The Brufut Education Project, The Gambia
Added: (Tue Dec 07 2010)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
The Brufut Education Project was founded in 2002 by Mustafa Ndure, a Gambian living in London who works as both an artist and a stallholder in London’s markets. He took it upon himself to continue his late father’s project of developing the educational facilities available to local people in Brufut. His father had founded a Koranic school on the family compound years before which established the compound as a focal point within the local community.
Having lived in the UK, where he met Rob, and Scandinavia for over 12 years, Mustapha decided to return home to build Brufut’s first technical college. This was by no means an easy task as project funding was entirely derived from Mustapha’s limited own finances and those of friends and family. After the first school foundation was successfully laid in 2004, work was halted prematurely due to project finances petering out. Later that year, he returned to London with the intention of raising funds for the next stage of the Brufut Education Project.
In collaboration with a host of musicians, artists, DJ’s and generous friends, Mustapha and Rob began to organise events and meetings with the aim of raising funds and public awareness about the Brufut Education Project.
In January of 2009 a growing circle of friends travelled to Brufut to continue building the school. Mustapha, Farido, Jurgi and Rob in conjunction with Gibril, Malik, Oussainou, Bakaramo, Famara, Bambo and many other members of the community in Brufut went to work! The team then worked hard for 2 months until the money (£3,600 to be precise) ran out and unfortunately before the roof was installed on the school. The only people who were paid a salary were the local carpenters, masons and the works manager, who all worked extremely hard and provided invaluable expertise alongside the volunteers. The UK contingent of the project team returned to London in March 2009.
Inspired by the success of this project stage, Mustafa decided to widen the scope of the project by drawing up plans to build a larger structure that could provide training for young Gambians in a variety of educational subjects, from sowing and carpentry, to accounting and language training. For the remainder of 2009 the BEP sought to network with other groups active in the region and with local authorities to encourage support for the ongoing project as well as continuing fund raising activities back in London.
December 2010: The convoy has just left to drive through Europe and the Western Sahara to The Gambia, in order to put the roof on the school and prepare it for opening in March 2011. Please follow the convoy's story and project progress here:
http://blog.brufuteducationproject.com
and see the story and project mandate here:
www.brufuteducationproject.com
Please donate for an amazing grass roots cause. Thank you!!