Mornings in Gambia start with a breakfast of delicious (& vegan!) local beans, we are then picked up and we travel to local schools where we host crafts and face paint with the children.
We have baguettes for lunch- vegetable (onion) for me! And head back out in the afternoon to work with more children or paint classrooms in schools.
By midday the temperature most days is over 40 degrees and Gambian children seek shade under trees or behind buildings. Many of these children have little clothes and no shoes.
The purpose of this trip was always to work with the children on environmental topics and so I travelled with some eco games, plastic free gifts and litter pickers. We played endangered animal and ocean bingo with older children and winners received plastic free toys and stationary. I also took a group of older children out litter picking just outside their school. They were so excited for this. These children have never seen a litter picker before, but we left some foldable Waterhaul litter pickers with them.
It is normal to throw your waste on the floor or just pile it up on the side of the road. We picked up so much litter in such a small time and we had a lot of attention from older people in the village wondering what we were doing. I asked the children to explain to them why we are cleaning their village and what it means to them to have a clean home and streets without pollution.
They said they hated the sight of the village being dirty- that it attracts pests and is unhygienic and dangerous because most children can’t afford shoes. They want to grow up and be proud of their community and they want it to look nice.
This type of education is rare in The Gambia, teachers throw litter out of the car windows in the way to work. We have a long way to go but the children are happy and so enthusiastic to learn.
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