Pageant's agents and other people in The Gambia

Pageant could not function without the dedicated work of our agents in The Gambia.

• Wandifa Saidykhan is Pageant’s main agent in The Gambia and does an enormous amount of work with both school projects and sponsored children. He also still works as a tourist guide at the Atlantic Hotel in Banjul when he has any spare time. He became Pageant's assistant agent in 2002 and stepped up to the main role in 2007.

• Yankuba Ceesay is Pageant’s assistant agent in The Gambia. He helps Wandifa cope with the increasing load of work connected with the sponsored children and has special responsibility for the up-country regions on the South Bank such as Jarreng.

• Abdoulie Gibba is now the regular driver for Pageant and has made himself so useful that he is now warmly welcomed as a full member of the Pageant team.

• Momodou Kanteh is a part time assistant agent for Siffoe.

Kemo Ceesay was Pageant's first agent in The Gambia, from 2001 until he left Pageant in 2007. Pageant also has three lady 'go-betweens' who run the Pageant loan schemes.

• Mariama Gitteh runs the loan schemes for Sika and Bakalarr

• Binta Jammeh runs the loan scheme for the Mums' Club at Gunjur SHM Nursery School.

• Mai Baldeh runs the loan scheme for the Jambanjelly Women's Union group

Pageant has appointed Lamin Njie as 'Artemisia Ambassador'. Following training at Gambia's National Agricultural Research Institute, he will tour the country providing training and support to help village communities grow their own Artemisia annua - a plant with proven anti-malarial activity.  (more details)

We must also mention Pageant member Linda Murgatroyd who now lives in The Gambia and works for the US Peace Corps, and who is always available to help us.
 

Where we work

Bakalarr was originally the main focus of Pageant's activities, but we have slowly expanded our work to include schools in other areas, especially away from the tourist strip near the coast. 'Up River' villages present a particular challenge, as the roads are not good. For instance, a journey of some 120 miles to Jarreng takes most of the day, and overnight accommodation is essential.

Our projects are listed in a series of linked pages listed below, which also includes the topic of fundraising. Without your kind donations and innovative fundraising efforts, Pageant could achieve very little. There are also links to these pages in the floating menu on the right.

The spelling of Gambian place names varies, and many have entirely different alternative names. We have used what we believe to be the most commonly used versions. Other versions are listed as aka: Just for the record, Banjul was once called Bathurst!
 

Pageant Projects and Other Pages

• Fundraising - Some of the ways Pageant raises money - sponsored challenges, ethical gifts, fêtes, carnivals, raffles, donations - including how schools in the UK have raised money in innovative ways

• General Projects - Sending things to The Gambia, visits to Gambian schools, sponsoring children, Pageant Loans, The Artemisia Project, Tina's art project.

• Pageant projects in Bakalarr - Pageant has been helping Bakalarr Basic Cycle School since 2001. We have helped them with classroom floors, a new kitchen, new toilets, a boundary wall, vegetable gardens, a home economics classroom, a multipurpose sports court and starting a nursery class.

• Pageant projects in/around Banjul - Pageant is helping many schools in the greater Banjul area, ranging from nursery schools to Senior Secondary Schools. We are also involved with GEPADG in protecting the environment.

• Pageant projects in other villages - This page covers Pageant projects in villages and schools other than Bakalarr and around Banjul.

• Gambian Schools Index - We have produced an index of Gambian schools which Pageant is associated with. It includes those with major projects as detailed in the Projects pages, and those which just have sponsored pupils. The Google Maps listed below show the exact location of many of these schools. Make sure you select the 'Satellite' view, and in many cases you can zoom in to see the actual buildings. Please let us know if we have got anything wrong.

• Information Page - More information about Pageant, and how you can help us.

• The Blog - We have many regular readers in The Gambia, both of this website and the Pageant News Blog. We now have a team in The Gambia who make regular contributions to the Blog.