied with bees and were transferred to the shade area.

The leaf covering has been removed after some damage in the storms of the rainy season. It is now being repaired with all of the rhun palm roof struts being replaced and half of the area being covered with corrugated sheet; the other half will be covered next year when funds allow, but palm leaves will be put on imminently as temporary cover. The local village carpenter and his team have been employed to do the main construction work with the rest being done by a new member of staff. After some discussion with Kebee it was agreed that in the long term the wooden pillars that support the shade area will be replaced by brick or concrete ones as there is already some signs of termite damage to the existing wooden pillars.

Sports Day

On the 21^st February the school hosted a very successful and entertaining sports day. The whole school was split into four different houses Red (Albert), Green (Julia), Blue (Eness) and Yellow (Samba) and within each of the houses they had students from each class year.

Many staff and volunteers arrived to help and were each given jobs to do. The afternoon started with Nursery 1 boys throwing event and then moved on to Nursery 1 girls throwing event and then the same for Nursery 2 this continued up through all the years doing various events including tug of war, musical chairs, the lime race, balloon race, sack race, the three legged race and finally the teachers race.

The day was enjoyed by all with the teachers and children screaming and jumping around when the child from their team won. Eness took it one step further and ran into the other groups chanting her team and teasing the others. The winners of the race got lifted up and cheered back to their groups by their teacher.

Towards the end mothers and other village people gathered around the sports field to watch and all celebrated when the Yellow team won by an amazing turn around.

Gemma Cousins