Juli 2024.

The new school year 2024-2025 started on September 23rd  in The Gambia. 

Tree of Life Nursery does have 49 sponsorchilds in September 2024.

Sponsorchilds Tree of Life Nursery School.

Amazing Grace does have 133 sponsorchilds in September 2024.

Sponsorchilds Amazing Grace Primary School.

Juli 2023.

The new school year 2023-2024 started on September 25th in The Gambia. 

Tree of Life Nursery does have  59  sponsorchilds in September 2023.

Sponsorchilds Tree of Life Nursery School.

Amazing Grace Primary does have  128 sponsorchilds in September 2023.

Sponsorchilds Amazing Grace Primary School.


September 2022.

The new school year 2022-2023 started on September 26 in The Gambia.
Tree of Life Nursery will have 50 sponsored children in September 2022.
Sponsorchilds Tree of Life Nursery School.
Amazing Grace Primary has 106 sponsored children in September 2022.
Sponsorchilds Amazing Grace Primary School.

>>> Become a sponsor parent? <<<
We are a foundation that is very involved with our sponsor children, so for us it is not just about the € 70.00 or € 120.00 school fees per year, but about enthusiastic 
people who like to receive a nice box now and then. send them, want to donate a bag of rice, chickens or eggs and follow 'a little' what we do in The Gambia.
We wrote it before and some of you might take this the wrong way, but I want to be clear. It is certainly not about large expenses, but if you want to sponsor a family.. 
let them feel that you are there for them.

We strive to make a child 'visible' and indirectly support the family. It is wonderful to see how the children blossom and change over time. 
Children who used to be closed and distant, who hardly ever smiled, we now see, for example, at the Amazing Grace Primary School, walking around full of self-confidence, 
beaming. The sponsor parents of these children know exactly what I mean.
In the photos you usually see smiling children, you will say now, but we look a little further. So without wanting to attack or approach people negatively, 
I would like to say: "if all this doesn't really appeal to you, don't start it". Sponsoring a child is a well-considered choice, an agreement that you enter 
into for a number of years.

July 2021.

The new school year will probably start on 20st September 2021  in The Gambia, of course depending on the developments regarding Covid-19.

Burbage Nursery has 50 sponsor children in September 2021 and we are no longer accepting sponsor children, the focus is on these 50 children who will continue to secondary education at Amazing Grace Primary School in the coming years.

Amazing Grace Primary does have 84 sponsor children September 2021.

>>> Become a sponsor parent <<<

Currently we have a stop on the acceptance of several sponsor children.

We are a foundation that is very involved with our sponsor children, so for us it is not only about the € 60,00 or € 120,00 school fees per year, but about enthusiastic people who enjoy having a nice box every now and then. want to give a bag of rice, chickens or eggs and follow ‘a little’ what we do in The Gambia.

We’ve written it before and some of you might get it wrong, but I’d like to be clear.

It is certainly not about major expenses, but if you want to sponsor a family … let them feel that you are there for them.

We strive to make a child “visible” and indirectly also support the family. It is wonderful to see how the children blossom and change after a while. Children who were previously closed and distant, hardly ever smiled, we now see, for example, walking around confidently, radiantly on Primary. The sponsor parents of these children know exactly what I mean.

In the photos you usually see smiling children, you will now say, but we look a little further. So without wanting to attack people or approach people negatively, I would still like to say: “if this doesn’t really appeal to you, don’t start it”. Sponsoring a child is a well-considered choice, an agreement that you enter into for a number of years. ?

November 20, 2020.  Financial support for Burbage Nursery stopped.

– End of story Burbage Nursery School-

Thanks to the Tetteroo family who will be supporting the Burbage Nursery School from now on. It’s always nice when people who have never been to The Gambia and therefore don’t understand anything about it, start interfering with something you have built up over the years.

The “amazing gift” of a pair of t-shirts is for Mr. B. Ceesay apparently worth more than our recent investments. Unfortunately, this has been going on for a while. Nothing will change for the foundation, but our limit has now been reached. We will of course continue to support our sponsor children and teachers as we always have.

Other donations and / or ongoing plans regarding the Burbage Nursery School will be discontinued from now on. The school fees and lunch will be handled properly and friends of ours will be visiting the school soon and reporting.

There is also an investigation by the Ministry of Education (led by Mr. M. Jabbi) in which the school should meet a number of points. One of the main points is a contract for the teachers and also the organization of a parent committee. For the time being, these points for improvement requirements have not been met, which could ultimately result in a closure by order of the government.

Ousman Cham and Lamin Jammeh arranges everything concerning promotions and boxes for us, so no further worries. Together we make the difference ❤️

Transparency is our strength.

November 21, 2020.

Good day dear people,

We want to thank you for the support messages, but to be honest, it’s just a relief to finally be able to take the plunge. There is no further anger, at most disappointment because we would have liked to see it differently for the children.

In response to a message from Mr. Ceesay on his school page, I would like to add one last, brief explanation. Our decision was not taken because someone donates some t-shirts, we as a foundation have no control over this. The beginning of a new collaboration, as described in the text, was the well-known drop for us. You know us well enough by now to know that we have not made this impulsive.

There are some other things at play, which is why we have chosen to end the collaboration to avoid even more negativity. Among other things, contact with the teachers will be limited, so as not to cause them further problems. It is certainly not the intention to present ourselves as the owner or something like that of this school, as has been claimed by Mr. Ceesay.

The good cooperation with Lamin and the other teachers arose because Mr. Ceesay was always absent from school, was busy with his political career, long-term “illnesses” and especially with himself and his phone. We deeply regret that this is being interpreted negatively by him and that it has caused problems in particular to Lamin. It is clear that we will therefore continue to support Lamin at all times.

Jealousy destroys more than you would like. Mr. Ceesay is of the opinion that we want to undermine him and his school (undermine his authority), which is obviously not true. This has no added value for our foundation.

What we do do is never accept that things disappear from boxes, mother’s money is extorted because otherwise they do not receive a box or because of going on to Amazing Grace Primary School, threaten to expel the school if the mothers take a box from our Ousman and a number of other points that I would rather not mention here. So we think it would be better to give him the chance to fix everything “according to his own plan”. It was never intended to deliberately accuse him of things, only demonstrable facts have been stated by us.

That is why we distance ourselves from the school with pain in our hearts, but not from your children. At the moment there are 83 sponsor children at the Burbage Nursery School and we hope that they will eventually move on to the Amazing Grace Primary School. That is where our focus lies. We have good contact with the teachers there and will post some pictures and information next week.

Today 22-11-2020 Ousman and Lamin will be on the road again to take your boxes away. Next weekend, the food packages that you have ordered through Henk Bronneberg will be distributed. Together we still make a difference. If you have any questions, feel free to ask

With Love, Nuyul Ma Nyep

Fred & Monique

Little Miracle

After the question of what we actually do in Gambia, the question sometimes arises whether we also help people to become “self-sufficient”. Self-sufficient in the sense of; you give or teach them something that they can use to generate income. “Give them a fishing rod instead of fish.” That sounds very nice, but it is not as simple as it seems. We occasionally help starting tailors with a sewing machine, so that they can start a business. Our sponsor parents often send things that they know can help make some money. Boxes with clothes and other stuff can be sold on the market, Ousman Cham does have a job thanks to our foundation.

The teachers of our schools have a fixed salary, because guaranteed school fees are now paid for a large number of children. The foster family in Kartong is supported, so that the foster mother does not immediately spend the money she earns catching oysters on food. And so there are a lot of other things where we indirectly help people to become self-sufficient.

Indirectly .. because as a foundation we focus on the children. Purely for the children, because they have no choice. They are born to mothers who cannot actually take care of them. Those mothers are usually children who have grown up with the idea that for certain reasons it is good to get pregnant. We can talk about that for a long time, but for us it is all about the little miracles that have no chance of a bright future without our help.

The children who are not looked after, who play at the dump and search for reusable waste, who do not go to a doctor in time, who live on a piece of bread and some rice every day, who do not learn English and therefore never find a real job, think they are inferior to others. To us, every child is a miracle, without prejudice or discussion about birth control. Of course this also needs to be worked on, but that is not as easy as people think.

The drops on the ocean, that’s what we are for these little miracles. Every child has the right to be seen, to have a chance for a better future.

That’s what we do it all for!

  • •• Quality or Quantity •••

A few months ago we virtually stopped the placement of new sponsor children. This was necessary to keep an overview in all kinds of areas. Long story .. Our foundation is all about quality and not quantity. In The Gambia there are unfortunately thousands of children who receive poor or no education at all. Parents everywhere ask you if you would like to help their children to go to school. Finding a sponsor who pays a few tens of tuition fees per year is still feasible for us, but we work in such an intensive, personal way that it is impossible to accept ‘as many’ children as possible. Our goal is to follow every child as closely as possible in terms of development, home situation and health. This is certainly not easy, because communication in the Netherlands is very different from in The Gambia.

What you don’t ask, you never get to hear about it. If you ask 3 questions in 1 message, you will get an answer if you are lucky. Showing emotion is also something that is not easily done, so that the mothers sometimes appear in the picture with a kind of angry expression. That does not come across very well if you, as a sponsor, have just sent a box full of nice things. Often these mothers are just before that with tears in their eyes .. When a child is a bit wrong, they often first go to a marabout (witch doctor) or wait far too long to ask for help. The reason? Money, shame, ignorance, faith … These are all of those things that we have to deal with a lot and that we try to explain to the sponsors.

Occasionally people also move suddenly because they are eg evicted from their house due to rent arrears or if their house collapses during the rainy season. This could be a long way from school. When this happens, we are forced to end the sponsorship and you will be notified. Of course we offer the possibility to sponsor another child. We also expect the sponsor parent to give the family a nice box, a bag of rice or something else to support them every now and then. This according to your own insight, capacity and completely without obligation, but it is the intention that every family gets something from time to time.

UPDATE December 2017:

Since the start with sponsorship, the Gambian currency has increased from 42 GMD to 44 GMD per euro. At the request of Buba Ceesay, the school fees have increased from GMD 2,520.00 per school year to GMD 2,640.00. We have clearly indicated that we are not a financial institution and will not keep an eye on the prices, but for this time we adjust it in view of the necessity after the loss of the sponsor who previously provided the lunch. With this 120 GMD extra per child + the personal contribution, the lunch could be continued again and that seemed a plausible explanation from him.

School fees ** Burbage Nursery School: € 60.00 per year or GMD 2,640.00 (exchange rate at the time of writing 1 € = 44 GMD) ***

Lunch money full year Nursery (free donation): € 15.00

School fees ** Amazing Grace Primary School: € 120.00 per year or GMD 5,200.00 (exchange rate at the time of writing 1 € = 44GMD) ***

Transport costs per banana box of max. 23 kg: € 7.50

50 kg bag of rice (optional): € 25.00

* payment in terms is not possible !

** in consultation with both schools during our visit in December 2017, the school fees have been set on the Gambian currency with a rate of 1 € = +/- 44GMD, because as mentioned earlier the currency fluctuates strongly and there must be clarity with a fixed amount to any sponsors.

*** Due to the strongly fluctuating currency, we may ask for a small extra contribution if it is not feasible for us to meet the amount of 2,640.00 GMD or 5,200.00 GMD. If there is a positive change to the GMD, the difference will be converted into extra activities for the sponsor children and / or a supplement to the lunch money because this is a non-binding gift.

January 2019.

Transparency is our Strength We admit it immediately: You can sponsor children anywhere. For that you really do not have to be specifically a partner at the Gambia Giving with Love Foundation.

But are you looking for a foundation …

For whom no question is too crazy where the volunteers are always available via WhatsApp, e-mail, telephone or Facebook Messenger where you can come by for advice that continues to amaze you with their project (s) and great ideas that you can be 100% sure are that everything ends up in the right place, who is really involved with your sponsor child with a positive outlook on life in The Gambia of which the board members themselves are regularly in The Gambia, who is completely transparent and also reports the sometimes negative things.