Published: 29 June 2005
Tim's Latest Gambia Trip - 27th May to 3rd June 2005
This trip was my first totally on my own and I felt the need to best monitor the progress of the hall whilst over in West Africa. Also, the young people we had taught so far, most of which are Grade 9 students, would have finished both their exams and school. It was important to try and use this spare time they had to play and teach more badminton to keep the interest and improvement of both our groups at Tureng and Youna.
The weather this time was extremely hot and I spent all my days at Youna School dealing with GTS and the locals on the progress of the hall, providing more funds for the roof and selecting the new tiles and paint colours. All the staff at Youna School are excited about the hall and the grand opening in October 2005.
Jerreh, the GTS Sports Manager and I collated a list of all our players so far and then we visited as many of them as we could to inform them of our plans for the future for their badminton progress. Some of them have gone off to various other parts of West Africa to work on the farms to raise funds for their families.
Using some of the Grade 9 students at Youna, we as a group introduced the sport to other smaller children. We also held a singles tournament, which was won by Sulay, our best player. The match involved 16 students and was played with half the roof complete!
Roof structure now complete
I am also pleased to announce that the roof structure is now finished - just in time as the rainy season is about to start and you can view images of the roof being put in place. I spent all that week with our badminton students and their families and really enjoyed the trip.
Future plans
We, as a group, had a meeting to outline the future plans; some of these are listed below.
• Tim to re-visit for 4 weeks in July and August;
• We need 40 new rackets for our existing players, Tim to try and bring
out these rackets;
• 2 sets of t-shirts, grey and white with Gambia Badminton Team printed
on them, total 80 t-shirts. Tim to try and organise;
• 20 basic rackets required for Youna School to teach new children;
• Sort delivery date in Banjul of shuttles donated by Carlton;
• Provide 3 more old mobile phones to aid communication with team;
GOOD NEWS: DELIVERY DATE OF SHUTTLES TO BANJUL 30TH JULY.