Time for Celebrations

“Now is our opportunity to celebrate our many achievements at Shine-Africa since we began our project in 1999, achievements like building  four  schools from scratch,” said Mariama Manneh, Coordinator,  Shine-Africa.

Our first was in Mandinari village, followed by Bundung Borehole, Serrekunda, Saba  Baddibou on the North Bank of the country and our latest in Madina Pipeline, Brikama.

Shine-Africa fully supports all four  schools, paying wages, providing school equipment/furniture and supplying all books and stationery.  Through our fundraising efforts, we also supplied  school uniforms and lifesaving mosquito nets to our school children, the nets running into the thousands.

We also help other schools in need, spreading the wealth and benefitting many hundreds of children. After all, these children are our future generation and deserve the education that we, in the West, take for granted.  Shine-Africa funded a new roof for a neighbouring school, another with toilets and a fence.  We’ve handed out tables and chairs and given stationery to schools up and down the country.

All our schools have new fully broke- tiled floors which keep dust to a minimum and prevent holes occurring, caused by classroom furniture.

Here, at Shine-Africa, we are helping with a feeding programme  in  two  of our schools and we hand out pencils, pens, crayons, exercise books and  paper to help as many children and teachers as possible.

In  recent years, we have started shipping fully loaded containers out to The Gambia with the help of Mark Hammonds, enabling us to distribute to as many educational establishments as possible, as well as hospitals and clinics.

Over the years, we have supported  the Gambia College by supplying stationery, paper, card, glue sticks, as well as furniture, tray units, computers and TV’s, all benefitting their ECD (Early Childhood Development) course for Nursery School Teachers.

“ I personally volunteered  three months of my time each year as a teacher on the ECD course (my career was a nursery/infant teacher).  I have produced syllabus booklets in English and Maths to help the teachers and phonic booklets for the children whilst collating nursery and number rhyme booklets for the college students, some of whom we have funded for  a three-year course,”  said Mariama Manneh.

The Gambia Police Headquarters have also benefitted from  a donation of many computers and office chairs.

Regarding the health of the nation, Shine has contributed to the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH), items such as wheelchairs, crutches, walking frames, an x-ray door, diabetic equipment, second-hand glasses and many more medical items, she added.

“We have supported a number of clinics with larger items, such as hospital beds and mattresses, bedside cabinets, general medical items, safe disposal bins, tables,  walking frames, mosquito nets, medical drugs, diabetic and blood pressure equipment and all important medical books.

At our school in Mandinari, with the help of some friends, we have funded and built a clean water well, she further stated.

“Many of our donations are for individual people whose lives have been enhanced by having their own wheelchairs, walking frames, crutches and spectacles.

Our wage bill alone comes to approximately  £8,000 per year, that’s before we ship out our containers, maintain and improve our existing schools, fund teachers to attend college, help pay medical bills.   Without the help from so many generous supporters, this would not be possible.  From a donation of £4.25 collected from loose change to the businessman who paid £1,500 for one of our containers to be shipped to The Gambia, we couldn’t do what we did without you,” she pointed out.

Mariama added that from donations of money, stationery, books, furniture and clothing, makes it a massive difference to the lives of many.

Just look at our achievements – they speak for themselves, she posited.

“A pound may not sound like a great deal but when added to a second and a third pound, this buys a lifesaving mosquito net and so it goes on,” she stated.