Portrait of SOS mother preparing rice - CV Bakoteh, The…
In The Gambia, like in many other developing countries, lives are organised according to the rains. Read how two families from the SOS family strengthening programme plan for the coming rains...
- Lisa
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Portrait of SOS mother preparing rice - CV Bakoteh, The Gambia
In The Gambia, like in many other developing countries, lives are organised according to the rains. Read how two families from the SOS family strengthening programme plan for the coming rains...
The rainy season is about to start in The Gambia
In the Gambia, the rainy season usually starts early July. Lives in rural areas are highly depending on it and planning accordingly. July is also the month when summer holidays start! Read how beneficiaries of the SOS family strengthening programme in the Bajagarr area are getting ready to spend these next four months of rain...
Making sure houses will 'survive' the rains
The Jallow family lives in Arrangalleng, a rural village 70 kilometres away from the capital, Banjul. There, houses are made of mud bricks and roofs out of more or less old and pierced corrugated iron sheets. Until a couple of weeks ago, Mariama and her four children lived with her second husband [her previous husband died, and according to the Jolla tradition, the husband's brother 'inherited' Mariama as a wife] in a tiny house with a roof made of palm leaves. The house was in such a bad condition it would never have resisted heavy rains.
A couple of months ago, the child welfare committee of the Bajagarr area [supporting the programme's implementation] and the family strengthening programme coordinator agreed on the necessity to support the renovation of two beneficiary family houses in their area, before the rains start. Delighted by such news, Mr Jallow regained motivation and started making, with the eldest son of the family, new mud blocks to rebuild a new and larger house, more conducive for everyone. When time came to raise the wall and put the roof structure in place, villagers came to rescue. On its side, the family strengthening programme of The Gambia provided the Jallow family with the needed corrugated iron sheets for the roof, some nails and a couple of bags of cement to replace the dirt floor by something more resistant and hygienic.
Today, the Jallow family has a brand new three small room house, which also includes a parlour. The only thing left to be done are the doors, which so far only consist of pieces of fabric. But Mr Jallow is working on it. He is weaving some wicker doors. Mariama and the children are happy now. They know that this rainy season, they'll be able to sleep in a dry place and will not have to fear the house collapses on them during the night!
Getting the land ready
In this rural area of The Gambia, everyone is involved in what they call 'seasonal farming' [crops cultivated during the rainy season only]. This also means that every child old enough to give a helping hand spends some or most of his or her holiday time in the field.
Twelve-year-old Momodou is the eldest child of seven and is raised, since the death of both of his parents due to HIV/AIDS, by his grandmother Kumba and the second but very old husband she got by the Jolla tradition after loosing hers. His holiday plans are already very clear: repairing the roof of their house [they are the second family that is receiving support from the programme to repair their house], working on the family's coos and groundnut field and playing football with his brothers and friends.
Being the eldest of all the children of the family, Momodou will help his grandmother and some other women to make the land ready and seed it as soon as possible, just before the heavy rains start.
But he'll not be alone to work. Some of his school friends will also work on their parents' field, like 13-year-old Musa. This young boy also says that he has a very specific job during this long break. Musa is what we call a 'monkey chaser'. As he explains, "I make my own catapult and throw small stones at it, to make the monkeys run away. Monkeys love groundnuts too much and could destroy all the crops!"
However, playing is also on all the children's summer agenda, rain or no rain! As Momodou and Gidom, his ten-year-old brother, say, "during the holidays, we also play football almost every day. We even practice by running! We have to be fit to win all the matches we play against the children of the other villages!"
- Mary
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Chapatis - CV Dar Bouazza, Morocco
Thirty-two Faces to Kiss
When you enter the SOS Social Centre of Immouzer Kandar you are welcomed by 32 smiling faces of the young girls waiting for your visit in the inner courtyard. These girls are all here to complete their studies.
The SOS Social Centre in the small rural city of Immouzer Kandar is 30 km from Fez and surrounded by mountains. The centre has been operating since September 2002 and includes a youth facility and a medical centre which is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays to give the local population access to basic health care. Adjacent to the centre are two workshops which provide local women with the opportunity to learn sewing and machine knitting, a chance to generate income in their struggle against poverty and exclusion.
Although the neighbouring people were initially unwilling to accommodate our centre, they quickly abandoned their prejudice, and realised the seriousness and strictness under which the centre operates. This has helped with our success and we are currently building extensions and further building work is being previewed for next year.
A female teacher takes care of the girls and takes care until their high school diploma. 12 girls have left the centre with A-levels and went on to enter the workplace or continue their studies. Their bonds remain strong with the centre and they regularly return to visit the other girls here.
Nadia, a 17-year-old girl 'Like many of the other girls I am from a village called Ain Chiffa which isn't far from Immouzer Kandar. My parents were not able to educate me and I heard about this well organised centre for educating young girls from a rural background whose needs are taken into account. I have four younger sisters who would also like to attend. I arrived here in September 2003.
Her professional hope I am in a class of 8 and we are in the first year of our A-level studies. My favourite subjects are English and French. I like to translate! I am proud of being the person who tidied up the medical centre when it first opened. I like seeing people come to be taken care of. I would like to become a nurse and I am sure that experiencing this centre has played a part in my choice. I want to support poor people who become ill, to help other people.
A typical day We wake up at 04.30 and do the housework and pray. We have breakfast at 06.30 and then start studying. At noon we have a meal and then return to class. When there are no lessons we have support in French, English, Arabic, Mathematics and Physics. We finish school at 08.00. Our cooking is well organised as all the girls are separated into groups of five and each group prepares one dish per week. We do our homework and get to bed around 09.00.
The start of integration Every Sunday we go to the workshops to learn sewing and knitting. My favourite is embroidery. At the end of the year we will travel to Fez, Ifrane, Ifrou. We return to our families for the big holidays and religious festivals and sometimes my family comes to visit me here. We may have 'enterprise' training this year which will be the first time for me. We don't know the place yet, but I hope to do it in Marrakech InshAllah.'
Samira, an 18-year-old girl 'I am from Ain Chiffa, like many of my classmates, and was fifteen when I arrived here. I am a student of experimental A-levels. I have three brothers and four sisters.
A family atmosphere I really like this place! We have developed strong companionship and solidarity. We live here like sisters and are like a family at home. We are thirty-two altogether, nine girls are doing A-levels and fourteen are in the common core syllabus. We live together in our dormitory and we talk together and help each other. My favourite thing is also cooking as I like learning how to prepare new dishes and also to study.
Studies and summer training are the principal aims I came to the centre to study and have the opportunity to continue with hotel management as I would like to work in tourism. I like to meet new people and to learn new languages. I had some training in a hotel in Tangier last summer and I liked it very much and this encouraged me to work in this area!
If I get my Baccalaureate I will study at a catering school. There is a publicly-run school in Tangier and a private one in Fez. If I studied for two years in Fez and did well I might have the opportunity to continue in Tangier. I would prefer to study in Fez so that I would be close to my family and friends. My big hope is to get my A-levels and continue my studies!'
The centre's future and its residents The social centre will be extended next year: 2 dormitories, a first floor to extend the workshops, a library, a Moroccan living room and the kitchen will be expanded.
Two girls have success to the Baccalaureate, four have the second cession (on nine girls). They will follow post-Baccalaureate studies; their parents are agreeing with this opportunity! One girl finished her professional training in cooking and she has found work in Fez; eleven girls are following in the second year of the A-levels for September.
For privacy reasons we have changed the names of the girls.
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