Conquerors of The Ben!

Andrew, Laura, Chris, Andy, Jennifer and Kyle at the summit of Ben Nevis

As of 21.45GMT this evening, a total of £745/$1,150 has been donated through Paypal to the Aid4Gogo project. Other gifts have been given personally. Wow, thank you so much! Will let you know when we get a final figure. 

Ben Nevis update

Despite difficult conditions yesterday, a group of climbers successfully reached the top of Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain. It rained throughout the day and three people had to be rescued by the emergency services from the mountain, but, thankfully, all the Aid4Gogo climbers returned safely to Fort William.

So far, 21 people have donated through Paypal, giving a total of £560/$840 which will be used to restore educational facilities in Gogo, Ivory Coast.

Thank you all so much!

Pictures to follow. 

Ben Nevis deja vu fundraiser

A fund raising event to help with the work in Gogo has been organised. They organisers write on their Facebook page:

We plan to climb Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in the UK) on the 11/09/10. Some of us will attempt to do this twice on the same day. This is a charity fundraiser and the best way to help is by donating through the website below. All proceeds will go straight to Aid4Gogo (http://www.aid4gogo.blogspot.com/). The only primary school in Gogo, Ivory Coast, West Africa was badly damaged during the civil war which started 8 years ago.There are currently 115 children in the village who would benefit from this facility. 100% of all donations will be used to purchase materials to help restore the village school.

Check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=103655199688474

Petit à petit

Slow but steady progress is being made in repairing the school in Gogo, Ivory Coast. All the desks that were needed, over forty in all, have been obtained for the school children and work has started on putting in windows and doors to secure the classrooms.

All being well, in a week or so, a carpenter will be going to the village to replace some of the rusted tin and rotting wood on the school roof. After that we would like to get the walls skimmed and new cement floors poured throughout the building.

Last month the education authorities in Ivory Coast sent another two qualified teachers to the village to help the one teacher who was already there. The villagers were thrilled about that.

Thank you so much for your contributions that have made all the repairs to the school possible.

April Update

Gogo School - click picture for larger image

We have been able to get enough desks for all the school children, and the blackboards in two of the classrooms have been repaired.

The next step is to replace the rusted tin on the roof and to put in windows to protect the children from the sun and the rain. We want to get this done before the rainy season starts in May/June.

After that, while the children are off for their summer break, we plan to get new floors laid in the classrooms, holes in the walls plastered and doors on the classrooms. We are using local labour and supplies to do all the work at the school so this helps to bring a little bit of employment to the area.

Progress in Gogo - Priority Number 1: Fixing up the School

With the money raised by the various sponsored events and contributions during 2009 we have started to help the people of Gogo to recover from the recent civil war in Ivory Coast.

Almost two dozens school desks have been provided for the children attending the school in Gogo. We have ordered another 15 desks, which should provide enough desks for all 136 students.
The next priority is to get the windows fixed up to protect the children from the sun and rain. After that we would like to replace the doors and parts of the rusting tin roof.
When the building is secure we would like to plaster the walls, put down new floors and get the building painted.
Gogo villagers enjoying the benefits of safe, clean water. We helped to put on the new pump.

Thank you for your help in giving the people of Gogo a fresh start.

Thanks so much!

After the sponsored walk along the Newry towpath and the marathon in Edinburgh earlier in the year, as well as other gifts, a total of just over £1,400 pounds has been raised to help restore the school and medical facilities in the village of Gogo in Ivory Coast.

Some money has already been sent out to Africa to make a start at providing much-needed school desks for the children.

Thank you, everyone, for your generosity so far.

Edinburgh Marathon

Peter Briggs, our oldest son, is planning to run the Edinburgh Marathon on May 31. He is giving any money that he raises to the Aid4Gogo project.

If you would like to sponsor him, please hit the PayPal button on the right!

Thank you.

Aid for Gogo Video (65secs)

To download video, click here

AID FOR GOGO

click for larger image

1 April 2009

Located deep in the wooded savannah of northeast Ivory Coast, West Africa there is a small isolated region called Gogo.

Twenty five years ago, Gogo was an underdeveloped mud-hut village on a junction of four dirt roads with a population of about three hundred people. There were no medical facilities for the sick, a very limited supply of water and the government-sponsored teacher struggled to get six or seven students to attend school even though there were well over 100 children in the immediate area. As subsistence farmers the villagers, with limited tools, struggled every year to grow enough food to feed their families.

Between 1984 and 2002, in addition to their regular tasks of Bible translation, literacy and church work, Paul and Marina Briggs, along with other missionaries:

• purchased text books for the school and helped provide housing for teachers, which contributed to a huge increase in school attendance;
  
• built a medical facility, supplied medicine and trained local villagers in basic medical care;
  
• provided an ambulance service to hospitals 16, 60 and 150 miles away for those more seriously ill;
  
• repaired the village well to provide cleaner water for the people;
  
• planted a mango orchard;
  
• introduced oxen to the region to help the local people grow more food;
  
• built a mill for the village ladies to grind their corn and millet.
  

Sadly, in 2002, a war broke out in Ivory Coast that has had a devastating effect on the development of the Gogo community. Paul and Marina had to evacuate the region. Educational, medical, telecommunications and travel infrastructure crumbled in the northern part of the country. Schools no longer functioned properly, hospitals and clinics lacked staff and medical supplies and telephone and postal networks were destroyed. Large sections of dirt roads in the region were also washed away during the rainy seasons.

After more than six years of civil strife, peace is at last gradually returning to Ivory Coast and things are beginning to stabilise, with UNICEF and government authorities and agencies returning to the region.

Paul and Marina are planning to go back to Ivory Coast in the summer of 2009 to help the villagers recover from the terrible effects of the past years. During the war, school books, desks and equipment were destroyed. The medical building was looted and damaged, with doors and chairs being used as firewood. The school and clinic buildings have also suffered from the effects of many years of neglect and extreme weather conditions.

There is an immediate need for desks and school books for over one hundred children who have enrolled at the school. The medical centre also requires basic medicines and equipment.

Would you like to help the school and medical facility to function properly again and be a help and service to the wider Gogo community, which now consists of many hundreds of people?

Do you want to play a part in rejuvenating this region which has endured such hardships?

Any help, no matter how little, will be greatly appreciated. Click here for more information.

Thank you.