Hi there to all on the March 2010 team
Ruthy, Chaz, Debbie, Beth & Ted, Geoff & Amanda, Muriel, Ali, Clive & Anita, Sonia, Christina, Kevin & Debbie, Butch, Julia, Linda.H, Linda.S, Michael, Stephen, Trish, Janice, David.H, Holly & Anna,Darren, Jenna, Julia B
But you must defend those who are helpless and have no hope.
Be fair and give justice to the poor and the homeless.
Proverbs 31 - The Bible
I'm sure you are already looking forward to our forthcoming trip to Gambia even if it does seem a long way off at the moment it will soon be here.
FLIGHT DETAILS.
WED 17TH GATWICK S TERMINAL 6.50 TCX 635K
ARRIVE 13.15
DEPART WED 31ST 16.25 TCX635L
ARRIVE UK 23.25
As you are aware the main reason for our visit to Gambia is to take out much wanted and needed supplies. For this reason it is important that we are able to take as much excess baggage that we can.
So can you please ensure that your bag/suitcase of personal belongings weighs NO MORE than 13kg. If your personal luggage is over this weight you will be asked to pay the excess, it will not be taken off the charitable goods.
Any personal baggage weight that you don’t use will be used/added to our excess allowance to take charitable goods.
If you are anything like others who have been out with us, you will end up leaving things behind with friends that you make so we wouldn’t advise you to take your best £50 t-shirt!
The hotel we are staying in is called Badala Park it is in Kotu . It’s about half hour journey from the airport to the hotel and the hotel is just a few minutes walk from the beach.
The total cost of your trip will be £445 each for the two weeks. This includes flights, the hotel accommodation, including breakfast and transfer from Banjul Airport to Badala Hotel.
We would like all members of the group to be part of fundraising and would expect everyone to raise at least £100 towards the charity trip. The money will go in as part of the general charity fund and be divided between a building project, food for the villages, food, tools, hospitals, building project, church etc.
Here are a couple of good web sites to look at:
www.travelpharm.com (01395 233771)
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/travel/africa/gambia.shtml
Please budget for approximately £150 transport costs on top of your spending money, this will cover your transport to and from the airport in Britain, planned trips with the group in Gambia transport for the working parties, i.e. school, hospital, medical centre and for any other personal trips you might take for yourself, such as going to the markets or out with people you meet. This is not included in the cost of the flights and hotel
Food/eating out in The Gambia is quite cheap, meals range from £3.00 - £8.00 a head, depending where you eat and the rate of exchange.
For those who have not done this trip before these are the kind of things that we will be doing in the 2 weeks we are in The Gambia.
1) Experience the local market at Serrukunda.
2) Visit the place of fertility at the crocodile park in Bakau
3) Visit the monkey park
4) Visit Serrekunda Hospital
5) Visit the Christian fellowship in the prison and at Kotu Church.
6) Go into rural villages distributing the charitable goods
7) Work in and around Kotu compounds
8) Help on a building project such as Serrekunda Hospital
9) Travel inland to visit traditional tribes and villages at either Tendaba or Junjunbureh
10) Experience the beautiful surroundings by the Gambia river, travel in the mangroves and see the amazing birdlife.
We are currently in the process of organising an itinerary. These will be available soon. You can view previous itinary's under 'previous itinary' tab.
