Heather's latest visit to the workshop

Just a few days before my long-awaited and much-anticipated flight was due to depart from Manchester for The Gambia, Thomas Cook told me that it had been cancelled. Oh no! Finding another flight took a lot of work, and the only available departure to get me to the Rug Aid workshop for the visit I had planned meant travelling almost 300 miles to Gatwick Airport – Manchester is only 130 miles away... And, because of the six-hour drive involved each way, Chrissie and I had to spend the nights before and after the trip in an airport hotel, never my idea of fun.

All of this disruption was the result of the changing political situation in The Gambia. Many tourists had their holidays cut short because the outgoing, dictatorial President, Yahya Jammeh, declared a state of emergency. At one point it had looked like I might not be able to visit the country at all, so the effort involved in getting to Gatwick was worth it.
In late January, Jammeh agreed to leave the country which had voted him out of office and, finally, the newly elected, democratic President, Adama Barrow, could take up his post. I noticed the impact his appointment had made as soon as I arrived: everyone was so happy, calling to us ‘Welcome to the new Gambia!’ Citizens of The Gambia have freedom of speech for the first time in twenty-two years. We were told so many harrowing tales about life under the old regime – it was heartbreaking. But a new day has dawned and the country is looking forward!1
The Gambia was unfairly affected by the Ebola crisis, which ended last year: fear of the disease led to tourists staying away, despite the fact that there wasn’t a single case of Ebola there. And the uncertainty which followed the election – not to mention the recent state of emergency – had a major impact on visitor numbers. While I was there, the place felt eerily quiet because there were so few tourists around – it was very strange.
A welcome gift of a watch
My first day at the rug school, Monday February 6^th, was mayhem (as usual!) The students were so excited to get the presents Chrissie and I handed out. The talking and Braille watches are always the most popular gifts, followed by their favourite team’s football shirts which I get from charity shops. Then we got down to business, and sorted the money out. I paid Ernest for the forthcoming workshop sessions: we give every student who attends 100 Dalasis (about £1.80 or US$2.25) a day out of which they buy breakfast and pay for the transport Rug Aid provides. We have approximately thirty students a day and some come a long way to attend. Some live so far away that they stay with relatives for the duration of my visit. I also paid the water and electricity bills for the year.
I was very pleased to see how clean and beautiful the workshop looked and that the essential roof repairs had been carried out. Ernest has planted a garden at the front, using money I had sent him specially for that purpose, and it was lovely to see flowers blooming round the building. I bought some paint and got one of the students to touch up the outside where some of the paint had chipped.

The colourful building and garden make the workshop a lovely and attractive place for visitors.

Ernest and I had a meeting and it was wonderful to hear that the project is doing really well, with seventy-five rugs and twenty-five hooked bags sold since April 2016. The workshop has a short season, November to April, before the monsoon rains come. Rug makers can’t travel to the workshop then as transport is too difficult and there are no overseas visitors to The Gambia during the rainy season.

Then I got straight down to work, checking out all the rugs that were ready for sale: a few needed minor repairs or changes. I drew lots of patterns and hemmed lots of hessian, using our treadle machine.

Every day, when lessons end, schoolchildren crowd in to the workshop. They are always very interested in what we are doing. Some of the children who have a little sight spotted the red flowers around the workshop: I hadn’t the heart to stop these children, who have so few pleasures in life, picking them to play with the bright petals. I soon discovered that much of the equipment in the GOVI School’s playground, the swings and slides where they normally play after school, was broken. The children don’t want to go home as many of them live in total isolation and they just love being at school. That night I got straight on to Facebook asking my friends to help fund the playground repairs.

My second day in the workshop was very busy, as usual, working with everyone and having a meeting with the school governors about the Rug Aid project. They seem to be very pleased with its progress as we are helping so many people with visual impairments as well as their families. At the end of that second day, Chrissie and I picked the twelve best rugs and took them by taxi to the book shop and gallery called Timbooktoo. After examining the rugs, the manager said they would take them all for the shop. We were absolutely thrilled as this type of high-class shop is the best possible place for Rug Aid workshop products to be sold.

Rugs made in the workshop are also sold in various hotel shops and to visitors who call at the workshop and purchase them direct. We went to see a hairdresser we know and showed him two rugs: he wanted them both! More sales – wonderful. We deliver Rug Aid leaflets wherever we go in The Gambia. Justin, the Canadian music teacher from St Joseph's School for the Deaf, visited the workshop – his two years of volunteering finishes in July and everyone will miss him.

Dr Malcolm Garner was in Gambia, working with Sound Seekers and called in to see us. It was lovely to catch up with his news: Chrissie and he always have a lot to talk about as they are both interested in solving the problems faced by people with hearing loss as well as visual impairments. He is so good to have around, advising us on various aspects of our project, and we really welcome his help.
I had meetings about getting the playground equipment repaired while I was in the country.
Simple playground equipment, simple repairs, simple pleasures 
Lamin Saidy said he would oversee that task as he had it built in the first place. The work of building the playground was sponsored by the charity Friends of Visually Impaired Children in The Gambia and it had been badly damaged by builders working on a new nursery block nearby in the school grounds. Pamela Bolam very kindly started a Just Giving campaign on Facebook and it was exciting to see some donations coming in.
On Wednesday, I worked all day helping, drawing, hemming, sorting fabrics out, advising, teaching – you name it, I never stop doing it! In the meantime Chrissie was doing the teacher training she always gets involved with, helping with mobility skills and using the white canes we brought from England.
Nday, the journalist who has been so helpful over the years
We had a visit from Nday, our very own journalist, and found out that she had been in hiding. She had been warned that the past President’s soldiers were coming for her as she had held a discussion about him on the radio. She hid her children then went in to hiding herself, living in total fear of every sound. So many journalists have disappeared, never to be seen or heard from again, and Nday is totally traumatised. It’s so bad that she no longer wants to work as a journalist again. That’s really terrible – poor Nday...

Thursday was another very busy day! The students never let me stop working, and it was very hot and dusty. During the day the deputy head of the GOVI School came to see me, asking if I could pay to have the goalball pitch resurfaced. The concrete is breaking up and, as so much of the game involves being on the ground, players end up with abrasions on their limbs from the damaged surface. That makes it just too difficult and unpleasant to use, and gave me another problem to solve. I know how much the children love playing goalball, but Rug Aid just doesn’t have the money to help. So much needs doing – a ceiling is down in a classroom as well – and we haven’t got the funds to do as much as I would like for the school. I just wish we had, and I told the deputy head I would see how the fundraising was going. That night Chrissie and I looked in to various options for the surface of the goalball pitch: sand (which seems like the obvious choice) is out of the question as it gets kicked in to players’ faces and can damage their already vulnerable eyes. I think an artificial surface like AstroTurf would do the job perfectly but I have no idea what it would cost in The Gambia. Later in the week, I had a meeting with Ebrima (who used to run the workshop for us) and he is looking into the cost of that solution.

Our only Friday in The Gambia involved work, as normal. We went to the market and spent £50 on new fabrics to help out with the supply: several tailors in Serrekunde donate scraps to the workshop but sometimes a rug maker will need a lot of one particular colour. The rug makers love new fabric as it is easier to use. I also gave a children's rug making class, teaching the next generation in order to keep the craft – and the workshop – going.
By Saturday, I really needed a day off as I was feeling absolutely exhausted. But it wasn’t a day of sitting around, reading a novel in the sun – oh no! I visited another hotel, the Sun Beach, and took some rugs. I was delighted when the owner loved them, and took all of them to sell in the hotel’s shop. I chalked up another success, and felt we were doing well. That night, when Chrissie and I went out to eat, we were delighted to meet up with staff from Heather Armstrong’s Horse and Donkey Trust and catch up on all their news.
On Sunday, Dr Malcolm Garner took us to Makasutu where Heather Armstrong has built a new veterinary hospital. It was amazing to see, even though it’s not quite finished as yet. We were thrilled to meet Mustopher – you may remember that we met him during a past trip, when Chrissie taught him mobility skills (as he had recently lost his sight) and I taught him rug making.
Mustopher told us that he will move to the new centre when the staff living quarters are finished and he will work for Heather, grooming the horses. And, wonder of wonders, he is making beautiful rugs. We were so moved to hear that he sells them to visiting volunteers and vets. Mustopher is doing just fine and has come to grips with his blindness, news which absolutely made our day. At Heather’s invitation, we left some rugs from the workshop to be displayed in the new centre. It was wonderful to see all the baboons everywhere in this part of Gambia!
Children from the GOVI School enjoy the swings
I couldn’t believe how soon it was Monday, how fast the time was going. We were so busy. Work was still going on in the playground, and donations had started coming in. Malcolm called to talk to Chrissie about the possibility of Rug Aid buying solar-powered lights for the children in the school. We discovered that there are no light bulbs in the classrooms and no electricity, simply because there is no money to pay for it. Chrissie got very upset at this: children with a little vision need all the light they can get, but the teachers often think that blind people don’t need any light. We are looking into this as well... And – oh dear: now the treadle sewing machine needs to be repaired! So the repair man was sent for as we can't do without it.

On Tuesday, the treasurer of the GOVI School came to see me. Apparently, all the children have to have new uniforms and shoes for the Independence Day celebrations on 18^th February. This marks the day when The Gambia gained full independence from Britain in 1965 and is celebrated in Banjul with a march-past by schoolchildren, civil servants, the army, teachers and others in front of the President and other dignitaries.

Well, surprise, surprise: they have run out of money and can I buy five pairs of shoes? OK, it could have been worse! We had the thrill of listening to Justin conducting a singing lesson in the school hall: the children just adore him and the music they make together. He will be sorely missed when he leaves. At night we went out to eat, as usual, and guess who was there? The UK's very own Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson! We didn't get to speak to him, more’s the pity, but everyone was so thrilled as no-one could ever remember a British minister visiting before. His visit gave everyone so much hope for good changes coming in the future.
On our final day, Wednesday, everyone was trying very hard to finish their new projects knowing I would leave the next day. I was going round like a spinning top! The very best thing of our whole trip happened that day when a local TV company visited the workshop to interview some of the blind students.

This was part of a UN-sponsored program called Empowering and including women and girls with disabilities, a world-wide campaign which is right up our street. It was wonderful to be part of the Gambian story: it simply could not have been better in fact. It was fascinating to hear the students saying how their lives had been improved by the Rug Aid project – they have money to spend on food, clothes and medicines and they were supporting family members who are also blind. Fatou talked about her four blind family members. This was a wonderful culmination of the ten years’ work Rug Aid has carried out in The Gambia, and it spelled SUCCESS at long last! We came home completely exhausted but very happy, satisfied with our two weeks’ of hard graft, which had been well worth all the effort.