Volunteer

Students since 2011

+ 0

Colley Smith Soffora Nursery School was founded in September 2011 by Musa Colley, and is located in N'demban (West Coast region, The Gambia).

Currently our team is formed by

Musa: director

Sarjo: head teacher & supervisor

Abubacarr Sanyang: teacher at level 3

Abdoulie Njie: teacher at level 2

Mama Sarjo: teacher level 1

Saffie Tamba: school cleaner

Current investors

How did all start?

The first steps

⭐ Future

Greetings

How did all start?

The first steps

⭐ Future

Greetings

Colley Smith Soffora Nursery School was founded in September 2011 by Musa Colley, and is located in N'demban (West Coast region, The Gambia).

Currently our team is formed by

Musa: director

Sarjo: head teacher & supervisor

Abubacarr Sanyang: teacher at level 3

Abdoulie Njie: teacher at level 2

Mama Sarjo: teacher level 1

Saffie Tamba: school cleaner

Current investors

How did all start?

The first steps

⭐ Future

Greetings

How did all start?

The first steps

⭐ Future

Greetings

Musa and Sarjo are the founders and owners of Colley-Smith Soffora Nursery School.

Hi! My name is Sarjo.

Currently, I run the Colley-Smith Soffora Nursery School with the support of my husband and the team of teachers we work with.

Throughout the volunteering, we will work together so that you can get to know our methodology and you can help us in whatever you feel more comfortable with. Everything you can contribute will be welcome.

If you want to come and volunteer at the school, you can contact us in advance to prearrange the cost of accommodation, transport and food for a giving period of time you want to stay.

About your experience

Basic information

School volunteering

In your day-to-day, you’ll be working alongside Sarjo and the team of teachers at the school.

The school is very close to where you’ll be staying, so it’s easy to get there. You’ll be involved in teaching, organizing activities, and helping with inventory and maintenance of the school facilities. The main subjects you’ll be working on are English, math, and writing. No prior experience is required, our team will make sure you feel comfortable with your tasks and will adapt to your needs.

Besides your work at the school, you’ll have the chance to enjoy your free time living in the village with Musa and Sarjo’s family.

You can also read more at our article one day at our school. You can always check for additional activities with Explore The Gambia.

💸 School financing

The school has no government funding and is not an economic profit project.

The school was founded by the Smith family, who provided the first material to start the project.

Later, its expenses have been able to be financed from 2011 to 2023 thanks to Sean Smith, Nick and Biddy West, thanks to whom the school has become what it is today.

With the funding we ensure the maintenance and expansion of the concrete building, the procurement of materials and the salary of the teachers.

We are constantly looking for new avenues of funding to ensure that the project thrives and the education we have created is sustained over time.

Would you like to collaborate? Contanct us!

ES La escuela no tiene financiación gubernamental y no es un proyecto de beneficio económico.

La escuela fue fundada por la familia Smith proveedora del primer material para iniciar el proyecto.

Más adelante, sus gastos se han podido financiar desde 2011 hasta el año 2023 gracias a Sean Smith, Nick y Biddy West, gracias a los cuales la escuela se ha convertido en lo que es hoy en día.

Con la financiación aseguramos el mantenimiento y ampliación del edificio de hormigón, la obtención de materiales y el salario de los profesores.

Nos encontramos en constante búsqueda de nuevas vías de financiación para asegurar que el proyecto prospere y la educación que hemos creado se mantenga en el tiempo.

¿Te gustaría colaborar? ¡Contáctanos!

What our volunteers say

If you need to talk to one of our volunteers, just let us know

ES Si necesitas hablar con algunx de nuestrxs voluntarixs solo tienes que decírnoslo

Our previous volunteers experience

Unfortunately, our previous website was hacked and we have lost the photos of our previous tours. With your help we will soon be able to fill our gallery with new memories 😉.

ES Por desgracia, nuestra anterior página web fue hackeada y hemos perdido las fotos de nuestros anteriores tours. Con tu ayuda pronto podremos llenar nuestra galería de nuevos recuerdos.

In 2022 Marlies, my best friend asked me to go together to The Gambia to visit her foster child. So in November we went to the beautiful smiling coast where we met with an amazing human being with the biggest heart, Musa Colley. Musa had received terrible news before from the funders of the school that they will stop funding because of old age. Marlies always inspired me to share, to give to charity and help other people in this beautiful world. So in that moment when I heard the terrible news from Musa, I decided to take over the funding of Musa's Colley Smith Nursery School. And that was the start of our amazing relationship for many many years to come. The school is truly an amazing project, it is hard to understand how big the impact is what Moses and his Team and school is making to the whole N’Demban village, each year more than 75 children are given the opportunity to have education about maths, English, integrated studies, Manners etc. This way we give the children a chance in life to a good future and a way of getting out of poverty. Seeing the passion and drive that Moses has to help the whole village inspired me to work together with Moses. It is very important to work together with a lot of trust and transparency to achieve this goal. He is really seeing things bigger than just the school, it is basically about the whole village, the food market and local stores so the local vendors have a way to sell their products and provide for their family’s as well, the local medical center to make it a lot easier and safer for the people to get medical help. It’s just amazing to meet someone like Moses who open’s up his house and heart to help a lot of people, Moses gives water to all the neighbours and even grows fruit and vegetables extra to help.

Fui a Ndemban del 9 de junio al 5 de julio, para hacer mi primer voluntariado. No creo que las experiencias como estás sea posible de expresar con palabras lo que la persona vive. Pero si tengo que hablar de la mía propia en esta aldea de Gambia, empezaría por su gente. Me acogieron como una más, yo allí no era menos que nadie, era profe de unos niños que me trataron como tal, como ellos decían “aunt itzi”, siempre les diré que me enseñaron ellos más a mí que lo que yo pude enseñarles. Sonreírle a la vida es la filosofía de vida que sin saberlo tienen, y su generosidad es parte de su cultura. Una cultura familiar, a la que te invitan a participar de todas y cada una de sus tradiciones, fue increíble parecer gambiana durante los 27 días que pase allí. Tengo 18 años recien cumplidos, mi primera vez tan lejos de casa, lo cual hizo que mi experiencia fuese tan especial e inolvidable, ahora la aldea de Ndemban forma parte de mi. Vivir mi primera experiencia como profe en el Colley Smith Soffora nursery school, ha dejado sin duda el nivel alto para mis próximas experiencias. El programa de educación a los niños de tan corta edad es brutal, pero sin duda necesita ayudas. Los recursos son escasos y cualquier ayuda siempre será bienvenida. Destacó el agradecimiento que sentí por haberles elegido para mi primera experiencia de voluntariado, pues el agradecimiento es mío, por enseñarme tanto, por abrirme tanto los ojos y haberme hecho tan feliz. Sin duda volveré algún día, y animo a todo el mundo a que visite el Colley Smith Soffora nursery school y a la gente de la aldea de Ndemban.

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