New building

Sorry blog lovers that I haven't blogged in a while. To be honest not much has been happening. Everything came to a stand still for a while BUT today I have signed the contract and paid 6 months rent on the new building. W-HOO!! Exciting. So now things can start to happen! Tomorrow myself and my workers will start to white wash the inside. This could take a while as there are 10 rooms but hopefully there'll be 7 of us there.
After that the outside area needs clearing and leveling and then equipment needs to be bought.
Staying here in Gambia is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Leaving behind my fiance, family, friends and my home to come here. I'm feeling pretty down about it all at the minute.
I think it's coz time seems to be going slowly although 1/4 of my time here is already gone!!
I'll update you again soon.
Thanks for reading xxxx

Hello from Gambia

Hello blog lovers from the depths of Africa. Here it is hot, so hot. Normally when we come in Dec and the people here say it's cold I really don't believe them. Now I can see how dec evenings are chilly. This is the worst heat I have ever been in. There is no where to go to escape it. Even in posh buildings like banks with air conditioning you can still feel it. Even at night the heat doesn't let up. The first night I didn't sleep it was so hot. The next day I bought a fan and left it on all night. I slept like a baby.
The family I am staying with are lovely. John, his wife Esther their 10yr old daughter Esther and 4 yr old son Eric. I have a lovely room with a double bed. They have an english style toilet and shower although the shower doesn't work at the minute. I use a bucket!! Fun!!
The work I am doing out here is going slowly but we are getting there. The head of education said we could not use the building as before. We have found another buildng which is very cheap but we are waiting for the charity group in England to seek God's will about it.
I am of course missing home but am really enjoying being back here. I know it is going to be so hard to leave at Christmas! But I also know that by then will really want to go home for some macoroni cheese a shower and to watch some proper American trash tv!
I am sorry there are no photos at the minute. I haven't figured out how to load them on here.
I will blog again as soon as I am able.

I know I know and I'm sorry. I haven't written a blog in the longest of time. So much going on and so much that I have to do but I'm getting there now.

God has been amazing at bringing in the funds and an amount I thought was well out of reach has pretty much been made. PTL. The Smartie Tubes did amazingly well bringing in about £140 well beyond what I ever imagined. Plus some naughty people have eaten the smarties and not brought me back any money!!

I've got a bed, which some of you will know was worrying me. It's also got a foam mattress which is great. My fears of a flea ridden hay mattress chucked on the floor have been banished.

The worrying thing is how it's all going to fit in my luggage allowance of 20kg! It seems unfair that I'm going for 3 months but I get the same weight allowance as someone who's going for a week! But anyway, I'm sure God has His hand over that as well.

I know that saying bye to Jason will be so hard. He's just going to drop me at the door. Neither of us like goodbyes much so the thought of hanging around waiting just freaks us out. Say bye and both get on. I'm gonna miss loads of stuff, as well as some great mates I'm really gonna miss Yorkshire puddings and sloughing around in front of the tv! I'm sure I'll miss something really random, like milk or something. I'll let you know! I can't wait for it to be the 2nd week. By then I'll be settled in and will know how things are going to work etc. All the horrible stuff that I'm really dreading will be over and done with like going to see the head of education! Ahhhh I'm scared of that.

Apart from that I can't wait to see my friends out there and just get into the sun (and wear my new tops I bought!!) haha

26 days left

Hello my lovey followers

Sorry I haven't got on here much recently. If you know me you'll know I've been away and been very busy with my sisters wedding.

However, I'm not getting back on track and think it's about time I started counting down the days.

It's really not long.

After being challenged earlier I can report that I am 7.5 out of 10 excited and 9 out of 10 scared about my forthcoming trip.

I was also given some great news. Apparently my bed is being sorted!!!! PHEW

That's one big massive worry off of my mind.

A friend out there is sorting me out a bed, matress and mosquito net. At least I'll have somewhere to sleep!! Ruth laughs at me when I say I'm worried about these things but these are the things I worry about.

I've been sorting out books that I'm going to take to read. I've got 3 and I REALLY want to read them. It's so hard and takes a lot of self-discipline to not get them out of the cupboard! But I'm determined. I'm taking them with me. I'll need another 2 or 3 I think.

So far I've got The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, The Shack by Wm Paul Young and Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger. I also bought a new pair of flip flops and a new top today from Store 21. Love that place! So cheap that I won't mind them getting wrecked out there! A pair of flip flops for £1.50 can a girl complain about that! What a B.A.R.G.I.N.

I also want to say a big massive THANK YOU to everyone who has given me money so far. I've had a few smartie tubes full of 20p's come in from Toni and Dean and also from Vickie and Luke! Thanks guys! I've also had some sponsor money from Janis and Nicola for the sponsored walk we did. Ruth has received some money donated to me so thank you to everyone for that and also one of mum's friends from church has given me a cheque. THANK YOU!

You are all wonderful lovely people.

What am I most scared about? Getting around and not getting lost!

What am I most excited about? Seeing my not so much a baby Jojo and her family!

I want to start my blog today with a big massive THANK YOU to Mark Membury. He and 2 others are putting on a "Full Monty" night tonight. Yes they are going to do the full monty and have been waxed! Not a nice fate for a man! However, these 3 wonderful guys are prepared to bare all in aid of charity and they have said they will donate some money they raise towards my trip! This is so kind of them and I wish them all the best for tonight. Sorry I can't be there but THANK YOU again!

I'm starting to get pretty nervous. I can't help but think it's only 5 weeks and 2 days till I go. I have to be ready to go in 5 weeks. That's not long. I still have so much to do and organise. I still don't have a bed over there or any covers (see my first post). The family I'm staying with are John and Esther. They have 2 children, Esther and Eric. John pictured above with little Eric (Although not so little now as this was taken about 3 years ago!) I don't really know a lot about them to be honest with you! John works for the government (I think) and is also the pastor of the church in Kotu which is the church we support and I will be going to while I am there. I am hoping that I'll understand a little of what goes on at church! It won't be in English so I'm going to have to pray that somehow I can understand it! Anyway, I'm not sure what Esther does but I'm hoping to learn a lot about the Gambia way of life from her. I really want to learn how to cook their dishes. I especially want her to teach me how to cook rice. I know I'm not the only one who hates cooking rice. Either it's underdone or overdone and sticky. Every time I've had rice in Gambia it's been perfect! I'm gonna find out how to do it and bring the secret back to England!!

Photo Gallery

Thought that today I'd just post a load of photos

taken at the school.

Hope you enjoy looking at them.

Seedlings For Christ

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it,
when it is in your power to act - Proverbs 3 v 27

The story of Seedlings for Christ starts with one small Christian family who wanted to put their faith into action but God turned it into something bigger than they could have ever imagined. It started off as a family run group set up by Ruth and Martin Kingdon (Pictured above). They visited Gambia for the first time in 2001. It didn't take them long to realise that the amount of children who were unable to attend school was immense. Unlike many England children, Africans love learning and going to school but many families find it hard to just feed their children never mind pay for schooling. It was on this first visit that Ruth met Seedy and Anna, 2 young sisters playing in the dusty street desperate to go to school. Their dad was unable to afford it so Ruth went to the school and paid their fees. They are still in school today. Now, thanks to Ruth and an ever growing team of people behind Seedlings for Christ, there are approximately 80 children sponsored in Gambia through us.

Sponsoring is not the only work that Seedlings for Christ does. We distribute clothes, shoes and medical supplies. We visit hospitals to give donations and also to offer our help (The team has a couple of nurses on each trip). We also travel out to the rural villages. Here we give out basic food supplies, cooking tools and equipment (See photo below, Ruth with tools), clothes, toys etc and generally help families in these poverty stricken areas. Seedlings for Christ also has an amazing building team.

They have done some great work in Gambia including building an examination room and an office at the hospital in Serrekunda, building an extra room on a compound, meaning that the parents and children are able to sleep in separate rooms and basic general decorating and building things like shelves and benches. (Photo left)

We also visit the prison and do a lot of work with the church and it's surrounding community.

In December 2004 a group of 18 visited Gambia for a week. Little did those people know that this was the start of something much bigger. In February 2006 the group had grown to 26. They travelled the 4.000 miles from Gatwick to Banjul airport with over 70 suitcases packed with essential aid. They worked with a village trying to restore an old derelict medical centre and gave money they had raised to a church enabling them to put a roof on their building. In December 2006 the group had grown to 28. The amount of money donated to this group was astounding and the amount of work carried out was amazing. The medical centre from the previous visit was fitted with running water and a drop in clinic was set up and it was kitted out with supplies. Some of the school rooms were painted in bright colours making it much more inviting than just plain concrete walls.

After returning to England a small group came together and decided that due to the massive growth and obvious interest it would be a good idea to consider becoming a charity.

Seedlings for Christ is made up of 7 core group members. Ruth, Ted and Beth, Chaz, myself, Amanda and Leanne. You can read our stories here. There is also a big group of people working behind us on every trip.

Ruth and Martin's plan was to keep things small and simple, doing what they could with the little they had. However, God had other plans and has taken this small group and turned it into a growing and thriving registared charity.