About the charity

1to3 was founded by Meg Lyon and her late husband Ken in 2000 after a holiday trip to Gambia in November 1998. They visited a nursery school in Wellingara, where 150 children between the ages of 3 and 7, were working in tiny, hot, dark classrooms with few learning resources and poor sanitation. Meg and Ken were so affected by what they saw that they felt moved to do something to help improve the situation. They decided to raise money to build a new nursery school at a different site and sponsor a child. This was the beginning of 1to3 which registered as a charity in 2000. Since then it has grown and grown and the Wellingara Community Nursery School now provides education and support to over 400 children in Wellingara village.

The charity is run by six Trustees: Meg Lyon, Marj Hitching, Greg and Celia Keevil, Peter and Pam Nevill. Meg and Marj visit the school in Wellingara two to three times a year at their own expense to monitor progress, visit the school and to meet the sponsored children and their families. This also gives them the opportunity to monitor how the money is being used and the progress that is being made on the different initiatives organised by The Wellingara Community Initiative Support (CIS).

The Wellingara Community Initiative Support (CIS)

CIS is a Gambian-registered charity – a voluntary organisation responsible for the running of Wellingara Nursery School, the Adult Literacy classes and other community activities. They are also responsible for the administration of the Child Sponsorship Scheme which involves managing the distribution of the funds received, identifying children for sponsorship and prioritising those according to need, monitoring the sponsored children and their families. CIS keeps in close contact with the Trustees of 1to3 regarding the Nursery school and its requirements. They work in partnership with 1to3 and are a key part of their success.

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The school

There are many tribal languages in Gambia, so lessons are taught using the official language of English. This gives the children a strong grounding before they begin mainstream education at seven years of age. Many improvements have been made at the school since Meg and Ken’s first visit. The Lyon block now consists of five classrooms and an office and a more recent extension has provided three more classrooms and a resource room.

A new borehole has been donated to the school by Anne Bentley in memory of her father Fred Russell. This gives a good and constant supply of fresh water to the school and also the community. A tap is to be placed at the school gate so that local people can also use the clean water. In 2004 a kitchen and canteen were completed and food provided by World Food Programme meant that a wholesome meal could be provided, but now that the WFP initiative is no longer available, a range of nutritious snacks are available at breaktime.

As nursery teachers are not paid by the Gambian government, 1to3 has a scheme to pay a basic salary to the teachers which is funded through the child sponsorship scheme. This has enabled the nursery to take on more teachers and improve their training.
After some in-service teacher training, The Jolly Phonics system of learning to read and write was introduced in September 2005.

Through the generosity of our supporters, 117 children are now sponsored but there is always a waiting list of needy children. Click here to sponsor a child.

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The Wellingara Community Health Clinic

In 2005, 1to3 began an initiative to build a new health clinic in Wellingara as there was no provision at all for local health care and when it is finished it will serve the population of Wellingara and surrounding villages - over 50,000 people.

The main health concern in the area is malaria which is responsible for the deaths of 1 in 5 children under the age of five. Therefore a small laboratory has also been included in the plans to help with quick diagnosis. A major objective of the clinic is to reduce maternal and infant mortality. Currently we are in need of funding for essential medicines. Every little bit helps, so if you are interested in helping please click here to donate for the Health Clinic.

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