Foundation Adult Education The Gambia

About the FAEG

Literacy

The Foundation for Adult Education in The Gambia (FAEG) was founded in 1998. It came from an initiative by some Dutch tourists who went to The Gambia and wanted to help people in this developing country. After they returned home, a friendly notary drew up the necessary documents to make the organization an official foundation.

From the beginning, the main purpose of the Foundation was to help develop literacy skills for adults in The Gambia, where there is a real need. To make literacy teaching possible, money was collected by relations and friends of people in the Foundation in order to pay teachers in The Gambia and buy text books, so that students could learn to read, write and become numerate, not only in their mother tongue, but also in English. The students are selected by the local teachers.

The school in Kololi is located on the road next to the shopping center “The Village” some 100 meters from the high way. The address is Kololi Nursery School near Rasta Garden.

Due to declining income of the Foundation education is no longer free. The Foundation asks sponsors who want to send a student to the school €10,- /month (€120,-/year), to be paid to the Foundation in the Netherlands. This is more than the actual costs but with that you sponsor also the Foundation. A student with a sponsor is always accepted, even if there are too many registrations.

The bank account of the foundation is:

NL18 ABNA 047 49 74 219 account name: Adults Educ The Gambia

Students without a sponsor have to pay GMD 500,- /year. They can pay to the the head teacher.

The Foundation supports computer training for the 10 best students per year. The Foundation pays GMD 1000/student and the student has to contribute for the three month course GMD 500.

For more information you can contact the head teacher Marie Coker mobile 9981343 0r 2385586 or the secretary Joanna Badjie mobile 99139686.

Or you contact the secretary of the Foundation, Jan Wijers, in the Netherlands e-mail info@faeg.nl

Gunjur Garden

The Foundation extended their activities with an income-generating project in Gunjur in the southern part of The Gambia. A piece of forest was transformed into a vegetable garden and now over 200 women from the village of Gunjur have their own small plot of land in this garden. The Foundation invested a lot of money and effort providing a deep borehole to feed a reticulated irrigation system powered by solar panels. Water is therefore always available and the whole area is protected with a fence.

The women in the garden are advised by Joanna Badjie, who has an agricultural education. There is now a netted nursery shed for raising seedlings free from heavy rains and pests which was paid for by the sponsors.

Since 2017 Gunjur Garden is independent and controlled by the women of Gunjur. The project proves to be sustainable.

Management of the Foundation

The administration of the Foundation is in The Netherlands. The board of the Foundation controls the activities in The Gambia through Internet banking and regular reports and petty cash accounts from the management in The Gambia.

As well as this, most board members visit the Gambia at least once a year at their own expense, as money from sponsors may only be used for activities in The Gambia.

The Foundation keeps sponsors informed about progress with a twice-yearly newsletter and an annual report. The Foundation’s website (www.faeg.nl) is regularly updated with pictures and information, including links to video clips of the literacy classes in Kololi on Youtube. (http://faeg.nl/2011/03/bestuur-bezoekt-gunjur/)

The school of the FAEG is in Kololi.

The school is on the road next to the shopping center “The Village” in Kololi a couple of hundred meters from the highway. The address is: Kololi Nursery School near Rasta Garden.

Contact in Gambia: hoofdonderwijzeres Marie Coker tel. 9981343 of 2385586.