Thursday 11 June – Day 79

I could start a shop with the number of mangos I have been given by children since yesterday. This morning alone they must have brought me 15 or more mangos, at different intervals. They keep coming in with several they’ve carried in their t-shirts. It’s unrelentless!

If they liked me before because I was a novelty being bright shiny white, they must love me now they know I have felt-tips. Arabi (aged 8 at a guess) says she wants to cover all the walls of my living room with their pictures and writing.

They have so much enthusiasm, energy and interest in writing and drawing. They spur me on to keep working at the assessment and planning. It is such a shame to see such potential go undeveloped. I look at them and think what their future might be like.

It strikes me that so many local people have so little power over their own lives. I really think that literacy is a key stage in development and not enough emphasis is put on it by some local people we have consulted in the assessment. The ability to read and write not only opens up the possibility of using your mind and not only your hands to generate income, thus broadening the employment opportunities available to you, but also gives you access to information and knowledge that is otherwise likely to be distant and inaccessible, resulting in disempowerment.

It is exciting working with local people who have so much drive and commitment to developing their communities. Attendance at the team meeting has been good, despite the heat of the sun for those walking a distance, and all the other commitments and responsibilities they have. They have made the time to be a part of a project they believe will make a difference to their lives.

There are so many mangos about at the moment that the sickly sweet smell of mangos lying on the ground in the sun is hard to escape. It is a good example of a local resource that could be put to good use. Local people talk about selling them, but they lack transport to take them to Gambia or to Dakar. We have followed up this business idea as a means of sustainable funding of educational projects.