Dirk Depoorter
Monday, February 9
Fuffor Village
Visit to our school in Fuffor Village. We made an appointment with Samba Sowe (Headteacher), Ousman Bah (Regional Counsellor), Dawda Jatta (school representative on the Gammol School Committee), Alieu Jarju (Head of the VDC), and Sulayman Jatta (the Alkalo).
The biggest problems are the teachers' salaries and finding teachers. What they can pay today is not at the level of a qualified teacher. The same applies to the headteacher. Additionally, there is a need for all kinds of school supplies. Currently, all operating funds from the village go to the school to pay the teachers' salaries. They have put all other projects on hold because they want to retain the good teachers. But they are still not succeeding. To such an extent that they may have no choice but to close the school, according to Samba. They are seeking a solution by transferring the school to the government.
This is not entirely unexpected for us. Omar had already informed us that they are facing a problem here. However, before we decided to build the school, there were discussions with the VDC and those responsible, who assured us at the time that they would honor their commitments. One of the most important commitments is being able to pay the teachers. They now admit that they miscalculated the costs to achieve this. For us, this is a confrontation with reality and a lesson in making better calculations and agreements in advance. While we can state that we execute what we promise and do what we say, this is clearly not always reciprocated. Not out of ill will, but due to a genuine lack of resources.
For Gammol, independence from the government remains important. We will have to examine how we can achieve this. It seems clear, and a requirement, that more of our resources will have to go towards the operation of the schools.
Giboro Koto
This is one of our new water installations. Large community. According to Peter Mendy (Secretary of the VDC), our installation covers 5% of their water needs. After a warm welcome and the usual expressions of gratitude by Amadou Saidy Barry (Alkalo), Abdoulie Jallow (Chairperson of the VDC), and Oumie Saidy Barry (Women’s Representative and sister of the Alkalo), they take us to their community garden, where they are facing problems: insufficient water capacity with their installation (not installed by Gammol).
The first obvious problem, easily solvable, is removing the 2cm of dust from their solar panels. The panels are mounted on the tower, at a height of about 4m. There is a reason why we place the solar panels on the ground: they are easier to clean. Additionally, we ask Omar to check if the pump is powerful enough.
We indicate that we are willing to take on the major maintenance, but only with clear agreements included in our Memorandum of Understanding. We will then act as guarantor for the solar panels, the water reservoirs, and the pump; they must take care of the day-to-day maintenance: cleaning the panels, replacing defective taps, making and keeping the water reservoirs watertight, and painting the tower to prevent rust.
In addition to their words of thanks, they share their other needs with us: more water installations, a school (75% of the children do not attend school), a marketplace, fencing for our installation… They do not explicitly ask for help with all of these; they are going to take action themselves as well. They simply state that any support is welcome.
Goboro Kuta
Right next to the previous village, also a new installation, and once again a large delegation waiting for us: the Imam leading the prayer, Ousman Bah, the counselor who is always happy to be there to receive some of the praise, Sheriffo Jatta (Alkalo), Maimuna Kolley (Head of the Ladies Committee), and Habibou Drammeh, one of the young people from The Water Committee.
Maimuna takes the floor for the numerous women present, who are overwhelmed with gratitude. They had never imagined they would find themselves in this position. Gammol arrived just “in time.” In the past, they had to lug large buckets hundreds of meters to get water; now, the furthest compound is barely 30 meters away from one of our taps.
“We will never forget what Gammol did for us” and “This is the first support we ever received”… with great thanks to ‘our’ Omar for what he has done.
And then come the most urgent questions:
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30% of the community is now served by our installation. One of the speakers even requests 10 additional installations, given that Giboro Kuta is one of the largest ‘kabilos’.
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Further extensions to our installation.
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An extra nursery school (there is already one, but it is too far away for part of the village).
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A marketplace to sell their surplus vegetables and earn some money.
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A shop where the poorest in the village can buy rice at low prices.
We immediately make it clear that we do not provide certain services (marketplace, shop), and that for the other services, they are one of many applicants. We also explain that the actions they take themselves will help determine any potential additional investments.
Tubakuta Village
Masanneh Bojang (Alkalo), Lamin Saidy (Water Committee Chairman), and the women’s rep welcome us, along with a large group from the village. This is the third new installation we are visiting today.
One of the few communities that does not overwhelm us with additional questions and needs. The focus here is primarily on the actions they take themselves: how they ensure that the water installation and the surrounding area remain clean and well-maintained, and how they even started a ‘health’ center themselves using their own limited resources… Naturally, the question arises, albeit in a more modest way, that any help would be welcome here.
In addition, they are mindful of the needs of others: even though there is still a need for more water, they realize that other communities do not yet have access to clean water and that our priority must go there first. But the gratitude is immense: they set up a tent with seats, especially for us (no chairs), we receive a traditional shirt and a performance with singing and dancing women, Gammol receives a “certificate of appreciation”, and of course the obligatory speeches. “Until recently, there was only 1 (private) compound that had a water installation with clean water, and the village waited 10 years to have clean water as well. Only God can thank us for this.”
Time and again, the confrontation that what is so normal for us is not the case in Gambia!
Tuesday, February 10
Sotokoi Village
We have a facility here. When we passed by here last year, we “discovered” another 40,000-liter facility on the other side of the village, funded by the European Commission. Installed in 1995, it now runs solely on electricity. And therefore incurs costs. The EC only funded the installation and nothing more since then. Over the past few months, Dirk has tried to find out who is responsible for this today. Through the EC and the embassy, but no one knows anything anymore.
We had asked Omar to arrange a meeting here with the community leaders to see if Gammol could be of any help. This is on a different scale than our facilities, but with the expertise we have built up in the meantime, we might be able to help a large and growing village. I did not write down all the names, but those present were: the Imam, Alkalo, the elders, the VDC secretary, members of the “borehole” and “health” committees, the regional counselor, and the auditor of the Sotokoi Village Committee, a certain Lamin Samateh. All together about 25 men (and 1 woman). Anyway, after the formalities (prayer, words of thanks), we ask to sit around the table with a limited group, a maximum of about 5 people. This is to avoid too much repetition or a situation where everyone feels the need to say something.
We are given an overview of the situation:
- 100 compounds, each with its own tap. 50 compounds without a tap. 50 new compounds under construction. Growing community.
- Electricity supplied by NEWAC, the electricity company, which does not always provide power, resulting in no water. Moreover, they expect nothing from the government.
- The compounds pay based on their usage. Total annual cost D168,000 (+-€2,000), of which D96,000 is for electricity. The rest is maintenance.
- The installation was transferred to the village after 15 years, without further support.
- It also ran on solar energy, but the panels are 30 years old and no longer meet the requirements, or if water was needed in the evening (doubtful with a 40,000L tank).
A few years ago, lightning struck, rendering the solar panels completely inoperable. Before that, the installation worked to everyone's satisfaction. The taps located on public land have been shut off, because every user must contribute financially to cover the total cost. - Additional taps in the compounds are being installed by the village.
And now they are asking if Gammol cannot help make the installation 100% operational again. The total cost is estimated at D555,000 (+-€6,500). After discussion, we agree that Gammol is willing to cover the repair and major maintenance, provided a number of important agreements are met.
- Every compound must be able to receive a tap. To be paid for by the compound itself.
- The public taps must be made accessible again to people who do not have the means (money) to install a tap in their compound.
- The community commits to paying D84,000 to Gammol for 4 years. A sum that we use for other projects in Gambia. This is half of their income, which they receive from the compounds. And it is limited in time.
All of this is laid down in a Memorandum of Understanding, with clear agreements on what happens if the agreements are not adhered to.
Once back in Belgium, we will draft the Memorandum of Understanding, send it to Omar to have it signed by the Alkalo, VDC, Woman Representative, and Regional Counsellor.
Faraba Suutu
A ‘mandatory’ stop when we are in Gambia. Alieu Sanyang, the young Alkalo, is the driving force behind the evolution of the community in Faraba Suutu. A primary school, a marketplace, the construction of a mosque… all made possible by Alieu, together with enthusiastic young people who want to move forward. Gammol has supported them by installing two water systems and building a kindergarten last year. After all, one of our approaches is to invest extra in those villages that show us they are taking action to grow.
They had problems with the government regarding their school because more and more children wanted to attend, which led to an exodus from surrounding schools. But that did not stop Alieu from continuing to invest in quality education.
We discuss with him the objective of the Gammol School Committee, in which every Gammol school is represented, with the aim of bringing the quality of education in our various schools to the same level and raising it. Something Alieu fully supports.
Niggie Village
A funeral is taking place, so we are received by the Alkalo's brother, Ibrahim Bema. Furthermore, Malah Saidy, responsible for the community garden, and Amadou Jallow, chair of the Youth Development Committee, are present to welcome us.
One of our water installations is already located in Niggie. Their request last year was to build a new school and provide additional support for their community garden. Regarding the school, we did not approve their request. The application was simply a copy-paste from Faraba, without any input of their own and without any clarity on how they could guarantee its operation.
As for the garden, we had asked them to take action themselves first. To ensure the garden was fenced so that it could be further developed. And they kept their word. When we asked how they achieved this, the answer was that they sold wood and used the proceeds to buy the wire to fence the garden. Impressive! The next step they are now going to take is to expand the garden so that more women can get to work. The problem here is that they need to install water reservoirs so that they have enough water to irrigate all the plots. Currently, there are 3 reservoirs (costing approximately 25,000 D or €100 each). We agree to pay for the necessary 6 additional reservoirs. The water installation in the garden itself is not the Gammol one and does not meet our standards. For instance, there is no water return when the tank is full, meaning the system constantly has to be switched on and off. Or the water simply overflows. Perhaps something we should look into at a later stage. First, the reservoirs.
As for the school… Their dream is a school with 3 to 4 nursery classes for about 200 children!? With the limited resources they have, they have started making concrete blocks to build the school. But it is clear that they will be busy for years if they want to finance this themselves. On the other hand, given our experience, there are doubts about how they are going to run this operationally. They do say that they are going to ask for a contribution from the parents, but we seriously doubt whether this will be sufficient, and whether the parents can actually afford it. Too many unanswered questions to make a commitment. Something to revisit next year. We have invited them to visit a few of our other schools to get a concrete idea of what it entails to run a school operationally.
Gammol HQ
We conclude the day by visiting the students of Thomas Moore University of Applied Sciences, who are currently completing an internship as part of their studies.
Wednesday, February 11
Our last day already. Time is flying…
Brufut Tintino
We start the day with a visit to one of our new water installations. A sprawling community, more than 200 compounds, over 3,000 residents. Brufut was the last installation to be placed in 2025. We are welcomed by about 30 villagers, including the Alkalo, Bawda Sowe, his sister Kumba, Woman’s Representative, the regional council Kamoro Camara, the VDC Chairman Omar Bah, Haddy Bojang, executive member VDC, Mustaph Kullan, installation manager and youth leader, and finally—interestingly—the president’s representative, Yankuba Sanno. Impressive titles…
Furthermore, the usual formalities: everyone takes turns expressing their gratitude, and they share their further needs. Community gardens, a health center with 2 doctors, fencing for the installation. And they ask for potential support. Dirk explains how we work, emphasizing the action we expect from them before further action on our part. We also have a conversation with Yankuba, who might be able to help us find the places in Gambia where the European Commission has installed water towers. He promises to check this with us. Wait and see…
Abuko Water Project
We pass by our Gammol Abuko school, where the village has applied to install an additional water tank at our school due to a water shortage. Although this is a region where the water company NEWAC is present, they trust “our” water more than Newac’s. The pump already standing here is one of our old installations that still runs on electricity and is therefore expensive. The village has already financed the tower itself; the request is to install solar panels here as well. Just as with other installations we carry out where we install solar panels to save on electricity costs, we agree to charge half of the savings and spread them over a period of 4 years. We are including this in our priority list.
Abuko School
The Abuko school is owned by Gammol. We had a meeting with the headmaster, Omar Jarju, and his right-hand man, Pierre Jatta, a teacher and the school's accountant, regarding the school's operations and our expectations for active participation in the Gammol School Committee. It is clear to everyone that Pierre is the most suitable person to participate in the GSC, more so than Omar.
Regarding operations, we have drafted a document that should allow us to gain a better insight into the school's finances, along with a number of other expectations. The intention is to involve “our” Omar more closely in this, so that he can help monitor it, as the accounts they explain to us (verbally) are not really clear.
Regarding needs: here too, we receive feedback that paying the teachers is a problem. The school has 147 students, and not every parent can afford the tuition fees. Moreover, they also admit a number of orphans who lack the financial means. In addition, a number of urgent repairs need to be carried out, and we want to upgrade the school to the level of our new schools. This is also a priority for this year.
Meeting Ensa Sanyang
The final visit is to Ensa, the man who will chair the GSC. We have been invited to his home. The objective is to discuss the functioning and the next steps of the Committee with him. There is a representative from each school on the committee, and each school has its own priorities. What it comes down to is that we expect the GSC to determine the overarching priorities for the 5 Gammol schools. Not an easy task. This means that the participants must be able to look beyond their own school and establish a priority list based on that. This will require a serious effort from the participants, something they are not accustomed to. Depending on our budget, we will then determine how many of the priorities can be included or completed. Ensa will coordinate this. We are curious about the outcome of the exercise. One thing has already become clear after all our visits to the Gammol schools: paying teachers is a problem everywhere.
Goodbye Omar en Lamin
Time to head to the airport. We stop along the way for a drink with Omar and Lamin, during which we ask Omar to provide a brief evaluation. In summary, we can conclude that 2025 was a very fruitful year. Omar and Lamin were able to realize many projects. As for 2026, there are quite a few requests, too many to fulfill in a single year. Finalizing the priorities based on all the needs and requests we captured during our visits, plus the requests Omar will receive on top of that, is the first thing we need to do once back in Belgium. We immediately schedule an appointment to go over this at our next Teams meeting.
Back to Belgium… The farewell is heartfelt, just like every year, and with regret in our hearts…
