|
Pippa and Ian hosted the annual Summer Open House day for Pageant
members between 11.00am and 4.00pm on Sunday 12 July 2009. This was
attended by over 50 of our enthusiastic members, who enjoyed the
sunshine (we were very lucky with the weather!), buffet lunch,
drinks, tea and coffee as well as chatting about all things Gambian.
Many of the lunch dishes were brought by members and a nominal
charge was made of £5 per head, with proceeds going towards the cost
of sending the next container of school furniture and materials to
Banjul at the end of the month.
|
 |
 |
|
guests arriving |
drinks before lunch |
|
 |
 |
|
melee in the kitchen |
Seedy & Brian |
Our Gambian visitor, Seedy (pronounced Siddy) Conteh, is a young man
who has been helped by PAGEANT in the past to do a Management Course
in a Gambian college. He is currently studying at Aston University
in Birmingham and has just completed his first year there - his UK
studies are NOT funded by PAGEANT but we have kept in touch with
him. He too enjoyed the day and emailed us to say "Thank you for the
invitation and for everything that you have done for me. I am indeed
honoured and privileged to attend the PAGEANT meeting where I was
very happy to meet and talk to people who have never visited The
Gambia."
|
 |
 |
 |
|
bar staff - Mike,
Frances & Claire |
Frances, Pippa & Claire |
Joe & Chris discuss
science in Gambian schools |
|
 |
 |
|
colourful Gambian
garments |
William, Seedy,
Catherine & Marjorie |
|
 |
 |
|
Mo, Kate & Alison with
Seedy |
Janey, Jemma, Robin &
Andy |
A raffle for an original watercolour of a bridge at Telford, painted
by Surrey artist Joan Dobie, raised over £100 for the purchase of
mosquito nets and was won by a delighted Anne.
Frances and Claire, both wearing the Gambian outfits they had
purchased during our April trip, read out messages to the members
from our Gambian agents Wandifa and Yankuba*.
|
 |
 |
|
selling raffle tickets |
Frances & Claire reading
the messages |
Wandifa's Message
- Wandifa asked Frances to say this
on his behalf:
"I would like to thank everyone here for your continuous support you
give me and the people of The Gambia. It is a great honour to work
on behalf of PAGEANT and my special thanks go to Pippa and Ian for
all their efforts and kindness."
Yankuba's Message
- part of Yankuba's emailed message:
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, present at this annual
gathering of our great organization which is PAGEANT. I say welcome
to you all at this annual meeting. Without wasting more time let you
all give a clap to Pippa and the others for standing firmly on the
ground to see that this great organization is still existing up to
date. Many thanks to them for their loyalty to this charity.
Meanwhile, on behalf of your sponsored children of the smiling coast
of Africa, I feel very happy to write to you and express our
appreciation for the warmest support you have been rendering to we,
the pupils of the Gambia, in building a better future for the young
ones whose parents cannot afford to pay for their education. Please
allow me to tell you some of the things that PAGEANT has brought to
the Gambian pupils. PAGEANT has made education possible for so many
Gambians by doing their utmost best to provide needy ones with all
kinds of educational materials they will need during their tenure at
school, and this has made it possible for me and the rest of the
students to have access to quality education. Even though at the
moment you are facing the greatest economical crisis in UK and the
world at large, this does not make you to stop paying for our
education because of the love and the care you always have for us,
and this has shown me that your love and care for the Gambians is
always increasing day by day.
We are proud of you all for your timeless support, especially those
of you who are making every thing possible by sponsoring female
children, because to me if you educate a female you educate a
nation. They are going to be our future mothers of tomorrow, and
educating them will give them the opportunity to be role models in
the future, and not to be looked on as only housewives in our
societies. Thanks to PAGEANT for sponsoring our female students in
order to make their dreams come true.
Also, PAGEANT has contributed greatly in the development of our
social sector, by building markets and giving out loans to our
mothers to enable them to make a small scale business without any
interest in return and all this because of no one but PAGEANT. Not
only that, but PAGEANT has also contributed greatly to the health of
The Gambia by introducing artemesia plants, and this has made it
possible for those who cannot afford to pay for the medication at
the hospital for the treatment of malaria which is the most killer
disease in Africa especially The Gambia to now have full treatment
for malaria for free without any payment, as it is grown by
themselves.
In conclusion I will say thanks to all the PAGEANT members at this
gathering and also to the others who didn't make it to this meeting
and I will tell you that you are all welcome to The Gambia at any
time."
*Wandifa
is Pageant's main agent in The Gambia. Yankuba
is our young trainee agent who covers the area around Jarreng, which
is midway along the South Bank, and assists Wandifa in other areas
when necessary.
|