Baranku Academy Nursery School

Baranku School

The Baranku Academy Nursery School was established on 16th September 2018 by Christine Mendy.

Christine is a qualified teacher, she has always been passionate about teaching which comes from her love to be around children and to see them thrive. Christine has become a living witness to the unfortunate trends in The Gambia of children from hard to reach communities either not attending school at all, or starting later than desirable.

Many children in The Gambia do not start school until they are 7 because the government do not fund education for those under 7 years. Children who have not accessed education before 7 do not perform well when they start school, which then often leads to them dropping out of formal education prematurely.

UNICEF report

The Gambia Fact Sheet 2020

A 2020 UNICEF study found that people in rural areas, like those in the community around the school, have literacy rates of just 41%, compared to 75% in urban areas. Poverty also has an impact on literacy rates, 42% amongst the poorest individuals compared to 85% among the richest (lowest quintile v highest quintile), the poverty rate in the local community is 76%.

Only 10% of individuals in the country have foundational ICT skills, with a gender split of 17% male and 7% female. People who live in rural areas, those with little or no education and those from the poorest quintile generally do not possess ICT skills. Only among the richest individuals and among those who have attained at least a vocational level of education do more than 25% of individuals possess ICT skills.

Only 65% of children complete primary education in the Gambia, less than half (46%) of children completing secondary education and less than a third (29%) completing the equivalent of six-form college.

Only 46% of children from rural areas, such as the community around the school, complete primary education, compared to 73% in urban areas. This divergence continues at higher levels with just 8% of children from rural areas completing the equivalent of six-form college, compared to 35% in urban areas.

Education completion rates are lowest amongst children living in rural areas, from the poorest households (bottom two quintiles) (Source).

Children who do not access education at all, or who do not have the grounding of an education in their early years, will often find that this leads to barriers to employment in later life.

A lack of education also means that children are more likely to suffer adverse health outcomes and less likely to participate in decisions that affect them, threatening their ability to shape a better future for themselves and their society.

Many children in Christine's rural community, on the outskirts of Jambanjelly village, were not accessing school in their early years, this meant they did not gain foundational skills in literacy and numeracy. UNICEF found that 76% of 3 to 4 year olds who do not attend Early Childhood Education were not on track in terms of literacy, numeracy, physical development, social-emotional development and learning capacity (source). It was in response to this, Christine's love of children and her Christian faith, that she purchased a plot of land and built the school which has three classrooms.

She then launched the school in 2018 which caters for 3 to 7 year olds from a rural area near Jambanjelly village.

Christine wanted the children who attended the school to "Shine" which is why she named the school "Baranku" which means to "Shine Brightly" in Manjago, the tribal language of the Manjak people.

Baranku School is a Christian school which is open to all. The school community welcomes anyone, whether they have a Christian faith, a Muslim faith, another faith or no faith. The school is also open to people from any tribe. The school community has people from different tribes and religions, everyone comes together in harmony.

The World Bank have found that in 2020 the national poverty rate was 53.4% , however, for people who live in rural areas, such as Jambanjelly, the rate is 76%, compared to a 34% in urban areas. 3 out of 4 people in the local community are classified as poor (source).

For those in work, the minimum wage is 50 GMD per day (source), which is just 62 pence per day, £3.12 per week, £162.50 per annum. Someone on the minimum wage in the UK would earn more in two days than a Gambian would in a year (source).

The school asks parents of children to make a contribution to the cost of running the school, however, due to the poverty in the catchment area of the school, children whose parents cannot pay the school fees are still able to attend the school. Just over half of the families of children cannot afford to pay the fee which is set at 600 Gambian Dalasi per term, which converts to £7.50 in UK currency.

The school has been inspected and granted an operational licence by the Gambian Early Child Development Association in February 2020.

The teaching staff is a real family affair as Christine was joined by her daughter Harriet to teach at the school. As the school caters for children aged 7 and under they do not receive any government funding, the two teachers do not receive a salary and Christine personally funds most of the running costs of the school.

Christine Mendy

Head Teacher & Founder

Christine established the school in 2018 after she purchased a plot of land and built the three classrooms we see today. Christine went to Gambia Collage for three years, leaving with a certificate for teaching. Christine began her teaching career in 1992.

Christine loves children, teaching is her passion. When she isn’t teaching you will still find her being with children in her spare time, she loves playing games with them.

Christine’s favourite subjects are English and Mathematics, she likes all things to do with letters and numbers. Her biggest achievement is establishing the school which she would like to see grow into a standard school in the future.

Harriet Mendy

Teacher

Harriet Mendy has followed in the footsteps of her mother as she is a qualified teacher. She began her teaching career in 2019 at the school. She works at the school because she loves teaching.

Her favourite subject is language and she loves to be creative with the children.

When Harriet isn’t at school she loves playing games.

Harriett describes herself as black in colour, which is important to her as a black women.

When asked about her achievements, she replied that what she aims to achieve is that by the end of the week the children in her class understand what she has been teaching them. She is happy because it is evident that the children are happy when they are in class.

Fatou Jobe Secka

Volunteer Administrator

Fatou assists the school in a voluntary role as the school administrator. She is a graduate, having studied Microsoft office applications. She has been the school administrator for three years.

Fatou is in charge of financial aspects of the school operation and she ensures the smooth administration of it.

Fatou’s biggest achievement is to succeed in life, she is a successful business women and entrepreneur. She would love to see the school become a great institution in the future.

Baranku School Fundraising Charity

Mick & Caroline Tinkler visited the school in October 2023, they were amazed at the dedication of Christine and Harriet as they juggled three classes between them.

They found out the teachers were not paid and most of the running costs of the school were paid by Christine personally. Caroline who works in a UK school and Mick who is a retired charity Chief Executive, asked if there was anything they could do to help.

As a result of discussions Mick & Caroline have agreed to carry out some fundraising in the UK to support the school. The fundraising is being carried out via a new charity which was formed on the 1st January 2024, called the "Baranku School Fundraising Charity", a Charitable Incorporate Organisation, Registered Charity Number 1208833. The trustees are Mick, Caroline and their daughter Sonia Charalambous.

If you want to find out how you can support the school financially please click here. If you want to fundraise for the charity you can find some information here.

The charity is totally run by volunteers, every penny donated to the charity will go directly to support the school children.

Please note: All of the trips to The Gambia made on behalf of the charity are paid for by the individuals concerned. This includes flights, accommodation, car hire, food, insurance, etc. Under no circumstances are the charity funds used to pay for these trips.

Jambanjelly Village

The school is located in a rural area to the West of Jalambang and to the East of Jambanjelly, also spelt Jambanjãli, a village in the West Coast Division of Gambia. Jambanjelly is made up of people who come from different tribes and religions, who all live together in harmony.

The village is situated at the intersection of two roads, Jalambang Highway and Sanyang Highway, the school is just off of Sanyang Highway to the east of the village. Jambanjelly has a population of 5,285 (2013 Census) (source).

The name Jambanjelly is derived from Mandinka words, either “Jambo beh jaeleh”, meaning shrubs are there or “Jambang? (hany) jaeli”, which means is it here? (no) it is there. It is thought the name was given to the area by hunters, either describing the area as bushy or a hunter forgot something and was directing another hunter who asked “is it here”? “No it is there” was the reply.

The village is believed to be founded around 1910 by Karamo Darboe, a hunter from Gunjur who used to visit the place during hunting expeditions. In one of his expeditions he found a temporal shelter built by one Jankene Gibba from Karony in Cassamance who came with his people as seasonal migrants for harvesting palm products which were taken back at the end of the dry season. The following dry season Karamo Darboe (the hunter) came early and built a house at the spot of the temporal shelter built by Jankene. When Jankene later came with his family and found Karamo and his family, he built his house very close to the location of his temporal shelter. That’s why even today the two compounds are separated by a narrow lane (source).

The Sanyang fishing village and the Atlantic Ocean lies 7km to the west of the village, 7km to the north is Yuna village and 7km to the south is Kunjukeng village. Banjul International Airport is 19km to the northeast of the village.

The Gambia

The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a small West African country, as can be seen from the map below, it is surrounded to the north, east and south by Senegal, with a narrow Atlantic coastline to the west. The Gambia is a narrow country, between 15 and 30 miles wide and almost 300 miles long (source), whose borders mirrors the meandering Gambia River. The Gambia has an abundant wildlife, particularly in its Kiang West National Park and Bao Bolong Wetland Reserve, it has animals such as monkeys, leopards, hippos, crocodiles, hyenas and 622 species of bird (source).

Situated on the west coast, The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa, with an area of 10,120 square km (source) and a population of 2.8 million (source). It is a presidential republic, the capital city is Banjul, the currency is the Gambian Dalasi, 96.4% of the population are Muslim and 3.5% are Christian (source).

The country is designated as a “Least Developed Nation” (source) by the United Nations. The Gambia is one of the poorest countries in the world. The World Bank stated that the poverty rate in The Gambia in 2020 was 53.4%, however this varies depending on the location within the country. About 76 percent of households in rural areas, live below the poverty line compared to about 34 percent of those in urban areas, over all more than half of Gambians are classified as "poor" (source).

The Gambia's economy is dominated by farming and fishing, in addition to the service sector and a growing tourism sector. The Gambia has a tropical savannah climate, the rainy season normally lasts from June until September, between October and May, there is little precipitation and low humidity. The average daytime temperature is 32 degrees Celsius.

The Gambia has been a member of the Economic Community of West African States since its conception in 1975, it retains it’s connection to the UK as a member of the Commonwealth.

Whilst the official language is English, Mandinka is spoken as a first language by 38% of the population, Pulaar by 21%, Wolof by 18%, Soninke by 9%, Jola by 4.5%, Serer by 2.4%, Manjak and Bainouk by 1.6% each, Portuguese Creole by 1%, and English by 0.5% (source).

Many say that the beauty of The Gambia lies in the beautiful unity seen amongst the diverse ethnic groups that make up the country. You can witness a community where the Wolofs, the Mandinkas, the Pulars, The Manjagos and The Sereres all live together in perfect harmony.

The ethnic groups in The Gambia live side by side, each preserving its own language, music and cultural traditions. There is an increasing amount of cultural interaction and fusion, whilst maintaining individual identity.