On SATURDAY, Dec 7th, 2013 we will be having a
BOOK SORTING AND DONATIONS PACKING PARTY AT:

Hansen Brothers Moving & Storage
located on 10750 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133

Please come to the back of the building.

TIME: 10AM – 1PM

Pizza will be served!

BRING BOXES WITH LIDS.

The best boxes for packing items are liquor boxes.

Packing takes place in an open warehouse so DRESS WARMLY.

We need many hands as the container ships at the end of December!

RSVP to Shelby Tarutis by December 5th! to 206-660-5826.
shelby@gambiahelp.org

FOR THE CHILDREN,

Shelby

You are invited to

WEST AFRICA LIVE

experience the drumming, dancing, music,

food and magic of West Africa

A Festival to Benefit Children in Africa.

WHERE: Town Hall Seattle 1119 8th Avenue, Seattle WA

WHEN: Saturday, October 19th, 6:30pm

Featuring performances by:

Gansango Music & Dance Company

Senegalese percussionist Thione Diop

Kora masters Kane Mathis & Sean Gaskell

Mandinka drummers Modibo Traore and Bob Thompson of “Wulibaa”

More on our great performers

For more information and to purchase tickets

You can also buy meal tickets in advance to guarantee
the plate of your choice

Proceeds from this event will go to the children in the village of Kerewan in The Gambia. We will be expanding a nursery school and developing a garden to supplement the children’s diet. Data indicates that this village has too few children attending school and many suffering from malnutrition. The community identified this project and we have come on board to assist them. The community is contributing 25% of the project costs as well.

Special Thanks to our Sponsors: Car Tender, Summit Law Group, Stanford, Munko and Co., P.L.L.C., Tarutis and Brunstrom, PS.

Gansango Music & Dance draws on the stunning talent of a multicultural group of international dancers and musicians presenting traditional and contemporary dance and music from West Africa. The company is directed by Etienne Cakpo, originally from Benin and now a teacher and choreographer based in Seattle.

Thione Diop, a percussionist from Senegal, West Africa, and his band Yeke Yeke is widely recognized for his powerfully expressive Djembe performances. He is descended from an ancestral line of Senegalese griot drummers – traditional musical storytellers – and is a master of the djembe, sabar, tama, and djun djun.

Performing on the 21-string Mandinka harp, Kane Mathis renders compelling interpretations of  West African kora music, the traditional medium of Gambian griots or historical poets. Years of study with masters in The Gambia have given Mathis a rare opportunity to share this tradition with other cultures. Over the past 10 years, his performances have earned him recognition by the Gambian president, the Gambian minister of culture, national television and radio in The Gambia.

Seattle-based kora player Sean Gaskell has toured throughout the United States, and been featured at numerous music festivals in The Gambia and Senegal. He released his first solo album “Kora Music of West Africa” in 2012.

Modibo Traore and Bob Thompson of “Wulibaa” perform Mandinka and Jola rhythms and songs from The Gambia and Senegal. Traore, a drummer, singer, and dancer from Casamance, Senegal, specializes in the musical styles of the Mandinka and Jola ethnic groups. Thompson is a Seattle-based drummer who studies Mandinka drumming and singing.

Thanks to all for your generous support of GambiaHELP through Seattle Foundations’ GiveBig in May 2013.  We made almost $4000 from this event!  The donations from GiveBig will go toward the establishment of a nursery school with a nutritional supplementation program in the village of Kerewan.  This is a Gambian village where the children are under-enrolled in school and who have been reported to be suffering from stunted growth due to malnutrition. These donations enable us to work on a very positive health intervention!

Thanks again for all your support!

Donations Sorting Party

When: Saturday, June 1, 2013 – 10 am – 3 pm

Where: Hansen Brothers Moving and Storage

10750 Aurora Avenue N.

Seattle, WA 98133

Food and Beverages will be provided

Please RSVP to Shelby at 206-660-5826 or

shelby@GambiaHelp.org

The Daily Observer – Moving Forward with The Gambia featured an article on GambiaHELP in April, 2013.

The Gambia Health, Education and Liaison Project (Gambia HELP), a charitable organization that seeks to enable Gambian communities improve their health, and education and, to build a sustainable economy and environment, has over the weekend equipped the Banjulinding Health Centre with some office and medical stuffs.

 

Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Yahya Bah, the Imam of Banjulinding, expressed delight and profound gratitude to Gambia HELP for the donation, noting that the materials came at a time when they were much needed. He informed that the Banjulinding Health Centre is the major health post in the locality and that about 33 communities in the neighbourhood benefit from its services, yet the centre is seriously lacking equipment and medication.

Read the entire article

Books for Africa is an organization dedicated to ending the “Book Famine” in Africa.  GambiaHELP received recognition from them for our assistance in making this dream a reality.

GambiaHELP has shipped more than 500,000 books to The Gambia over the past 12 years.

In part their letter stated:

Dear Shelby:

You know that being able to enjoy a novel, study a textbook or access a library is not possible in many communities across Africa.  By mobilizing funding to send a container of books you have helped get those books into the hands of African children and onto the shelves of many village libraries.

Books For Africa would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge your dedication with the enclosed certificate.  Thank you so much for your part in empowering the next generation of Gambian parents, teachers, business people and leaders!

By Dawda Faye – Reprinted from
The Point – a Gambian Newspaper April, 2012