Pete and Maggie have been fortunate to be invited to work alongside some of the local people, and with five schools in the Gambia. Four of the schools are run by the Baptist Church in The Gambia, and the fifth is a state run nursery school.

This is Pete juggling for the 'middle' school with which we work.
We also have good contacts with some of the local people, and have been fortunate enough to be invited to share meals in their compounds.  These are very poor people and are mostly Muslim, so we feel very honoured to be accepted by them.  Pretty much all of the overseas work of The Salt and Light Company is with poor and underprivileged people and wherever we go we are humbled by the generous spirit of people who have so little.

This  is the home of Alieu. The kids loved juggling!

We are also pleased to be able to sponsor two young people so that they can be assured of gaining a good education.  One is just a young boy in nursery schools, and the other a young man just completing his education.

Muspapha is a fine young man who is prepared to work hard in order to gain employment and eventually support a family.  We are very proud to be able to sponsor him through the final years of his education. 

In our efforts to help the schools with which we work, we have purchased a shipping container and are filling it with educational supplies that are being discarded in this country.  This is an expensive operation, but we feel that it is a worthwhile project.

In October 2007 we made our third journey to The Gambia. This trip had three main aims...

To visit the schools with which we had already worked.
To renew fellowship with the believers in the Baptist church that established four of the schools.
To make progress with the formalities involved in sending a container to the country.

All of these objectives were met, as we spent a very hectic week rushing around visiting and having meetings with key people.   The end result is that we have agreed to sponsor two more Muslim children's education.  One of these attends a Deeper Life Christian school already, and the other will attend Glory Baptist school when she is old enough to start in a couple of years time.  Mustapha has now completed his education and found a job that will provide further training as he works.

We have also been privileged to introduce a young Christian mother to an English couple on holiday in the Gambia.  The mother had been recommended to us by the Baptist Secondary school as someone who needed help with her adopted daughter's educational costs.  Maggie and I were discussing the situation when one of the holiday makers leant over to us and said that she had overheard our conversation and would love to sponsor the little girl.  We are thrilled that the arrangements are now being completed and that Prudence will no longer have to worry over the costs of her daughter's education.

Our next step is to finish filling the container and send it on its way.  I will update this site as plans unfold.