News Archive

January 2009
This four-year project still has over a year to run. Already, however, all 7.5 hectares of the project land are being exploited (the remaining 1.5 hct are used for seed-beds and paths), all wind-breaks and fruit trees have been established, multiple crops of vegetables and livestock fodder have been grown, and a stand-by pump has been purchased by the Sylla community. By overlapping crops throughout the year, the growing season has been greatly extended, this helped by the fact that the soils, improved with compost, are able to hold water more efficiently. In fact, the whole 7.5 hectares can be watered by a single, small, two-cylinder water pump working on an 11day rotation. Cooperative members report family incomes up by £300 a year. Debts have been paid off. Monsieur Ba, project manager, has calculated that vegetable farming is between 15% and 60% more profitable using organic farming methods such as association planting, natural crop protection and use of compost, all of which reduced input costs. This is also helped by the fact that marketing is easier due to the extended growing season and the ability of produce grown organically to conserve longer. The 329 members of the Sylla Women’s Cooperative have worked extremely hard and overcome many problems to achieve this. News of the project has already spread far and wide but to make sure as many others as possible can benefit from a system that has the potential to make farming more profitable, a fifth project year is being planned to further diffuse project results.

January 2009
Mamadou Konte, head teacher of Leqceiba’s second primary school, is extremely pleased with his newly rehabilitated library and new desks. ‘To have somewhere safe to keep books and somewhere for the older pupils to come and work in a quiet environment is very important,’ he says. ‘We still lack many resources, but this is a great gift and I’m sure it will bear fruit in the results we obtain.’ Nearly 3000 books and manuals are due to be delivered soon and work is planned to start on the construction of a similar library at Leqceiba’s other primary school.

January 2009
It has been an extremely difficult year for farmers in the mid-Gorgol region. Although the rains even a little to the south, in Mali, were good, here they were extremely bad, leading to the failure of most rain-fed crops. The river flood plains were also not inundated, meaning flood-recession crops could not be planted, and the pastures upon which livestock herders are dependant have quickly become exhausted. There are rays of light, however, and some of these are provided by the Mid-Gorgol Community Project. The demonstration of ploughing with animal traction was extremely popular as it showed that, at very low cost, the earth could be sufficiently broken to allow even poor rains to penetrate. Currently, farmers are forced to pool resources to hire tractors for this purpose. The poor rains naturally put added emphasis on irrigation farming, and our work in this sector has got off to a very good start with infrastructure development and rice test-crops being planted. Already one session of farmer training has taken place and work is starting with women’s groups on small-scale vegetable growing. The project is just now coming to the end of the first of its five years.

January 2009
The well at our Windy Jammy site has transformed the lives of the 1000-strong Windy Jammy livestock-herding community. Much less time is now taken up fetching and carrying water from temporary wells some 8 kilometres distant. This means men can devote more time to looking after their animals and the women also have more time for other activities. One of these is the development of small vegetable plots near to the well, which improves family nutrition and can provide a small income for the women when the produce is sold at market. Other benefits are improved health due to improved water quality and the hygiene training the community were given as part of the well digging project, and the establishment of a well management committee which has led to a greater sense of cooperation and self-organisation amongst community members. We are currently researching the digging of a further five wells.

January 2009
A period of consultation and research has resulted in twenty-six villages being identified as potential recipients of micro-credit. Starting with an initial nine, loans of up to £250 will be available to community groups, such as women’s cooperatives, who will take charge of the micro-loans to their members.

September 2008
Trustee Peter Hudson made his way to the North-Western-most tip of Scotland at Cape Wrath to kick off the Big Walk. Extensive flooding on the night of his departure from Presteigne in Wales did not prevent a succession of trains, a post bus, a boat across the Kyle of Durness, and an old mini-bus delivering him to the light house at the Cape in one of the remotest spots on the mainland. A spectacular 107 mile walk over bog and hill then took him to Inverness where he was met by fellow Trustee (and extremely game brother) Mark Hudson to complete the remaining 70 miles along Loch Ness to Fort William and Ben Nevis. One hour of rain in 9 days! Haggis, whiskey, B&Bs and an adventure or two. A tremendous effort and a great begining to the longer trek to Lands End. Next Section: Fort William to Glasgow via Ben Nevis, Rannock Moor and Loch Lomond. Here's hoping for lots of walkers and sponsors all the way down! (See Sponsored Walks for photos and Big Walk for details).

March 2008
Seven of us (pictured: Emily Naper, Charity Trustee Gregory Kronsten, Zeluis Vasconcelos, Ana Hudson and Trustee Peter Hudson; not pictured: Andrew Snodgrass and Trustee Mark Hudson) walked some 50 miles in the Languedoc region of southern France following the fantastic Route de Cathars. (See Sponsored Walks for photos). A lot of money was raised. Details of this year's walks will be available soon.

March 2008
The generous donation by one individual of the total cost of a new Toyota Hilux pick-up truck has allowed us to replace the existing service vehicle, which was on its last legs. This means an enormous amount to us as the service vehicle plays a crucial role in all of our work. In a region as large and spread-out as the Gorgol watershed, communication and the ability to transport people and materials is essential to the development of projects. In addition to this, the vehicle performs many other small services, such as taking emergency cases to hospital from remote areas.

March 2008
The 325 members of the Sylla Women's Cooperative have successfully completed their first vegetable harvest; family incomes are reported to be up by as much as £100/month; 80% of the cost of a stand-by, two-cylinder water pump has already been raised by the Cooperative; the project has been featured on local radio encouraging farmers to come and see for themselves a project that is not only actually happening, but is also showing how intensively farmed vegetables can be economical.

March 2008
A reported 250mm (80% of annual precipitation) fell in two days last rainy season causing flooding. Flooding is not unusual in the Senegal River Valley region where flood-recession agriculture is traditionally practiced, but this was the most extensive inundation seen for fifty years. 75% of the entire irrigated rice harvest in the region was washed away overnight meaning the loss of the considerable resources already-poor farmers had invested in it. As the rain mostly all fell in one short period, however, this did not lead to a successful millet crop as there was not sufficient water penetration of the higher ground.

March 2008
Water has at last been reached at our Windy Jammy site in southern Mauritania at 55 metres! Our well digging team have laboured heroically for many months, digging by hand through bands of hard rock to reach the water table. Now the 1000 strong local community will not have to go on 16 kilometres round trips to get clean water; nor will they have to drink dirty water from sources closer to which makes them ill. At the moment we are looking for a pneumatic drill to make digging our next well considerably speedier and cheaper. Anyone interested in sponsoring our next well, or the drill?