Day 4- Mokumbaya

An article in the Gambian national newspaper about the 
"Giving 2 Gambia" project. 

Once again we had an early start, in order to make the most of the few days we had left.  We stopped off at different shops to stock-up on our supplies of rice, books, pens and sweets for the children of Mokumbaya Village.  By this time we were getting recognised by a lot of people because of the media coverage that our group had received.

Buying educational resource supplies before going to Mokumbaya.

The long bumpy journey down the rocky roads proved to be a test for all of us. Along the way we saw locals continuing with their daily duties ranging from carrying water to their homes and herders watching grazing their cattle. 

Upon reaching the outskirts of the village, we saw a large group of young people who ran after our van to welcome us and to get ahead of the queue avoid missing out on the goods we came to distribute.

 We finally reached our destination, and were swarmed by the crowds; again, greeted with a reception worthy of royalty. Once the crowds were settled down by the village elders, an introduction was given on behalf of the Akala(chief).  

Akala's rep welcoming the group

One regular observation was that most of the younger children had no slippers, after speaking to a group of friends one individual decided to give 25 Dalasi each (Approx. 50p) to buy flip-flops for the group, he was astonished at their honesty when the group brought back the change to show him that they had spent the money on the slippers.

Ajhar and friends looking at the bright side of life

Most people in the UK have stacks of shoes and buy a new pair regularly, to think that the only thing these young people wanted was slippers really made us wonder and thank Allah for all we have in the UK. 

The qualities and values of the people of The Gambia are hard to find, they only asked for what they needed and were always appreciative of what we could give.

Learning from our past experiences, when it was time to distribute our supplies we requested the village elders to organise the queues. First, the mothers of the village came to collect their ration of rice, and were then followed by others in the village. At times the queue would become broken, but this only stressed the need and desperation of the locals.

Once the distribution was completed, the group started to mingle with the crowds again, some of our group had a short football match with the locals, mixing up the teams with our group and the locals to bring us all closer together.

Some of us were engrossed in conversations with the elders, learning more about the rich history of The Gambia..

 The old goal posts made of wood. the new goalposts being installed.

The new goalposts being installed.  

School children happy to see the new goal post fitted

A short period after that, it was time for Maghrib Salaah, so we made our way to the local Masjid. It was then we were told the tannoy speakers had stopped working.  So we donated money for them to purchase a new system. Another small donation that’ll make a big difference to the locals. 

Later that night we had been invited by Br.Uthmaan (a charity worker for Noor Aid) to his house to sample a famous Gambian delicacy known as  Domoda  . The brother was very warm and hospitable. May Allah bless him and his family for all his help and support throughout the trip. Ameen.

The Gambian delicacy, Domoda, cooked by Br.Uthmaan's wife.

Satisfied, we headed back to the accommodation in order to recuperate for the next day.