Amlwch - Sankwia's First Aid Project

Link to the case study on Cynnal Cymru site here

When the Community Rallies Round
Cyfeillion Sankwia Friends: the Anglesey - Gambia link

The Dakar Rally may be world famous, but not many have heard of the Plymouth-Banjul Challenge. In this pastiche of the Dakar car race, participants have to drive old bangers costing less than £100 all the way from England to Gambia, for charity.

"My daughters were travelling through Sankwia in the Gambia back in 2005 and experienced first hand the difficulties in accessing affordable healthcare and education as a result of extreme poverty in the area," explains Myrddin Owens an Amlwch town councillor in Anglesey, North Wales.

"They had made some good friends on their visit and on their return persuaded the council to twin Amlwch with Sankwia. In January 2006, the charity Cyfeillion Sankwia Friends was established," says Myrddin.

To get to Sankwia you take the tourist route to Banjul, the capital on the coast. But after that you’re on your own, says Myrddin. "It’s only a further 150 km, but it takes seven hours, and every 50 km you"re stopped by the police!"

Guto Roberts, Huw F.Owen and Dafydd Griffith from Amlwch decided to do it.

"We thought why don’t we send an ambulance?" laughs Myrddin. "We bought a military ambulance, which has less electrics and is therefore easier to maintain, packed it with medical equipment and the three guys drove the 3000 miles all the way to the clinic in the village." When they got there they left the ambulance, with all its contents, for the community.

Poverty is a real problem in Sankwia. Most of the villagers rely on agriculture, the production of groundnuts and rice. Rice is not grown on a commercial basis, but is the staple diet of the community. The groundnut harvest is bought by the government, which guarantees to pay a fixed price for the crop. Even so, the income of a typical villager is less than 60 pence per day.

Families have to pay for their children’s education at nearly 20% of a family’s income per child. Typically they may have 5-8 children so educating them is a real financial burden.

Through the charity, the people of Amlwch provide educational materials for the schools and fund training for teachers in Sankwia, reducing the financial burden on families and ensuring that every child in the village is provided with at least a basic level of education.

They also provide some sponsorship so that children wishing to continue their education can do so.

"Children cannot go to school without school uniforms," continues Myrddin, "so one of the first projects we helped set up was a clothing manufacturing co-operative. We sent out 10 sewing machines and a small enterprise was set up by women making school uniforms. Our charity bought the uniforms for about £5 each and gave them to the families that needed them most." Profit from the sales is ploughed back into the co-operative.

Throughout Africa, educating girls is seen as a priority since it is the most sustainable route to advancing health and prosperity. Many women over 25 can’t read or write. The charity provides equipment and materials to help tackle the problem. A building that had fallen into disrepair was renovated and is now being used as a literacy classroom for women.

"We bought materials for local carpenters to make the furniture. We had to import timber from outside the area because the ground is too salty to grow trees." Myrddin continues. "We made it a condition that they train two youngsters in the skills required so that they could be passed on."

The charity aims "to advance education, to preserve and protect health, and to assist in the relief of poverty amongst the people of Sankwia village and surrounding areas." To this end it is directly contributing towards three of the Millennium Development Goals which are international targets to reduce global poverty by 2015.

The project has been awarded a Gold Star Community award too which awards partnerships between towns in Wales and towns in Africa on their achievements. "It has meant that we have been given more donations from our sponsors and built a higher profile," says Myrddin. "We also received a gift of 14 football kits from Liverpool football club to send out to Sankwia," he smiles.

The Gold Star Communities programme has been endorsed by the United Nations and is funded by Welsh Assembly Government as a part of its pioneering Wales for Africa policy.

Work will continue between the twinned towns. "Facilities at the clinic were poor. There was very limited electricity and two Cuban doctors trying to make the best of it. They said the main thing that they needed was reliable electricity," adds Myrddin. "Now our ambition is to provide solar electric panels, solar water heating panels and a solar powered incubator."

There are benefits back in Amlwch too - two Gambians came and visited the schools, providing an invaluable experience for the children particularly around the value of money. "They came to realise that people there have to survive on far less pocket money than they receive - less than two pence a day," says Myrddin.

For more information go to www.sankwia.co.uk.