Child Sponsorship Report 2009, from Bakoteh, Gambia

2009 is saying bye and we can sense the approach of Christmas in our midst.  The jingles bells have started ringing welcoming Christmas in our beloved country and our SOS Village as well. The children have started rehearsing getting ready to sing the carols to their many friends. What a wonderful year to go bye so quickly as a lot of challenges were met but we were able to go by thanks to the support of our valuable sponsors who were all out to see that we over come them. This year has been characterised by the global economic and financial crisis for which SOS Children’s’ Village Bakoteh was not an exception. Regardless of this, SOS was able to continue in its implementation of its existing programmes with set standards to pass through this unpopular era. Our country The Gambia experienced a heavy downpour of rain which caused many damages but thanks to the intervention of the disaster management team of the regions who rendered assistances to the affected families. With our team of dedicated and determined staff, lots of activities were undertaken in our village with positive impacts attained. Keep abreast as events unfold.

SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGE BAKOTEH, SOS CHILDRENS VILLAGE NURSERY & SOS YOUTH FACILITY

The SOS Children’s Village Bakoteh and the Youth village inclusive is home to 111 registered children and there are 10 babies in the  Transit home who are not yet registered as there cases are still under  investigation.  The period under review saw a lot of activities and programmes taking place organized by our partners in which some of the administrative staff participated. Staff and children from TOTAL Company in Senegal visited the SOS Children’ Village on 30th July 2009 accompanied by staff of TOTAL (G) Ltd. They were met on arrival by the Social Worker and were taken on a conducted tour of the village by the French Educator of the nursery and TOTAL House mother. Students from Ecole Diana Mariam visited the village on 5th August 2009 as part of their summer programmes.  The village director, 2 mothers, 1 aunty, 1 educator and the village nurse accompanied the children to Bwiam in the Foni’s for the annual summer camp as part of exposing them to life out of SOS. The Social Work Programme Coordinator visited the village on 23rd September 2009 and briefed the mothers/aunties on the Social Work Course after which a test was conducted on 25th September 2009 to ascertain who are eligible to take-up the course. The children of SOS Children’s Villages Bakoteh and Basse were amongst scores of people at the Independence Stadium to witness the presentation of the FIFA World Cup trophy to the President of the Republic.  This is day to be remembered as some of the children were opportune to take photos with the trophy.

The SOS Children’s Village Nursery Bakoteh at present has an intake of 222 out of which 102 are boys and 120 girls of this figure 31 are SOS children.2nd July an Open Day was organised to which parents/guardians attended to sign and collect their children’s report and to discuss issues as to the performance of their children and the way forward which was followed by their graduation on 4th July. A two days workshop was held in the Nursery on 13th and 14 July geared towards reviewing the academic year’s work plan and identify the strength and weaknesses of the educators and agree on strategies to implement in 2009 – 2010 academic year.  The SOS National Education department organised a workshop for Nursery educators in Bakoteh and Basse from the 8th – 12th September 2009 to develop the Nursery curriculum.  Interviews were conducted for educators for the afternoon shift on the 13th and 14 July so that the educators in the morning shift will no longer teach in the afternoon to ensure that effective learning and teaching takes place in the afternoon as in the morning.  The observation of microteaching was done on 25th September 2009 for the new educators after the interview.  5 candidates were selected out of which, 3 were successful during the micro teaching sessions of the interview.

On the educational aspect in the Youth Village, there is actually pride as at least one of our youth girls secured the lone Scholarship tenable in Norway at the Nordic College after a break since 2002. The results of the Gambia Basic Certificate Examinations (GABECE) conducted by WAEC were released and all the five of our youths but one that wrote it did well. The summer holiday job exercise went very well. Most our youths sent to places of job did cooperate and their attestations are testimony to this. Home visits and the School /Institution visits proceeded well but there is still room for improvement. The youths participated in summer camps in collaboration with some other bodies associated with child care. This includes YMCA, YAP and Peace Corps Office. Consequently, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between SOS and Youth Ambassadors of Peace, (YAP). The National Youth Development Team revised the NYDT report and has been involved in vigorous preparation of prospective youth delegates to the Regional Youth Forum.

SOS HERMANN GMEINER LOWER & UPPER BASIC SCHOOLS & SOS HERMANN GMEINER SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL

The SOS Lower/Upper Basic School is a Basic Cycle School within The Gambia’s education system and implements the National School Curriculum. This academic year the number of pupils on roll  is 832.  There are 409 boys and 423 girls of which 406 students in the morning shift and 426 in the afternoon shift. We have 16 SOS children in the Upper Basic, 8 are boys and 8 are girls and in the Lower Basic and 38 others 16 boys and 22 girls in the Upper Basic. Information sharing is still a main stay in our collaboration with the SOS Children’s Village authorities in our efforts to educate and shape the behavioural patterns of the children. In order to identify and develop sporting talents in students, the school organized its Inter House sports competition. We continue to collaborate with all our partners who have helped us make our extracurricular activities meaningful and successful and we have been able to constantly improve on the school’s image. The school’s response to the President’s call to go green has brought further recognition to the school as United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has invited the school to participate in their one million tree planting programme. Performance of the staff is monitored regularly and staff development and motivation is given due attention. Staff workshops were organized by the school the objective was to review all teaching and learning activities and its related areas during the academic year 2008/09 and discuss strategies for development. An orientation workshop was organized for the newly employed teachers, to better equip them and to better prepare them for work the very day schools re-open. The Gambia Basic Education certificate Examination result this year shows marked improvement in the performance of our students. 118 student were presented for the examination and we registered  87.23% pass, 9.74% failed and 3.03%  were absent. The performance of the Grades 3 and 5 pupils in the first ever National Assessment Test is very impressive as they did extremely well in all the core subjects. To enhance environmental sanitation, the school carried out its first monthly environmental cleansing exercise along the school’s drive way and the entire school compound for the 2009/10 academic year on the 30th October 2009.

SOS Technical Senior Secondary School made steady but significant progress during this period. The school roll is approximately 1000 (grade 10 admissions still in progress), 55% of whom are girls. Workshops were organised by the school to help teachers keep abreast with developments in the teaching profession and also for the staff to be conversant with changes in policies and principles of the SOS organisation e.g. the Child Centred Approach. Performance in the external examinations showed remarkable improvement with 4 of our students falling within the National Merit list. The school came out second in a televised quiz competition at the Gambia Radio and Television Services in collaboration with the National Council for Civic Education the questions were based good governance, Human and Child’s Right issues. In a related development I of our students came out 3rd in a National Essay Competition organised and sponsored by UNESCO. The school qualified for the finals of another televised quiz competition in Mathematics and Science. The guidance and counselling department organised a career seminar for the 12th grade student’s. The Agricultural Science Department of the school organised a tree planting exercise in response to the national competition sponsored by the President of the Republic of The Gambia.

SOS TRAINING & PRODUCTION CENTRE & SOS REGIONAL MOTHER ADULT TRAINING CENTRE

The SOS Training & Production Centre being the centre of choice in the community still offers training in its three sections namely, Carpentry, Metalwork and Auto Mechanic while rendering service to the SOS projects and the community at large. An exhibition was held on the 29th July which also gave an opportunity to parents to interact with the educators. In July 6 students graduated from Carpentry, 5 from Metalwork and 4 from Auto mechanic making a total of 15. A former student also a resettled SOS Youth of the centre now working with S. Madi & Sons (Gambia) Ltd. was invited as the Guest Speaker.  An entry examination was held in June for new intakes the subsequent enrolment of the successful ones.  Classes resumed for the academic year 2009/2010 in September with an intake of 27 students added to the former 45 thus bringing the total of 72 students. One of our former students designed and presented a podium to the President of The Gambia.  This is a boost for the centre as here was the place he acquired his skills and we were very proud of him as he is really making use of the talent acquired. The examination results for the trainers who sat to the City and Guilds Examinations are out and the results are positive that of the practical is awaited and we are hopeful of positive results as well.  In July the centre was visited by students on summer camp organised by the US Peace Corps. It was to promote peace and also sensitize the youths on HIV/AIDS. A similar visit by the SOS Children’s Villages of Louga in Senegal and the SOS Children’s Village Bakoteh also visited the centre as part of there summer programmes.
    
The Regional Mother Adult Training conducted 2 Basic Training Programs in which 34 Mothers/Aunties from our region were trained. The Director visited Liberia and Guinea Conakry respectively to assess and evaluate the mothers and aunties who have undergone the basic training. 2 students did their industrial attachment at the Centre in the spirit of community cooperation and support. In our Social Work Certificate Program, 12 students who registered for the 2008/09 academic session had their classes and subsequently examinations whiles 14 successful students did their Field Practice Placement. A 4 member Advocacy Team had been formed to campaign for the wellbeing of the child followed by an Advocacy workshop on child trafficking organized in collaboration with the American Embassy. Students, co-workers and Mothers-in-Basic Training Program participated. 26 new students were admitted into the Social Work program for the 2009/10 academic session. The 2nd Graduation Ceremony for the successful Social Work students is slated for December 2009. A total of 11 Mothers/Aunties have continued to be upgraded through our Family-Based Care Literacy Program. Plans are on the way to extend this program to the Mothers/Aunties in SOS Children’s Village Basse during Summer Holidays.  The Functional Adult Literacy Program has recorded 44 beneficiaries of which a 44-year old man and a 53-year old woman are keenly following the program. A request has been made by UNESCO The Gambia to extend this program to the capital city Banjul.  During the course of the year, 774 people benefited from such services in the course of SOS workshops and meetings. Our Sewing/Craft Work Department enrolled a total of 15 students this year.  Administratively, the Centre has had increased activities leading to the recruitment of a Social Work Lecturer to enhance the Social Work Program. 

SOS MOTHER & CHILD CLINIC

From May to October 2009 the SOS Mother and Child Clinic has served over 8898 patients including 1,383 new patients. The majority of these patients are children constituting 60% of our clinic attendance. Additionally, women represent 30% of our total patients, most of whom are coming for antenatal care.  In addition to the routine clinical work, other activities were undertaken during this period in order to extend the range of services offered to our clients to meet their emerging needs. The largest portion of our time has been dedicated to the building of the new maternity unit, installation of its equipment, and preparation for recruiting new clinical staff. We are delighted to inform you that, even though the new maternity unit is not 100% complete, we were able to assist in the delivery of 9 bouncing babies, 2 of which were twins.In addition to our new projects and increasing number of patients, the clinic is also actively taking part in the national response to and prevention of pandemic diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and diarrheal diseases which affect The Gambia as well as other tropical countries.

FAMILY STRENGTHENING PROGRAMME

59 families are benefitting supplement from this programme. A basic medical arrangement is in place with two major hospitals in foni i.e. (Sulayman Junkung Jammeh Hospital in Bwiam and WEC International at Sibanor) to train and supervise a community volunteer in the administration of primary drugs at Bajagarr multi purpose centre. School fees, exam fees as well as school materials has been provided  to 250  child beneficiaries in  Bakoteh area, Brikama and Bajagarr for 2009/10 academic year. 23 Parent’s /care-givers and 15 members of Child Welfare Committees of the programme have received training on SOS child care models and SOS Child Protection Policy in order to furnish them with the latest innovations needed in our work. A feasibility study on income generating activities had been conducted in several zones to prepare care-givers in Bajagarr, Brikama and Bakoteh to start a viable project. By the end of next year 30 families supported with Income Generating Activities are expected to reach family self sufficiency to ensure a stable source of income, and in November 2010 they would finally exit the programme. In these zones, a Child Welfare Committee was set to support a smooth and efficient programme implementation. Regular meetings are held with various committees in all locations to raise more concerns on Orphan and Vulnerable Children’s issues and how to management the programme effectively and efficiently by using local resources. An ongoing monitoring of all programme activities is performed regularly by the FSP coordinator.

On behalf of the Management team of SOS Children’s Villages The Gambia we thank you profoundly for your benevolent and noble gesture. We wish you a brighter 2010 and hope that all our dreams come to reality. MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY & PROGRESSIVE YEAR in advance.

Yours faithfully
SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES THE GAMBIA TRUST

Mrs. Mariama Bayo Sidibeh
National Sponsorship Coordinator