THE WORK

"No matter how unqualified you think you are there is something for everyone no matter what your skills. From making mud blocks for buildings, painting, digging foundations, nursing skills, teaching, adult education to watering and labelling the plants in the tree nursery to name but a few."

Every itinerary is personally arranged to meet the individuals needs and will be clarified once the booking is confirmed. The information below gives an idea of projects both under way and those yet to commence. The work generally falls into three categories which are : COMMUNITY PROJECTS, HEALTH PROJECTS and EDUCATIONAL PROJECT .

Depending on your length of stay, your skills or your interests you may wish to join either one of these projects or a mixture of them i.e 3 days per week assisting in the class room and 2 days on a community project.

COMMUNITY PROJECTS
Community work in a village. These projects include building more class rooms and other small buildings, firstly of course making the mud blocks from which they will be built. The buildings will then need painting and decorating as well as installing plumbing.

The Village clinic needs a toilet installed.

A wooden adventure play ground is needed for the school. This entails going out into the Bush with a machete and chopping down the trees for your wood - NO B+Q HERE !!!!!!!!!!!!! All trees used for such things are replaced by the Charity.

A village census is under way and in need of completing and continually updating with each birth and death.

The Bee Farm is currently evolving as is the village garden and tree nursery. Volunteers are needed to work on these area's to maintain and promote the potential productivity for the villages and the project itself.

There is an annual Tree Planting Ceremony in August every year, this commenced in 2003 and is gathering momentum and local interest.

Daily air temperatures and rain fall (during the rainy season) need recording in order to measure and monitor climate changes.

MEDIUM TERM AIMS include being able to supply the villages with running water and a power supply. This will entail laying hundreds of metres of pipes and wiring.

Two further class rooms need to be built for the Early Years Centre as does a Secondary School.

There are plans for a village Library in the near future and a Tele-Centre.

SPORTING OPPORTUNITIES
A new Football pitch needs to be established, preferably with a running track around the outside. This is not as easy as it may sound, firstly the land has to be cleared then flattened and levelled. The pitch then marked out for use.

There are few pleasures for adolescence in the Gambia and Football is a passion indeed. Once the new Pitch is in place the land housing the old one can be re-claimed for its original purpose of building two more school rooms.

There are also opportunity to coach and train these young people and set up matches between local villages.

There are many other sporting opportunities for the village for instance cricket and tennis. Are you interested in maybe setting these up and coaching the teams?

This list is far from exhaustive and as you can see there are many many opportunities for community development working along side the WYCE Charity where you will be fully supported throughout your stay.

Health projects in Gambia HEALTH PROJECTS
As stated previously, WYCE Charity has built a Primary Health Care Centre in the village. There are many opportunities here for the health profession and layman alike.

The Lay person can assist the Clinic staff with the weekly baby weighing and advisory sessions. Accompany her on her regular rounds to the Early Years centre to monitor boils, ulcers, bites etc on the small children attending. Also assist with the 20 - 30 locals who attend the clinic each day.

There are numerous opportunities for Paediatricians, Opticians, dentists, Dieticians, Doctors and nurses within the village to benefit the local people who are rather isolated from the nearest hospital and unable to afford hospital care.

The Charity would like to set up a Mother and Baby / Toddler Group as well as a woman's group to look at health and safety issues within the home and the village and to empower the woman within their cultural restraints.

EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS
Gambian children in class Again these are many and varied. The children in the Gambia are all taught in English so teaching English is crucially important. The early Years Centre educates children aged 3-6 yrs, with the Primary school scheduled to open in Sept 06 for children from 7 yrs. The Charity employs the teachers and pays their salaries, there is however a need for assistance in the class rooms. Prior to WYCE establishing in the village there was no education so preparing these children for mainstream education is crucial.

Whether a teacher or someone with a genuine interest in education there is much you can offer. From teaching A, B C's and nursery rhymes to mathematics.

An Adult Literacy class is urgently needed, can you help with this?

We are sure that your experience with the charity WYCE (Wonder Years Centre of Excellence ) combined with your overland expedition will change your way of thinking for many years to come.