Kanubeh Nursery School

Planning and construction

When the GUD founders first spoke with the villagers of Kanubeh, it was clear that having access to education was a shared objective. In 2007, the charity began working with the villagers on a plan to build a 3-classroom nursery school, complete with administration office and a store room.

The villagers designed and built the school and GUD provided building materials such as sand, cement and block moulds.

By December 2007, the men, women and children of Kanubeh had made nearly 5,000 cement blocks and dug for the foundations of the school.

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By January 2008, the school had been built up to waist height.

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By June 2009, the school was built and the floors and walls were beginning to be skimmed with plaster.

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The classroom furniture kindly donated by Birchwood School arrived in Kanubeh in early August. (Thanks to Ann, Dave and Sam for helping to load the sea container!)

By the time the furniture arrived, the School Committee had been set up: comprising 6 men and 6 women from across the village and chaired by Yousufa Darboe.

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In November 2009, Kanubeh artist Bobo Cissay designed a mural of the River Gambia for the school and painted 2 flags on the end wall: the Gambia and the United Kingdom.

Kanubeh Nursery School opened on 11 January 2010, with 110 children being registered to attend.

Click here for more photographs of the construction.

Funding

The people in Kanubeh are striving to become financially independent. Through setting up a banana plantation and developing various smaller local businesses, it is hoped that the villagers will be able to become self-sufficient in the next few years. Money from these various projects will go towards funding the school. GUD will continue to fund the running costs of the school for 3 years until the income stream from the smaller initiatives is enough for the villagers to run the school without aid.