The Gambia Trip - Links with Wellingara Lower Basic School

The Gambia Trip 2019  

During the February half term Mr Walsh and Miss Summerfield visited the Gambia to support the UK charity Abooku that provides reading materials to Gambian children. They visited various schools in the Gambia and have established links with Wellingara Lower Basic School. They also visited a local sustainability farm and learnt about the importance of recycling to the local community. 

On returning from the Gambia, Miss Summerfield and Mr Walsh shared their experiences with the whole school during an assembly and delivered postcards to each class from the children in Wellingara Lower Basic School. We look forward to further developing our partnership with this school and learning more about life in the Gambia. 

Challenges Set 

Before Mr Walsh and Miss Summerfield went to the Gambia each class and some staff members set them challenges to complete during their trip. During their assembly Mr Walsh and Miss Summerfield, who were dress in traditional Gambian clothing, shared photographs and videos of them completing each of the challenges. The children enjoyed seeing evidence of each challenge being completed and it was a fun way to learn more about Gambian culture and wildlife. 

Other challenges that were also completed included bringing back something interesting, taking part in a traditional Gambian dance (Mr Walsh enjoyed showing off his dancing skills) and learning a traditional Gambian song. Another challenge was to learn useful phrases and how to count 1-10 in local languages.

    Below are numbers 1-11: 

• Kili 1                                  Warola 7
• Fula 2                                Say 8
• Sabba 3                             Cononto 9
• Nan 4                                Tang 10
• Lulu 5                                Tangnikili 11
• Waro 6 

Here are some useful Gambian phrases - 

• Thank you- abaraka
• Good morning- esama
• Good afternoon -eworara