The entire Marong & Giteh families
in Tobacco Road Banjul wish to inform
all relatives, friends and well wishers that the 40 Days Charity of 
their husband, father grandfather

Afang Yaya Marong

Will take place on Sunday the 10th August 2008.
Recitation of Holy Quran will be held at his residence 

May his soul rest in perfect peace.

The Gambia has a high population of 63,000 orphans, the causes of which are due to several factors ranging from poverty and other preventable diseases, like HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria. Reliable reports indicated that 44 million in 34 developing countries are likely to lose a parent in the next years to come thus leaving them to become orphans.

Ummul Qura Foundation a charitable organization started its operations some 14 years ago in the Gambia. As   part of its activities of sponsoring orphans, the Ummul Qura Foundation for Islamic Studies and Research began its second Islamic studies course on August the 2^nd 2008 at its headquarters in Faji kunda in the KMC municipality. A total of 150 orphans are participating in a one month long summer classes.

 This shows that apart from helping the orphans with clothing and money they are also into offering some other form of social services by educating the orphans, said Abubacarr Mohammed Loum chairman of the occasion and vice president of the project.

Speaking at the start of the course Sheikh Mohammed Jonga the course director   indicated that the course is sponsored by the orphans committee of Sheikh Eid Bin Muhammad Al-Thani Charity Association, a charitable organization, based in the Gulf state of Qatar. He said a similar course is done in sixteen other countries in Africa, Asia and Europe simultaneously, and 27 Islamic organizations of which his organization is one of them are conducting the courses. A total of up 3700 orphans altogether are benefiting from such a course worldwide .Jonga told the gathering.

The President of the Foundation Alhagie Mustapha Cham said the foundation is currently sporting 205 orphans. This number rose over the last 14 years from 35 orphans to 205 today. He informed the meeting that, they still have more than 200 applicants who are yet to be sponsored.  Cham said we are not only in the business of giving out hand out but also trying to educate these orphans in their religion.

Ms Fanta Sisay director of Social Welfare who is also the guest speaker inform the gathering that The Gambia has up to 63,000 orphans. She implore the foundation to do more in also sensitizing the donors who are only concern with children whose father are dead but the ones whose mother’s too die need assistance. She calls on the religious leaders and elders of our communities to help in preaching our children to have respect for our religion and cultures as our homes are getting out of orders.

Other speakers included The President of the Gambia Supreme Islamic council Alhagie Cherno banding Drammeh and his vice Dr. Jah, all of who call for discipline and respect for our culture and religion.

                                                                                                        Mariama Ceesay

Gambian Longevity through Village Education (GLOVE), a charity registered in The Gambia in June last year, is significantly improving the lives of the villagers of Sam Mbullet in Lower Numi District in the North Bank Region.

The officials of the charity on Monday convened a press briefing at their office located at Tilly’s Tours in Kololi.

Speaking at the occasion, Madam Jackie Church, founder cum Project Director of GLOVE, recounted various ways the charity is helping to improve the lives of the rural poor people of Sam Mbullet a settlement of 700 people.

She said Tilly’s Tours is promoting tourism up country thus helping GLOVE achieve its objectives. Since its foundation less than a year ago the charity, through tourists coming to the Tilly’s Tours, has managed to donate educational materials, medical items, vegetable seeds, cloths, a community centre, 153 treated mosquito bed nets, sponsorship for 28 children, chlorinating wells and a number of footballs. “This shows you how much tourism can be used to alleviate poverty in The Gambia,” she stressed. She said that they have established a GLOVE development committee in the village in which all four tribes, men and women are represented equally.

This community, she said, lacks so many basic social amenities such as clean drinking water and a health facility just to name a few.

According to her, their focus now is on long-term agriculture through micro irrigation, small-scale enterprise development including tie and dye and soap making to enable the village to become self-sufficient.

Cognisant of the significance of farming in The Gambia GLOVE intends to work with engineers from the UK and the US to help the village with an irrigation system for the purpose of farming and to help compose fertilizer.

Madam Church emphasised that if all tour operators in the country are doing what Tilly’s Tours is doing more people in the rural areas will also benefit from tourism directly. She called on the people to support Tilly’s Tours in whatever way they can to enable them continue helping more people.

As part of the occasion, Mrs. Esther Shortt presented cash amounting to £500, funds she collected back in the UK, to the charity.

The occasion was attended, by Mrs. Linda Copson, Mr. Justin Edmonds, and Mrs. Linde Edmonds all GLOVE volunteers from the UK.

Mr. Abdoulie Corr, Deputy Director Tilly’s Tours and Treasurer of GLOVE, said that they also plan to expand their support to other communities in the country. Also present at the occasion were staff of Tilly’s Tours.

 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has suspended mobile clinic activities outside the main towns in northeastern Central African Republic's (CAR) Vakaga province, following the killing of a woman in one of its ambulances.

The shooting, the medical charity said, followed a series of attacks and threats against humanitarian organisations and health workers in the past months. The woman was killed when an unidentified gunman fired on the vehicle on 10 March, it added.

The death was the second in recent months involving MSF. In June 2007, an MSF aid worker, Elsa Serfass, was killed by rebel gunfire in the northwest, leading to a significant reduction of MSF operations.

"We are shocked and outraged that our patient's mother was shot," Nicole Henze, MSF head of mission in CAR, said. "Our ambulance was clearly targeted, making us reconsider our activities in remote areas and our presence in the country. All armed persons are obliged to respect humanitarian aid. This includes medical personnel and, above all, our patients."

MSF has been providing basic healthcare to populations in remote areas of CAR, as well as referral and access to secondary care in more serious cases. Its teams have been operational in Ouham-Pendé, Ouham and Nana-Grébizi areas.

According to aid workers, continuing violence in northern CAR has led to the displacement of at least 290,000 civilians since 2005 and the "complete decimation" of public infrastructure.

Mr Baboucarr S. Trawally, alias BT, the President of the Professional Photographers Association and a member of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), has indicated that the current executive of Gambia Press Union (GPU), has failed to bring about any progress in favour of Gambian media.

He expressed the view that holders of elective offices should be returned on account of their performance and, in his opinion, the current executive should not be returned into office if this criterion is applied. 

Mr Trawally, who walked into our offices yesterday, maintained that most of the serving executive members have failed in their duties, while others are dormant. He therefore enjoined the membership of the union to make the right choice come the 22nd March congress.

“The Secretariat could not function effectively. No proper records of minutes and the general membership,” he stated.

“Among the role of the Executive Committee is to defend the freedom of the press and to promote unity among journalists and other media workers, through collective bargaining and the provision of welfare schemes.

“Its responsibility is also to seek training facilities and opportunities for members, both locally and abroad,” he said.

“Why should the current President establish Media Agenda without realizing that charity begins at home?” a discontented looking Mr Trawally queried.

We all know how important it is to stay healthy and a big part of making sure we achieve that goal is to get some regular exercise.

But while it can be a good idea to try and incorporate some exercise into your everyday life – letting the lift go in favour of using the stairs and walking to work instead of catching the bus, for example - you will see even better results if you actually take some time out to get some proper exercise.

Every single day there are people up and down the country who get up early and go for a run before getting ready for work. It’s tempting to think these people are mad but when you start running yourself you’ll soon see and feel the benefits it has to offer.

One of the main benefits of this particular sport is that it opens up a whole new way of helping others. Many of us simply set up a direct debit whenever we want to give some cash to our favourite charity and donating a small amount every month can certainly do a lot of good.

But what about going a step further? If you find you really enjoy running, why not sign yourself up to raise some cash by taking part in some charity runs? These are a great way to get out and about and run in the company of others – which makes a wonderful change if you usually go running on your own. You will also be able to raise funds for a worthwhile cause – some people end up being sponsored to run by their friends, family and workmates, which can raise a lot of money.

It’s a good idea to make sure you are fully fit and able to take part on the day itself, especially if you are fairly new to running. Try and find out where the course will be and go and explore it if possible before the day of the race arrives. Even though these charity events tend to be known as fun runs - rather than being run against the clock – you will struggle if you are not fit enough to run and complete the course.

If it is longer than the usual length of run you are used to, build up slowly in the weeks leading up to the event to make sure you are able to complete the course on the day. Don’t forget you may need to run in the rain or in cold weather, so be prepared for whatever the weather may throw at you.

A regular running schedule can be extremely enjoyable. It keeps you fit, helps you to lose weight and it also improves your overall stamina. Combining all this with the opportunity to help a worthwhile charity by raising some money, meeting new people and having fun all at the same time makes it even better.

The Jole Rider Foundation, a UK charity, last Saturday donated three hundred bicycles to three schools in the country.
 
The beneficiaries are Penyem Upper Basic and Fatima Senior Secondary schools in Western Region and Nyoro Jataba Basic Cycle School in the Lower River Region.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony, held at Gunjur Cooperative secko, the Director of the foundation Mr. David Steawgen said that their foundation was founded in 2004 with the aim of helping Gambian schools. He thanked their partners for making the activities of the organisation successful.

Technical Director at the Department of State for Basic and Secondary Education Mr. Demba M.S Darboe thanked the donors for the benevolent gesture. He added that the gesture would enable students get to their schools on time. He urged the beneficiaries to make the best use of the bicycles.

Kebba K. Barrow Secretary General of Jole Rider Foundation expressed similar sentiments.

Other speakers at the ceremony include Fabakary Touray and Martin Gomez.