SOS Children's Village and School, Basse, The Gambia

1) There are 83 children in the village

2) The youngest child is an eight-month-old baby boy called Kebba Siga

3) The roll call at the SOS Nursery School stands at 159 pupils (18 SOS boys, 20 SOS girls, 69 boys from the community and 52 girls from the community)

4) The roll call at the SOS Lower & Upper Basic School (Primary School) stands at 209 pupils (40 SOS boys, 11 SOS girls, 113 boys from the community and 45 girls from the community)

All the children are well and healthy and doing fine at school, they have made the village their home.

Some news about the Village

We continue to have our monthly stress management activities for children and mothers which have really made an impact in the village. Our periodic counselling sessions with the children are a continuous process and the children and mothers are gaining a lot from it; many of the children were traumatised by past events when they arrived. One of our children has successfully undergone an operation at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital and is doing very well; he is back with us in the village full of life. The first three babies to be admitted (two girls and one boy) are two years old and are enrolled in the Nursery’s toddler class. The first day of school was very emotional, but as a whole, the day was very successful.

A 15-day summer camp took place in Bwaim in the Western Region of The Gambia. It was a joint camping trip with the children from SOS Children’s Village Bakoteh. They were accompanied by the two village directors, the village nurse at SOS Children’s Village Bakoteh and the Social Worker at SOS Children’s Village Basse.

The village began cultivating crops again and this year cultivated “Nerica” rice within the village on the empty land behind the family houses and opposite the schools, which yielded a harvest of eight bags of paddy rice. All the village participated as they also have their backyard gardens where a variety of vegetables are grown to supplement their daily diet.                              

A training workshop on accidents and accident management for staff was conducted and all the staff benefited from the knowledge of what to do in case of an emergency.

Aba’s story

 

Nine-year-old Aba* and her younger brother Steven* have lived in our SOS Children´s Village in Basse since Summer 2008, after their father died and they had no other relatives to care for them. Aba is shy and introverted due to the trauma she has suffered and it is taking time for her to learn to trust others, although she has quickly bonded with her SOS mother and today she seems to feel secure in her SOS family. Her health is also improving. Until now, Aba has not had the chance to go to school continuously, and there is a lot for her to pick up. Her teacher at the SOS Primary School describes her as determined and studious and she is working hard at school. Aba likes to play basketball and she has also made friends in the village;  today she is laughing more often, having fun, chatting and playing with the other children.

SOS School

To ensure the children are learning, and that the lessons are set at the right level for the children, lesson notes at the SOS School are checked weekly. A teacher is assigned to the library and takes note of the books the children borrow to read at home.

A teaching-aid session was also organized to equip the teachers with extra skills in how to decorate their classes using locally-available materials. In a bid to prevent and manage minor injuries, the school staff took a course in basic first aid.

The school took part in marches commemorating Africa Human Rights Day, World White Cane Day and World AIDS day. Clubs like Scouts, Drama, and Red Cross have already been set up and are working well. ‘Whispers’ and Peace Pal Clubs are newer. The school held its annual inter-house sports competition recently, and the green house emerged as the winners of the competition, as well as of the football tournament. The school also organized a friendly football match with Koba Kunda Lower Basic School.

A series of sensitisation programmes were held in all the nearby communities. A radio panel discussion, which invited questions from the listeners, has greatly enhanced enrolment and understanding of SOS as an organization. The school continues to collaborate with parents through the PTA and Open Days. An executive committee has been elected at the PTA general meeting. Some elected parents have been incorporated into the relevant school committees. We envisage that there will be better cooperation and collaboration between parents and the school. Monitoring and supervision of teaching and learning is on-going as more focus is on quality.

 *Aba and Steven's names have been changed to protect their privacy