Visit to Gambia

In February half-term Miss. Spice and Mr. Holdstock visited a village in Gambia where we have links with the school.

This was an adventure for both the teachers as they had never been to Gambia before.

After quite a long journey by plane, bus, ferry and lastly, horse and cart, Miss. Spice and Mr. Holdstock arrived at the village and were greeted like royalty.

It soon became apparent how important music and dance is in this culture.  Young and old together dance whenever given the opportunity.

Musical instruments are played but not like the ones we have in school.  Here people make drums and shakers from old tins, buckets and bottles - anything they can find!

This is the village school which Miss. Spice and Mr. Holdstock visited.  It is very different to our school as they have hardly any books and the classrooms are very bare.  There weren't any lovely bright displays and there weren't any computers.  This made us think about how lucky we are.  Next to the school, the villagers are building a nursery but it is taking a long time because the villagers have to build it themselves and can only do this on Sundays.  It is made out of mud bricks and has holes in the walls to let air in when it gets hot.

Mr. Holdstock and Miss. Spice also learnt about the kind of clothes that are worn in Gambia.  Material is very precious and they look after the clothes they do have.  School children are very proud of their uniform.

Living in Gambia is so different to life here in Sedgeberrow.  There is no electricity so when it gets dark there are no lights except from torches.  There are no cookers or microwaves so cooking is done over the open fire.

We have learnt so much from this visit and can definitely say that Miss. Spice and Mr. Holdstock had a fantastic time!