New Trustee Appointed

The Trustees are delighted to announce that Fara Mendy has been invited to join the board of Charity Trustees and will split his time initially between the UK and the Gambia.

Francis, as many know him, will now become more involved with the fund raising in the UK and supporting the existing strong team drive the charity forward and raising awareness about The Gambia.

He has played a major role in setting up the charity in the Gambia as our former Project Manager, is a qualified Nursery School teacher and more recently qualified and works as an Electrician in his country.

He is fluent in all 7 languages in The Gambia and has travelled to the UK several times to meet with the trustees and volunteers to help raise funds and awareness.

Two New Trustees for BACE

The BACE Trustees welcome and formally announce that they have appointed two new Trustees to join the team. Dr Frances Warren and Christopher Lilleystone, who both have travelled out to The Gambia several times with the charity and have been involved since its founding as volunteers. Both Fran and Chris bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the existing board, and we are all very excited about this development.

 Read More about the BACE Trustees

 

 

 

 

Cumbrian Support for BACE - 500,000 Pencils Donated For All Children in Gambia

Please read this uplifting Newspaper article from Cumbria about the fantastic support offered to the children of Gambia by the Derwent Pencil Company, Workington Rotary Club, Cumbria X-Press transport company and Chris Starr. The donation of so many pencils is a real boost for education in Gambia as resources are always scarce and BACE is very happy to be involved with this project and to help faciliate the distribution of this amazing contribution.

Click here to see article

 

 

 

 

BACE Supports The Chris Favour School In Sukata

BACE Trustees Charlotte and Tracy were pleased to visit the Chris Favour Nursery school in Sukuta and share the news that a sponsor has donated 2 years funding via BACE to ensure the sustainability of this small school which is currently educating 47 children.

The school was set up 11 years ago by a gentleman from the UK following a visit to the Gambia, but who sadly passed away leaving the school with no funding.

The Laureate Education Inc., which has offices in Amsterdam, USA and Poland, regularly raise money for charity and founded The Laureate charity fund.

They nominated BACE to help facilitate and support them with this school and we are delighted to be able to help.

New Container 2016

We are currently raising the money to send another container in 2016 which once again will be stocked with vital medical and education suppliers to help sustain the stock in the clinic and also playground equipment. Please get in contact if you think you can help.

 

 

 

 

 

Feeding Programme

September 2015 – We are delighted to announce that the feeding programme commenced 5 days a week from the start of the new term. Our thanks to all the volunteers and supporters who helped us to raise the money to build the nursery kitchen, and those volunteers who travelled out with us in 2015 to help build it.

The school and village gardens are flourishing with the support of our UK gardeners who helped train and teach locals from the community and staff how to grow and care for the crop. The produce from these gardens help keep the cost down for the feeding programme and also provide some additional nutrition for those local families who help maintain the gardens.

You can see more pictures of our Feeding Programme here

 Graduation

At the end of the 2015 term we were delighted that 27 of our children graduated from Favour Nursery school. We will be following their progress through the next stages of their education as many live in the village. Thank you to everyone who helped make their dream of an early education come true.

 

 

 

 

 

BACE delivers a First Aid Vehicle to The Gambia

BACE are delighted to announce that on 16th February they sent a First Aid vehicle to The Gambia.

The 4 x 4 Land Rover will be utilised by the BACE newly opened Primary Health Care clinic and support the 22,000 people living in the village of Bonsa and the surrounding areas and will help save many lives, in particular mothers and their unborn babies.

We would like to say a very big thank you to Paul Dickerson - Parts Manager of Barretts of Ashford, John Tart Graphic Designer Medash Signs Ltd Ashford, Robert Campling Nene Overland Peterborough, Roy and Thomas Bourne, Bournes Removels Rye, Sue and John White and David Stedham - your support has been brilliant.

Finally to The Parish of St Clement and St James London who helped make this happen, you are just brilliant ... thank you. You can see more pictures by clicking here.

The First Babies Born at the new Clinic

BACE are very proud to announce that the first two babies have been born at the newly opened BACE Primary Health care clinic.

Born on 12th and the 13th December, the first baby born during Thursday afternoon was a little boy and second a little girl early hours Friday morning!

We cannot thank our supporters enough for all their help to make this a possibility. Both babies and mothers are doing well and settled back home with their friends and family.

 

 

 

More Support for BACE from benenden hospital:

Flips flops and soft shoes have been given to children in The Gambia - thanks to staff from benenden hospital's Lister Clinic.

Staff from the hospital have been supporting BACE, Building and Assisting Communities with Education, for many months, as a former nurse is a trustee with the charity and two members of staff travelled to a BACE project in The Gambia earlier this year to help at the charity's school and soon to be opened health clinic.

Staff on Lister decided they wanted to do something to help and so they raised money for children's footwear by running a staff tuck shop.

The shoes were given to needy recipients in a village called Bonsa by the chair of the charity Tracy Barnett on a recent trip.

Lister staff are now raising money for children's clothing.

Media inquiries regarding this story should be directed to Jane Barlow at benenden hospital on 01580 242 597 or email jane.barlow@benenden.org.uk

 

Second BACE Container for The Gambia:

BACE is to ship a second container of aid to The Gambia – thanks to support from Benenden Hospital.

We shipped out our first container at the beginning of 2014 – packed with medical and educational supplies for our new health clinic and for our school. We were eager to send another container at the beginning of 2015 and recently Benenden Hospital stepped forward as a sponsor.
BACE is now in negotiations with Bournes, of Rye, over costs - hoping for a favourable rate, as Bournes have been extremely supportive in the past.

As well as sponsoring the container Benenden Hospital has also donated old and redundant equipment which we will be able to use in our new health clinic, which will be officially opened this November. This equipment included 300 pairs of sterile gloves, blood pressure monitors, drug dispensing trolleys, scales and office furniture.

The hospital is having a clear out as work on its £45 million redevelopment moves on apace. Work on the redevelopment began in May and is due to be complete by March 2017.

Hospital Director Jane Abbott said: "We supported the BACE charity last year, by donating old and redundant equipment. Also our staff, members and friends of the hospital got behind the charity by collecting items for the first container including blankets, toiletries, shoes, children's clothes and children's toys.

"Recently we have given the charity some more hospital equipment for their new health clinic. When we heard that BACE needed help to get this and other equipment to The Gambia we were happy to help."

Tracy Barnett, chair of BACE, said the charity was very grateful for the support.

She said: "Benenden Hospital have been fantastic, and with their support we have been able to obtain a good range of stock for our clinic which we hope to open in November 2014. We are extremely grateful for all the support from all the staff and the help shipping this container will ensure we can sustain the much needed supplies to prevent some of the minor ailments becoming fatal."

The gloves and old hospital equipment were collected by Francis Mendy, BACE's business development manager in The Gambia, during a visit to the UK, BACE trustee Charlotte Barnett and her brother Matthew and BACE volunteer Sue White. Benenden Hospital's procurement manager Peter Reed helped lift the items into vehicles and onto a trailer.

LOOK Report March 2014

When Jane Barlow asked Look Editors to donate to our Someone Else's shoes campaign last year they were quick to get on board and support us by donating trainers, flats and sandals to travel out in our container.

We were as delighted as the local women in the village to see the shoes arrive and it was during our trip in March that we were able to see the excited recipients of these shoes.

We would like to say a big thank to the Editors of Look who ran our story in their March 2014 edition.

 

 

Container Shipment to The Gambia

Our first container was shipped and safely arrived – our grateful thanks to the Jempsons Foundation, Peasmarsh, who supported the BACE Smiling Coast calendar so that 100% of the profits made could be utilised to send the container.

Also many thanks to Thomas Bourne from Bournes Removals, Rye, for his advice, support and efficient packing efforts which meant that all donations could be sent.

Thank you to Phil Shanks from Morfreys Removals for donating all the packing boxes, and everyone for their kindness in helping to collect the much needed clothes, medical and health supplies.

Other vital support for the container came from:

Brede Primary School – a donation of 100 chairs

Peasmarsh Primary School – who organised a collection of shoes

Benenden Hospital – Medical supplies, hospital screens, mattresses, wheelchairs plus so much more

Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust – Medical supplies and birthing packs

Conquest Hospital Hastings - 4 hospital beds

Sue and John White for donating their barn for storage

Our thanks to everyone for their magnificent support.

Please let us know of any fundraising events you may be organising so we can promote on our Facebook and Twitter pages.