Georgia’s Gambian trip is an eye opener

Georgia Gordon, 17, is working at Bakau Newtown Lowe Basic School – a primary with two working taps to be used by over 2000 children.
But the taps are unreliable and can go full days without providing a single drop of drinking water, and Georgia plans to raise funds to help with this problem when she returns home later this month.
She said: “I decided to come out here as I love working with children and wanted to travel and make a change, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
“It really has been so eye opening. I got myself a lovely Gambian family and I love the kids immensely.”
In the time Georgia has spent out there, she has seen the addition of two toilets – but due to the poor water system they often don’t work.
She said: “Even the water supply to the two taps isn’t enough and we can go whole days without any water for the kids to use for drinking.
“Without working toilets children often go to a loo behind buildings and they play close-by to that same spot.”
Georgia studied at St Joseph’s College, a school of only 800 pupils, and she was shocked by the number of children having to make use of the two taps at Bakau Newton Lowe.
She said: “This is extremely worrying for the health of these young children. The girls are also discouraged to come to school once they hit puberty due to the absence of a toilet. I feel like this is urgent to allow the children to learn and be healthy.”