Teacher Study Visits

Each year a visit to The Gambia is organised for teachers and others interesed in development in the Gambia to learn about village life in West Africa. Visitors stay as guests of the people of Gunjur in their homes and become involved in everyday life. This provides a fantastic opportunity to gain first hand experience of life in Gunjur which can be taken back to the classroom.

We are already planning for the 2011 visit which will take place over February half term. We hope to be able to extend the visit for 2011 from 7 to 10 days.

Please contact us to register your interest for 2011 or phone the office on 01672 861116.

A report on the 2010 vist is below.....

EDUCATIONAL STUDY VISIT TO GUNJUR IN THE GAMBIA

In February 2010 I went on a study visit to Gunjur, a ‘village’ of 15,000 people organised by the Marlborough Brandt Group which has well established links with Gunjur.  There were 6 of us, 4 of whom were teachers and our task was to deliver and explain a curriculum for early years teaching which had been worked out by Neil Griffiths (inventor of Story Sacks), following his visit the previous year. Several boxes of resources to support the curriculum had been sent out ahead.  We had a briefing from Neil a couple of weeks before we left.  There were 3 modules, Touch and Taste for year 1, Gardening for year 2 and Growth for year 3 and what he hoped was that we would come back with some lesson plans for him to work on.

These were the dry facts of our mission.  Those who had been before knew what to expect but no amount of explanation can prepare you for the reality.  It is a huge culture shock on almost every front which assails you from the moment of arrival.  For a start it is hot.  The airport is a crush of people wanting to be your porter.  We were met by representatives from the Marlborough Brandt Link Committee and driven through shanty towns and bustling markets and bush countryside to Gunjur where each of us was dropped off at the house of our host family.  I was staying with Mbanding, a beautiful woman of about 30 who, having divorced, was back living with her parents. Immediately about 15 children of all ages clustered round to greet me.

This welcome was the shape of things to come because everywhere we went children would appear and fight to hold your hand as you walked along.  Gunjur, like most of the country is very poor.  There is no running water or electricity.  There are a few tarmac roads but most ‘streets’ are dusty tracks.  But the people have a rich, strong social network and support system.  Families are huge and extended.

In Gunjur education is not taken for granted.  The families have to pay a small amount towards their children’s education but it is affordable for all but the poorest.  There are 6 preschools for 4-7 year olds. Then there are junior schools.  After that there is a certain amount of drop out because secondary education is at the next town and getting there is a problem.  We saw children hitching for lifts along the road or taking bush taxis (which are like mini buses), but these cost a few pence each way, which must mount up.  Many clever people simply can’t afford further education.  We met the man in charge of the Health Centre, Lamin.  He had a nursing qualification and yet he does everything – delivering babies, minor surgery, treating TB and malaria, dressing wounds, treating car accidents.  He should be a doctor but cannot afford the training.

Our workshops for the teachers took place at the weekend but despite this the turnout was excellent and 30 or so gathered to hear what Neil had produced for them.  We started with a prayer.  The teachers were all young, in their 20’s and 30’s and were pretty equally split between men and women.  They worked with enthusiasm and by the end we had about 40 lesson plans, far more than we had expected to achieve.  The last thing was what they’d all been waiting for – looking through the boxes of resources which Neil had raised money to buy and send out to them. 

We went  to see one of the schools and I think everyone was impressed.  There was a lot of art work displayed, the children were really well behaved, even in one classroom where there was no teacher!  It was clear that within the limits of the lack of resources, these children were learning.  Not being a teacher myself, I was struck by the happy relaxed atmosphere.  When lunchtime came, each child rinsed its hands in 4 big buckets set in a row outside and sat at long tables.  There was one bowl of fish stew and rice between two children which they ate with their fingers.  Afterwards hands were rinsed again, all this with no teacher input, they just got on with it.  There were 2 ‘dinner ladies’, one suckling a baby as she doled out the food.  But the reality of life here was brought home to us when we were shown the memorial garden for one of their best teachers who had died the year before giving birth to her 6th child.

For me the most profound impression was how much this society has to teach us.  We have running water and electricity but they have such strong family and social networks. Kids are safe all over town because everyone knows who they are and looks out for them.  Kids play and chat and run around.  They have few if any toys but what they have they make full use of.    

Daphne Smith, retired health service worker