PROJECT Gambia experienced their best ever fundraising month recently—thanks in part to support from Missio Scotland—as they raised more than £18,000 in the month of June, a figure that normally amounts for their annual income.
The Lanarkshire-based charity was founded by Paul Lafferty and Frank Devine in 2011, principally to support a feeding programme at St John’s School for the Deaf in Serrekunda, but has since grown to assist the school in a number of ways.
The charity has been able to provide clothing for the near 300 pupils at the school, supply a bike for one of the teachers to get to work and deliver three kilos worth of battery operated hearing aids for the children not only at the school, but children and adults in Gambia itself and the neighbouring countries of Senegal, Liberia and Guinea-Bissau.
Initiatives such as sponsor a classroom and school bag appeals and a pen pal exchange have seen links between the charity’s Scottish base and its country of operation strengthened. Moreover, NHS Lanarkshire ear, nose and throat specialist surgeon Arun Iyer, his wife, GP Priya Iyer and another healthcare professional plan to travel with the charity in 2019 to embark on a medical mission to fit a young man named Mohammed Cham—who was born with no ears—with a special implant and give him the gift of hearing.
The organisation’s Grand Summer Ball at the end of June contributed the bulwark of the £18,000, the majority of which goes to funding the feeding programme, which costs in the region of £15,000 per annum. Other organisations, including Missio Scotland who donated £1000 to the charity, helped them to reach the fantastic total, which will help to provide new uniforms for the pupils in the school as well as covering some of the costs of shipping filled schoolbags over to the African nation.
“We are extremely grateful for the outstanding support we have received from Missio Scotland,” Aidan Curivan,” one of Project Gambia’s Community Fundraising Team Leaders, said. “Without people who support our work, our charity would simply not be possible. The children we assist are most grateful for this support too.”
To find out more about the work of Project Gambia visit: https://www.facebook.com/projectgambiapeoplefeedingpeople
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gerard@missioscotland.com