As many of my Twitter friends are aware, I am going to be going to The Gambia in June 2011. I will be visiting a Gambian School representing the F.R.O.G.S charity (
Friends of Gambian Schools) Where I will be, along with my fellow Primary Ed students from Leeds Trinity University, transforming classrooms into useable, vibrant learning environments. We will be painting the classrooms inside and out and painting their curriculum and learning resources onto their walls as they cannot afford books for the children and teachers. Here are a few photos of the hard work of previous students involved in the project: the difference they made to the school and the lives of the children was massive.
In order for me to be able to make a difference to this school, I need to raise £1000 before February. Alongside the fundraising I will be doing at university and back home, I am going to be selling paintings.
Have you ever wanted to commission a personalised piece of art? Well, now's your chance! I am going to be lending my artistic skills and creativity to the cause. If you look through my art below and like what you see and would like something similar (or something completely different!) send me an email (abehayden@hotmail.com) and I will create your piece of art. Alternatively you can go through my
Etsy shop and "request custom item" from me.
Every single penny made will go towards my fundraising efforts to help Gambian schools. You will decide exactly how much you pay for your piece of art. As long as the cost of materials and postage is covered and at least £5 (or more depending on the piece) is going to the charity, you name your price.
So, if you want a drawing, painting, or something a little bit different, or you want to give a special Christmas present, please don't wait... email me now! Also, if you could share a link to this blog, or retweet my tweets if you are of the Twitter persuasion, it would be much appreciated!
I've just returned from the most amazing trip to The Gambia - it was one of the best things I have ever done! To see more of the hard work we did in the classrooms have a little look at this blog post. While we were having breaks from the scrubbing and painting we went into the playgrounds to meet the children in the school and use some of the resources that we donated... So here are a few photos of the fun we had!
I have just returned from The Gambia! I've been out in West Africa working for a charity called F.R.O.G.S (friends of Gambian schools). It's a brilliant charity that works with over 100 schools all over Tha Gambia, working to improve education for children throughout the country. For those of you that don't know, I had raised £1000 to go and transform some classrooms in Bijilo Lower Basic School by cleaning, white-washing and painting their learning resources onto the walls. The school cannot afford to provide the children with textbooks so this enabled all children to access the learning...
The Gambia Girls team!
The classroom before we got our hands on it. The floors were crumbling away with huge holes in, the walls were dirty and bare... but not for long!
After a lot of elbow grease, we scrubbed, rinsed and white-washed the walls all ready for the learning resources to be painted onto them!
The respiratory system
Please excuse my hair and general scruffy appearance, when you're working hard in the 40 degree heat of Africa, there is no time for beautifying!
Adult and milk teeth diagrams, a cross-section of skin and the excretory system.
Traditional costumes of The Gambia
An 8-point compass with a cheeky elephant to help the children remember :)
The new improved chalk board
The Gambian crest
A map of The Gambia
We left our own little signatures to mark our hard work, each of us printed our hand and wrote our name
The most rewarding part was letting the children back into their new classroom and straight away they started using the resources on the walls. Here is a boy reading aloud the poem "you are what you eat" that we painted onto the wall.
Hip, Hip, Hooray!
The Head Teacher Mr Fatty and one of the teachers, Lamin, with some children enjoying the resources that we provided the school with!
As many of my Twitter friends are aware, I am going to be going to The Gambia in June 2011. I will be visiting a Gambian School representing the F.R.O.G.S charity (Friends of Gambian Schools) Where I will be, along with my fellow Primary Ed students from Leeds Trinity University, transforming classrooms into useable, vibrant learning environments. We will be painting the classrooms inside and out and painting their curriculum and learning resources onto their walls as they cannot afford books for the children and teachers. Here are a few photos of the hard work of previous students involved in the project: the difference they made to the school and the lives of the children was massive.
In order for me to be able to make a difference to this school, I need to raise £1000 before February. Alongside the fundraising I will be doing at university and back home, I am going to be selling paintings.
So, if you want a drawing, painting, or something a little bit different, or you want to give a special Christmas present, please don't wait... email me now! Also, if you could share a link to this blog, or retweet my tweets if you are of the Twitter persuasion, it would be much appreciated!
