Redbridge Rotary Club Sukuta project

Redbridge Rotary club, like all others, supports local, national and international charities and for the last few years its international focus has centered on primary schools in The Gambia – Africa’s smallest country. One of our members, John Walker and his wife Sandra run a charity, www.SohmSchoolsSupport.org dedicated to helping schools there improve the educational chances of their youngsters. We have been active in backing their efforts.

Having helped the school in the village of Sohm rebuild its sick room, a classroom block, library and construct a school hall/meeting room/gym/community space over recent years, Redbridge Rotary is now embarking on its most ambitious international project: to help redevelop the Sukuta school The Gambia’s largest primary, with 2,000 pupils.

With the support of our colleagues in Barkingside, the London District and our “twin clubs” in Slovenia and Holland and hopefully Rotary International, the club will have raised £40,000, which over the next eighteen months, which will transform the Sukuta Lower Basic school.

There is no running water at the school, so the project will double the water tank capacity and increase the number of standpipes from one to ten, with some located near toilets and eating areas, to greatly increase hygiene for students. The project will also refurbish the toilets, build the school’s first sick room, restore its out-of-commission library and extend its only computer classroom, so that all children can have access to it at least once a week. School lunches are at present provided in the open, in swelteringly hot conditions, where food deteriorates in the heat. We will provide sheltered accommodation for the women working in the area and the children eating there.

Such is the power of Rotary, that the Redbridge club has teamed up with another club, nearby in The Gambia, which will supervise the construction work in Sukuta, on our behalf.

Redbridge hasn’t forgotten the first school we began to help this year, either. We have helped provide PPE equipment to the school’s youngsters during COVID and provided enough stationery for its pupils to use during this academic year. We feel we are just doing our bit to help fulfill the Rotary objective of making a difference.