On Sunday, September 18th, we led on our annual 10-mile sponsored walk along Regent’s Canal in London, from St Pancras Old Church in Kings Cross to finish up by the River Thames in Limehouse.
We did it! A real team effort and success and a beautiful autumn day walking to raise funds for FREE breakfasts for the kids at Ceesay Nursery School in The Gambia.
A massive thanks to those who walked, all the wonderful supporters who donated and St Pancras Old Church for welcoming us at the start of our walk, with access to the church facilities and teas and coffees.
We exceeded our target of raising £900, with Gift Aid being able to contribute a fantastic £1,031.25 to our work in the Gambia! Every penny we raise goes directly to our work to help poor and orphaned kids go to school.
Thanks to our family, friends and kind supporters, we can be confident that this year, all the kids at the nursery school can now look forward to a hot, nutritious, filling free breakfast every single school day!
But, the story doesn’t end with our team of committed volunteers here in London….Once in the Gambia, our Project Manager, Momodou Jallow and our Head Classroom Teacher get busy shopping. They go to the local market in Latrikunda and to various local businesses to get everything they need for the breakfasts: corn, which is ground up to make a nutritious porridge, milk, sugar, salt and wood for the daily cooking fire.
Then, these very heavy materials are loaded up into the back of a local taxi. The corn is taken to be ground into fine meal for cooking. Then all is taken over dirt roads back into the countryside, to the school. Once there, it is unloaded and stored securely against tropical wildlife and any tendency to ‘walk’ away from the school at night time.
Next, the woodcutter arrives and spend an entire day of gruelling physical labour chopping up the wood for the daily cooking fire.
Finally, at first light every morning, our very hardworking and caring school cook, Mai Colley, arrives at the school to build a fire and get the water boiling
to start cooking the breakfasts for the whole school. She serves it to the children when they arrive and then washes and clears everything away, singlehandedly. Mai loves seeing the children eating their hot, nutritious breakfasts and thanks all of us for making this possible!
This year, due to complex interlinked global factors including the war in the Ukraine, the increased cost of fuel and the climate crisis, the cost of corn had actually doubled! Adama reported that the cost of milk and sugar had also risen astronomically. In practical terms, this means that families can buy about half the food they were able to buy last year, for the same amount of money. Our efforts to make sure the children at least have breakfast are therefore even more critical than previously. If you can help us at all, please donate here, no amount is too small.
Ceesay Nursery School 