'Durokuto' is a an organization of volunteers from the United States and the Gambia whose purpose is to build a sustainable high school in the town of Sanyang. we are also installing a solar array to provide the school with electric power and a water pump. Please visit our web page at Durokuto.org to learn more or donate to help make this project a reality.
The prospective manifestation of this is the high school that you see above. It will be built June, just a few months away, for the town Sanyang in Gambia. This school will serve 600 students per year, helping to knock away at the 60,000 eligible secondary students in Gambia that are currently not enrolled in school because of geographical and financial reasons.
(The beach near Sanyang, Gambia)
Education is unequivocally a prerequisite to upward mobility. Without it, we do not have the capacity to find jobs, to tackle problems, to plan for the future. Thus, all societies find it incumbent upon them to educate as many people as possible, as richly as possible, to ensure a more secure future for both them and their children.
The town of Sanyang, Gamiba, population 6,000 and growing, struggles to provide education to their youth beyond primary school. The primary school supports 2,000 children from Sanyang and neighboring towns including Tujering, Jambanjali, Kanuma, etc.
If a child completes primary school, opportunities to continue their education become very difficult. The nearest high school is 11 miles away in the town of Brikama, east of Sanyang. If a child is fortunate enough to have a bicycle at their disposal, school is manageable. If one has to walk, school is exponentially more difficult because of the distance to and from, which results in pedagogical issues with the pupils from the tardiness and exhaustion. Often, the secondary school in Brikama is over capacity, so children are relegated to going to school in Banjul, the capital of Gambia.
Banjul is over 23 miles away, and to travel there by car and back once a day would be 14 Dollasi, about half of the per-capita daily income of most Gambians. That fact alone illustrates the difficulty of going to one of the four high schools there, notwithstanding the cost of school supplies, accommodation, and incidental expenses. It's in this context that the estimation of 60,000 eligible secondary school students whom are non currently enrolled in a school makes a lot of sense.
Bobabo Memorial High School
Bobabo Memorial High School (BMHS) is a first step in working this problem. It will be the first high school in Sanyang that will have a capacity of 600 students, teaching grades 10, 11, and 12. It will be pioneering in both its model and operation.
BMHS will be the first school in South Kombo to provide solar power to part of it's facilities. The building for grade 12 will facilitate the usage of computers, a TV with VCR/DVD capabilities, and compact florescent lightbulbs that will allow for a rich education at all times of the day. The availability of computers in the school will be instrumental for creating opportunities for pupils to continue their education beyond secondary schools. Notwithstanding the importance of being exposed to computers, the machines themselves will have Pre-ACT and Pre-SAT software, along with Rosetta Stone Language Training software, empowering students with skill sets to make college a possibility. Furthermore, two independent solar arrays will be used to power water pumps for the boreholes that will facilitate cultivation of the farm and water for the pupils.
Furthermore, BMHS will be financially independent of both national and transnational organizations. The school will be run by a committee of elders from Sanyang, who will finance the school through a two-hectare farm adjacent to the school. The revenues generated by this will allow for the perpetual operation of the school.
Your help is needed!Through the generous support of people around the world, we have successfully fundraised the money for the brick and mortar ($4,000 USD) and setting up the farm ($2,000 USD).
However, there are still avenues to which we can use your help. We are still in need of:
Solar equipment
School furniture
School supplies (chalkboards, school paper, exercise books, textbooks, etc)
Logistical support
So, if you are interested in getting involved in making this school everything that it should be please DONATE and/or ask us how you can PARTICIPATE in the Durokuto Project.
