Project kitchen and dining room January 2019

 
In Africa, schoolchildren receive a meal at school – often the only meal of the day, as in Bondali in the Gamiba hinterland, where the Catharina Mellon School (nursery and primary school) is located. However, the school kitchen was never completed after the school was founded. The dining hall and kitchen house and pantry were just barracks without floor and windows and poorly covered with corrugated iron. And only if the kitchen is finished according to UN standards, there are government and UN subsidies for the school meals. The first big task of our small private aid organization!
 
In January 2019 I traveled to Gambia with the first donation in my luggage. We actually managed to finish the school kitchen, the pantry and the dining hall. I spent two weeks during my vacation with the construction work. Every second day we drove from the coast, which is about 120 km away, to Bondali. Calculate one day, buy building materials, organize truck and workers and then back to school. Building materials are only available on the coast, which has some infrastructure, mainly through tourism.
Sand, cement, tiles, paint, kitchen utensils and a new wheelbarrow had to be transported over 120 km from the coast to the hinterland. We have covered more than a thousand kilometers in these weeks.
But in the end we were rewarded thanks to the help of the donors! All buildings are finished, tiled and painted. And the most important thing: The stove is ready for use! And so the food supply by the government and UN is secured, according to their standards the kitchen had to be finished.
Now there is a meal every day for all students!