First Aid 4 Gambia

Apologies for not updating sooner.

We are updating regularly on our Facebook Group page. You dont have to be registered on Facebook to see this page but it might be worth signing up (it costs nowt) and join the group.

Fiona flew out on 22nd Oct and had a hectic few weeks finding a house for us to use as a base for our project. The First Aid supplies we shipped out through Redcoat Shipping arrived in Banjul safely and were cleared through customs with only a small amount of duty paid. Fiona did have a bit of running around to do when we discovered at the last minute that we needed to be registered with the Gambian Revenue Authority before anything could be cleared.

We now have a 3 bedroomed house for our volunteers to stay in and enough supplies to kit out 24 schools in Gambia.

The school twinning project is starting to build momentum.
Many thanks to the staff of Thamesdown Hydrotherapy Pool who got together to raise £250 which will be used to supply Pa Ansumana Badjie Memorial Islamic School in Banjonkoto.
Last sunday the George Hotel, Inveraray hosted a curry/quiz night which raised £273. This will be used to supply the London Corner nursery school which is funded by the good work of the congregation of St Augustine’s church in Dumbarton. This nursery is in one of the poorest areas of Gambia and I am assured that there will be ongoing fundraisers to make sure that their First Aid needs will be covered every year.
Two local schools have also decided to get involved and will start fundraising in the new year.

It is heart warming that various people have started to organise fundraisers for next year including a sponsored parachute jump, walking the West Highland Way, running a marathon and a sponsored abseil.

We will be able to accept online donations through Virgin Money Giving within the next few days. (we are just completing the registration process).

We can also set up a page for anyone doing a fundraiser for us so that your sponsors can donate securely online. We also have sponsor forms etc. which we can email.

I fly out on 28th Nov and Fiona has arranged 6 schools to visit to deliver supplies and training while I am there. Feeling quite excited about it and a wee bit nervous. We will be fine tuning our training program as we go.

Just had a text from Fiona : she has a meeting with the Minister of Education and the Secretary of State on Monday so hopefully it will be productive.

On one of our First Aid courses John Patrick offered to create our website. The draft pages look great and hopefully this will also be up and running in the next few days.

Fiona and I will be updating our progress on Facebook and Twitter .

We are also pleased to announce that Her Grace, the Duchess of Argyll has agreed to be the Patron for our charity.

Saturday night we had a send off party where family, friends and helpers gathered for a few drinks and a curry. We all had a good night . It was good to see Fiona’s “eldest son” at it after being rushed in to hospital with appendicitis earlier in the week.

Suddenly everything is fallng in to place and time is disappearing very quickly.

First aid supplies are with our shipping agents and go on the boat today to arrive in Banjul on 6th November.

On Wednesday Fiona heads for Manchester to fly out early Thursday morning - suitcases are packed, weighed and all set to go.

Thanks to some good friends in Gambia house hunting has been making progress and there are a few places to view when Fiona gets there.

Our twinning program is building momentum and I will post more details soon on this.

We will soon have our website up and running. I had a meeting with John on Thursday where he showed me the details of the proposed site. It looks amazing ! Thanks John.

We now have our own group on Facebook.

We have also set up another blog on edublog so that schools can hopefully use it on school computers: First Aid 4 Gambia

Its been another busy day.
Our labels for the crates arrived yesterday. We owe a big thank you to David Drinnan of inotec barcode security who supplied these FOC.

They stand out really well on the crates

We had just got all the labels stuck on when Colin Cameron from the Dunoon Observer arrived to take some photos and get some details on our progress.
I look forward to reading his article. Colin has done a few write ups on our efforts and seems to really understand what we are trying to achieve.

Its been a busy day today !

First job this morning – spread out 25 large crates round the house  ready for the packing team to arrive.

10 am and the team starts to gather – time for a coffee and a brief discussion about how we are going to make sure things run efficiently.

Things go remarkably smoothly and the crates start to fill up and Fiona’s checklist for each box is getting lots of boxes ticked.

The only mishap was Betty our treasurer taking a wee tumble when she caught herself on a crate due to the cramped conditions.

We even managed to squeeze the CPR manikins in to the crates so less for me to take out in November.

By lunchtime we had 24 crates packed with supplies. 1 crate per school we plan to supply.

Special thanks are due to Gerry who volunteered to help and who has also booked with his son to come out to Gambia at the end of January to help. As a retired headmaster of a large school I am sure he will be able to make a big contribution.

The packing team and a typical “first aid in a crate” for a school.

After filling out any spaces in the crates with stuff we need for our house in Gambia it was time to find somewhere to stack them up until our carriers collect them on the first stage of their journey to Gambia.

Not much space around the house just now lol

Could you be our next sponsor?

Would you like to run a small fundraising event to sponsor Pa Ansumana Badjie Memorial Islamic School in Banjonkoto?
A coffee morning would take care of their First Aid supplies !!

A friend contacted us to say ” I visited this school with a Gambian friend last March. They dont get many visitors. can you find them a sponsor for first aid? ”

There are 4 classrooms and approx 200 children and 4 teachers. they have absolutely no First Aid supplies. (something we take for granted in UK schools).

If you can sponsor this school or another school/nursery please contact us at firstaid4gambia@googlemail.com .

We really need your help to make this project work.

We have just linked up with Easy Fundraising

This lets you shop online and choose from over 600 of the UK’s best-known retailers including many popular names such as Amazon, Next, Argos, John Lewis and HMV, and when you shop using the links on this site up to 15% from every purchase you make is donated to the cause you choose to nominate.

Please register with Easy Fundraising and chose First Aid 4 Gambia from the drop down box and everytime you shop you will be helping by making a donation.

Shop for Donations

Using our FREE service is as easy as 1-2-3.

Log into easyfundraising with your email address and password - this is how we know who you are and which cause you are supporting.

Next, click any of the links provided on our website to visit your chosen retailer - with over 600 to choose from including Amazon, Next, Argos, John Lewis and HMV.

Finally, shop with the retailer directly and complete your transaction online - it really is that easy!

That’s all you need to do - apart from remembering to return to our site next time you are going to shop online!!

As you can see on the banner we now have our official registered charity number.

Some of the First Aid supplies are now here (my house looks a bit like a mini wharehouse ) just a few bits still to arrive.
Crates are ordered and on their way thanks to Plastor containers

We have arranged shipping through Redcoat Shipping so everything will be in Gambia early November.

Now we just have to arrange to get everything down to Crawley from Argyll.
Anybody got a van and a bit of time to spare?

I finally got a new computer so can update on what’s been happening.

Car boot Sale

We had a good turnout for this and the weather was kind despite it being torrential in the days before.

We had a steady flow of people visiting the 12 stands and Betty (the treasurer) was kept busy selling quizzes and rattling collecting cans.

The Casino Night

This was really good fun!

We owe a lot of people a big thank you for making the night a great success which raised about £750. Our blackjack dealer was Bob White who kept the table in stitches all night while he extracted their money.

Our sponsors for the night were: The Argyll Hotel,  Loch Fyne Oysters, Loch Fyne Hotel, Inveraray Jail (thanks to all the staff who came en masse ), Inveraray Woollen Mill, The Arch Filling Station (Londis), The Coop, MacIntyres and E. H. Noble & Son.

The First Aid Fest

After a hectic night at the casino Fiona and I headed to Cairndow to help Cairndow Nursery run a festival of First Aid to raise money to supply Wellingara Nursery (The Nursery under the Tree) with first aid supplies.

While we were there Barry Rowlands from Cairndow Cricket Club popped in with a donation of £125. The club was winding up and felt this was a good cause. Thanks all.

Inveraray Games Day

This gave us a chance to chat to a lot of people and let them know what we were doing and also rattle the collecting cans . Thanks to the Games committee for giving us the space.

Finally thanks to The Dunoon Observer for showing an interest and giving us some nice write ups…… they have gone in to the scrapbook !

My computer has decided to throw a wobbly and as a result I am a bit behind in updating progress.

Fiona is booked to fly to Gambia on 22nd October and will stay until the beginning of April 2010.
I have now booked to go on 28th Nov and return to the UK just before Christmas with further trips planned in 2010.

Our fundraising events have gone really well and we have had some good write ups in the local press.

We have already had some bookings from people who want to come to Gambia on a “volunteering holiday”.

We have recruited 2 new members to the team.

Over the weekend I will fill out all the details and get reports done on what’s been going on.