As usual, a group of Pageant members has travelled to The Gambia to visit families and schools. There will be some creative lessons and lots of fun. Frances and will be attempting to post their news from The Gambia on the Pageant News Blog. We will collect these posts on this page so you can see them all in one place.

24 March - Back in The Gambia

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Once again a team from Pageant is back in The Gambia for the regular Easter trip. And once again there are problems with internet access, so Frances is sending text and photos by email, and Dave the Webmaster is uploading the posts on Blogger. Here is the first post....

25 March - Day 2 - Finding our feet

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Good evening all. We have had a brilliant full first day. It started with a leisurely 9:30am pick up to begin our compound visits. First we headed to Linda's house to pick up some charity bits and to check in with her. Then it was off to visit Ebrima's compound, who is sponsored by Rachel. It was good to finally meet his father. Next stop was Jonsaba's compound where we were pleased to find her and Mo Lamin both looking well. She was very pleased to receive a new handbag full of goodies and is excited at the prospect of starting her own small business.

Special shout out to Pippa- we cannot count on two hands how many people send their best wishes to you and Ian. Lots of love X X X

26 March - Day 3 - in search of a bargain!

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27 March - Day 4 - Parachutes and presents

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Hello everyone! Today was another busy and hot day. We began by visiting a couple of FE students, paying fees and collecting letters. We had a lovely catch up with Isatou, one of our most chatty, outgoing and accomplished students.

Then it was on to visit Wandifa's brother Baba and his family, where we met their new baby girl and introduced the children in the village to parachute games! We also delivered gift token items to them including cooking pots, bowls and buckets. Fatoumatta, their oldest daughter, proudly showed us her garden where she is busy growing onions in preparation for Ramadan (note to Ann and Brian- she would love some packets of tomato and lettuce seeds to grow before the rainy season).

After that, we headed to Siffoe to meet up with more sponsored children and collect letters for sponsors. We enjoyed some delicious, freshly peeled oranges fresh from the market this afternoon and have had a nice catch up with Linda at dinner. Once again the Gambian Pageant team were amazing!

More news tomorrow! X

28 March - Day 5 - Caroline arrives

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Hello! Today was one of our busiest yet. We began the day with a visit to Kotukala School, followed by a visit to Abdoulie Touray's new compound. Abdoulie's children were very well and enjoyed some fun games of frisbee, and Mama, his second daughter, was delighted with her presents from her sponsor.

On our way back to the main road, we bumped into Samboujang which was a lovely surprise. We were pleased to see him looking so well and happy - he is now so tall! Next stop was Fak's nursery where we were greeted by three sponsored FE girls who are all studying automotive engineering. They are all doing very well and are definitely bright, hard-working women determined to succeed.

Back at the hotel, we went for a run along the beach before heading out for dinner. We have just sorted all the sports equipment ready for our sports day at Lutheran tomorrow!

Goodnight all x

29 March - Day 6 - green team victory!

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Hello everyone at home. Today was sports day at Lutheran LBS. The grade four children had come in during their Easter holidays especially for our visit. They had great fun despite the scorching sun running, hopping, jumping and relaying. They especially loved the skipping, sack and egg and spoon races!

Special thanks goes to our star starter, Wandifa, who we will be recommending for a starring role in Rio 2016!!! Green team came out victorious thanks to their enthusiasm and team work.

We finished the morning with the ever popular parachute, playing lots of games including the much loved spinner game (Washing Machines).

After the school, we had a tour of Wandifa's new compound, which is looking brilliant, and then went on to see his family at home. It was lovely to see Alieu who is sponsored by Frances and catch up with the others once they had finished their extra classes at school.

Our final stop was to Abdoulie's compound where we treated the children to a slightly late Easter treasure hunt! The children had such fun finding the Easter chicks! We then played frisbee, bouncy ball games and skipping with the children. It was great to meet Abdoulie's little girl, who is beautiful, and see Mustapha again looking so happy and cheeky! We began some goat negotiations with some local people and will keep you posted with this!

Lots of love to all at home X

PS Ian, your jokes are missed!! Big hugs.

30 March - Day 7 - maths day

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Hi all at home. We have had another good day here, which started with a trip to Kings Kid Academy to do our maths workshop.

More news from us on Friday as we imagine tomorrow will be a late one!
Night all X

31 March - Day 8 - hip hip hooray!

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What an adventure! Today we left at 5am for our long drive up country. On the way going we collected and gave out several letter forms for sponsored children, including one boy who had one of the best reports we have ever seen! We arrived in Janjanbureh (formerly Georgetown), which is the furthest we have ever been up country, at about half past 10 (as ever, Abdoulie was spot on with timings!). Janjanbureh is on McCarthy Island, about an hour East from Jarreng, Yankuba's home village. We saw snakes, baboons and lots of birds on the way, as well as busy villagers, starting out their days.

We found ourselves a boat and off we went down the River Gambia in search of hippos. We were rather nervous due to discussions over the days leading up to our trip as hippos can be dangerous creatures. We had been told that pregnant women are not allowed on boat trips to see hippos as a hippo had once flipped a boat! However, as we didn't fear this, we decided to give it a go! The wildlife we saw was incredible! This is what we saw: colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, Eagles, black and white kingfishers, a monitor lizard, vultures, weaver birds and their incredible nests, donkeys, African dada birds, hornbills, Abyssinian rollers, egrets, black and white herons and A HIPPO!!! We also enjoyed some delicious mango which was ripe due to the proximity of the river. The hippo was amazing to see and we were very lucky as many people go without catching a glimpse.

On the way back to the hotel, we collected another couple of letters and bought some firewood and mint for Wandifa. We arrived back at about half past 9, luckily just in time for some well-earned dinner of chicken yassa and butterfish. What a day!

1 April - Day 9 - team dinner

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Hello everyone! Not much to report from today as we treated ourselves to a lazy day, after our trip up country yesterday. We enjoyed some free time at the hotel and most of us caught slightly too much sun!

In the evening we went for a fun dinner with Wandifa, Abdoulie, Modou and Linda. Wandifa in particular was on great form and thoroughly enjoyed his chocolate cake! It was lovely to hear all about Modou's studies and the possibility of him going abroad for a short placement in a hospital. We are keeping his fingers crossed that he is one of the lucky few who will be able to do so.

2 April - Day 10 - treat time!

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Today was definitely a favourite of ours! Due to it being street cleaning day, we were stuck at the hotel in the morning, so we continued our lazy day! In the afternoon it was time for treat day! We had 6 children and 3 adults join us, alongside the Pageant team and began with a feast of chicken yassa and chips.

We then played frisbee and football rounders on the beach before having a quick paddle in the sea. The children were all so keen on the water that we then treated them to a swim in the pool, which was definitely the highlight of their day! Alaghie was a superstar, swimming with complete confidence. His smile was bigger than ever despite his teeth chattering from the moment he got in! To end the day we gave out small gifts to all the children and adults and then waved goodbye to a bus of very smiley, rather exhausted children!

3 April - Day 11 - goats, rice and crocs!

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Today was our last full day - our trip has flown by! We had an early start to make the most of the time and began with a trip to Serekunda market to buy three large sacks of rice. We then delivered these sacks, along with the remaining cooking pot and bowl, to three families, identified by Wandifa and Yankuba to be in need of support. They were all received very gratefully- one lady was so overwhelmed, it was very clear that the gift meant so much and that it would really help her family.

Goat negotiations came next and Yankuba took the lead here. We managed to secure a healthy looking pregnant goat for a lady who is in great need. We arranged for the goat to stay in its current compound until the lady has finished building her goat house so that the goat can be safe.

Next, we headed to Banjul to meet with Naba and Modou Jeng for a drink. It was lovely to catch up with Naba who is working very hard just like Modou. She looked beautiful as ever and we wish them both the best of luck in their upcoming exams.

Tomorrow we will return home. This trip has been a huge success, thanks to everyone's hard work and enthusiasm. We have hugely missed having Pippa and Ian here, but as ever, Wandifa, Yankuba and Abdoulie have been superstars and lots has been achieved. Abdoulie, you have driven us safely and have looked after us so well. Wandifa, you have been a great organiser and a wonderful comedian and have ensured our trip be productive and lots of fun. Yankuba, ou have managed to juggle and organise so much and always manage to make sure things happen as they should, while always watching out for us and laughing at our jokes. Well done and a huge thank you to everyone involved.

Until next time...

Signing off....... until next time!

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The last few hours of a trip are, as ever, a flurry of packing suitcases, paying last bills, fond farewells - and the inevitable final sponsor letters to zip into hand luggage that are pressed into our hands as we go through passport control. These always provide excellent reading material on the plane home, and we are so pleased to hand them on to our wonderful members who sponsor so many children and students during the year.

Having said a big "thank you" to our fabulous Gambian 'A' Team of Wandifa, Abdoulie and Yanks, it remains only for me to say a further heartfelt thank you to Frances (Frankie), Caroline, Rachel and Ellie whose good humour, excellent organisational skills and adventurous spirit ensured a great trip, filled with much laughter and fun. Thank you also girls for working out the finances - only you know how lost I would have been if it had been left to me to do!

Hopefully we shall all be able to do another trip in the future (once we have recovered from this one!).
Tina

Note from Pippa:
I am posting this for Tina, and would just like to add my thanks to ALL of them - I just wish I had been able to be there as well.... never mind, next time, hopefully...