Bob Powell's Gambia Schools and Health Project

Bob Powell's journey started around 15 years ago whilst on holiday in Gambia. After enjoying the hotel's facilities and lazing around his comfortable room, Bob walked into his bathroom to get a glass of water. As he did so, he considered how the locals had to leave their village of Brufut and walk several miles to the next village where the communal well was situated to get their supply of water. As Bob drank his cool water, and being the kind and generous chap that he is, he decided that he would try and do something about the local's daily trek for water.

On returning to Birmingham, England, Bob set out to raise money to enable him to return to Gambia and help build a much needed well within the Brufut village. With raffles, donations and a lot of determination, Bob soon raised the necessary capital and returned to Gambia where he helped organise the construction of the well.

The building of the well was hard work and it took four men to dig it out. To be able to retrieve decent water the men needed to dig over 150 feet. Whilst two men were positioned in the well digging and filling buckets, the other two men continually pulled up the earth filled buckets for disposal. Once the hard work was completed, the villagers were overjoyed that they no longer had to walk miles to get precious water for their families. They now only needed to travel a short distance to the centre of their own village.

Bob returned to England a happy man. He had set out to help the people of Brufut and had done so. In his heart he felt that he had achieved something special that would stay with him forever. He was now more than happy to leave the fundraising to other people – or so he thought!

During a conversation with his good friend Guy Elliot, the subject of Bob’s recent trip to Gambia came up. Guy was shown the photographs of the expedition and was so impressed by what Bob had achieved that he immediately pledged £2,000 towards Bob’s charity work. Bob thought long and hard as to whether he would carry on with this charity work and came to the decision that the donation from Guy could be used to give the villagers of Brufut a better standard of living. With this in mind, Bob returned to the village and after several days his wish list comprised of just three things:

The first was much needed medical supplies which were in very short supply. The second was entertainment for the local children, which would help to keep them off the street. And the third was to give the children a better standard of education.

On returning from this fact finding mission, the next thing Bob needed to do was to start raising more capital. Continuing his raffles and collecting donations from various health authorities, Bob began to accumulate enough supplies to make sure the Brufut clinic would be well stocked. However, before he sent the supplies off to Brufut, Bob was adamant that the goods would get to the correct place and would not be used for personal gain as can so often be the case. To guarantee this, Bob went back over to Gambia. This time he went armed with a football kit and a selection of boots. The football strip was to replace the concoction of colours currently being adorned by the local team. The squad was ecstatic, and when they went to the local cup final Bob was invited as a guest and sat next to the Vice President of Gambia to watch the game. As the Sports Minister awarded the trophies to the teams, Bob felt so proud to see the looks of happiness on the player’s faces – it is an image he will never forget.

When Bob returned home his enthusiasm was at an all time high. He felt that he could do a lot more to help these people, but knew he needed the help of others. Bob started to look for contacts and was surprised when a Mrs Postin contacted him asking what she could do to help. She started typing letters and, using the NHS database Bob had acquired, began mailing the 374 recipients.

Time went by and Bob started receiving letters offering him medical supplies. The first was Blackpool NHS, who offered 20 hydraulic beds, bedside cabinets, medical supplies and catering equipment. This showed Bob that he was definitely onto something, and he asked Excel for help in contacting a shipping agent who could help with transporting all this equipment to Gambia. Anything we consider to be obsolete or out of date is vital to the Gambians, to their health and their education.

Whilst at his local doctors getting a prescription of yellow fever tablets for his next journey, Bob explained to the doctor what he was up to and left with a heart machine, examination tables and filing cabinets. Unfortunately, he forgot to pick up his own prescription in the process! Bob also showed some ‘before and after’ photographs of the Brufut clinic to the doctor’s secretary, and she, amazed with what had been achieved with donated equipment, took the photographs with her to an area meeting, which caused a flood of calls to Bob with promises of donations.

On top of all his fundraising and collections of supplies, Bob was in the process of having a property built over in Gambia. With completion of the 3 acre estate coming to an end, Bob suddenly found out that the woman he had been building the property with had decided to change her religion. She became a Muslim, and by their laws could not be in the same room as a single man. Unfortunately, Bob found out that all the paperwork and legal goings on had been put into her name, which meant he did not have any legal ties to the property, or even their car. In total, Bob lost £15,000 and was completely devastated. His confidence took a severe dive. However, on returning to work, he was surrounded by colleagues who rallied to his aid and continued to buy his raffle tickets and help out with his paperwork. This gave Bob the boost he needed to get back into generating more exposure for his charity.

As more and more donations came in, Paul Harwell posed a question to Bob … Why didn’t they send computers over to Gambia to help with the education of the children? Bob had not thought of this before, and wondered where he could get his hands on some second hand computers. As luck would have it, Jeff Powell (no relation) of the South Essex NHS rang Bob and said that he had several PC’s that he would donate if they were able to be collected. After ‘negotiating’ the use of his work’s minibus, Bob set off with Glenn Jones to collect the computers, making a quick detour to the Bedford depot to collect a stack of old uniforms. It was a tight squeeze, but Bob and Glenn just managed to fit everything into the minibus for the journey home.

All these generous donations were starting to become a storage problem, and Bob’s newly built 30’ x 10’ garage was getting a little full. Items were even beginning to flood into the house. While Liam Yardley and Paul Hartwell sorted through the computers, making sure they all worked properly, Bob was busy clearing the garage and sending £187,000 worth of medical supplies over to the Gungar Medical Centre in Gambia.

Things started to go from strength to strength, and Normanton NHS in Yorkshire contacted Bob and told him they had 12 pallets of medical supplies for his collection. He knew these wouldn’t fit in his car or the work’s minibus, so it was arranged through Steve Pugh that Chris Smith of Exel Somerfield would collect the pallets and deliver them to Somerfield in Dudley, where Droitwich could pick them up. When they actually went to collect the pallets there were not 12, but 24!

As time rolled on, Bob visited Gambia again to find out where he could install the PCs and see what else was needed. He was approached by Peter Gomez, the ‘Head of Communications and Health’ in Gambia, and they decided that St Joseph’s was the first school which would benefit from Bob’s charity. When Bob visited the school he was made extremely welcome and asked them to give him two lists; one with what they needed, and the other with what they desperately needed. When he received the lists they were 3 pages long!

After sorting out a container with Kamino Redcoat to take all the donated supplies to Brufut, Bob’s next task was to organise flights for himself, Liam and Paul. He rang JMC and spoke to Debbie Kidman, who kindly offered them three free flights. On arriving in Gambia, they still needed to find some accommodation. Their taxi driver, whom Bob knew from previous visits, took them round several houses where they could stay. None of the places were ideal, and Bob told the taxi driver to take them to a local hotel. They finally arrived at The Bannay Beach Hotel and, after explaining their situation, the owner offered them room and full board on the condition that they help build a medical room within the hotel. The owner was overjoyed when Bob agreed, and also offered him free accommodation four times a year for as long as he needed.

When Bob and the boys arrived at St Josephs, all the computer tables and the computer equipment were ready waiting for them. Bob positioned the tables whilst Paul and Liam installed the PCs. After a lot of hard work, the job was done and the boys were all introduced to the Head Nun, who was amazed at the transformation of the old classroom. The room was now clean and tidy and ready for the girls of St Josephs to start studying.

The classroom transformation raised a lot of publicity, and a visit from Peter Gomez, the Head of Communications and Health and several reporters helped by Bob’s charity on the Gambian map. It even made the local television station! [CLIP TO COME]

At the next school, St Teresa’s, Bob was dumbfounded at what was needed to achieve the same standard at St Josephs, but unfortunately time was against them. Working as quickly as possible, the boys were unable to finish the conversion completely and had to leave the last few touches to be done by a Swedish friend of Bob’s. After their week in Gambia, Bob, Paul and Liam were extremely pleased with what they had achieved for the charity and were amazed at how much they had done in such a small amount of time.

On his next visit, Bob got talking to a man called Bert Moore. He was the Head of the Community and Welfare Department for the British Ex Servicemen in London. Bob realised that he might be able to help Bert in some small way, and met with Max Nijie, the Gambia Legion Secretary General to discuss what could be done. The meeting went well, and Bob explained what he could do to help. He wanted to do as much as possible for Bert, Max and the other veterans who had fought during two world wars, and pushed on with contacting as many people as possible. Medical donations started to be sent to Bob from hospitals and clinics that had beard what he was trying to achieve, and Bob’s garage began filling up again.

In November 2003, Bob decided to form a committee. This consisted of the Chief Surgeon of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Max Nijie and the Vice President’s sons, all of whom would overlook the applications sent asking for medical help. The setting up of the Committee ensures that all donations made to Bob’s charity are channelled to the neediest places.

In December 2003, Bob flew out to Gambia, but this time he took his son, Dave, with him. Dave wasn’t expecting the sheer poverty that faced him as he departed the airport and was eager to get straight back on the place! Bob explained that everything would be okay, and that once they were at the hotel all would be well. During his two weeks, Bob met with Max Nijie (or Corporal Jones as he called him) who brought along the local doctor. Bob gave them a list of what he had in England awaiting transportation to Gambia. At this point the tears flowed down the cheeks of Max and the doctor as they saw what they would be receiving. Within 15 minutes all the men, including Bob, were crying tears of joy.

On returning to England, Bob set about getting all the donated supplies together to send over to Gambia, and with the help of Droitwich Exel and Safeway, sent well over 9 pallets to the Commonwealth Ex Servicemen, with an estimated value of £200,0000. Normally, the freight is sent free of charge thanks to the freight company, but the last shipment exceeded the specified height and Bob had to pay a penalty charge of over £1,000 out of his own pocket, but he managed to recuperate some of the money back through donations and raffles.

Unfortunately, Max Nijie has since died. Bob still pays his respects to Max and continues to visit the Ex Servicemen whenever possible. Bob has always said that if it wasn’t for Max’s enthusiasm for the legion, he himself would not be so determined with his charity work.

With all the hard work Bob has put into the charity, the Gambian Government has recognised this and asked Bob if he would like to become partners on their own President Charity, which Bob has readily agreed to do. This is the first time that an English charity has been embraced by the Gambian Government, and was publicised both in the local papers and on local television [CLIP]. Bob has met the Vice President, the Health Minister and the General of the Armed Forces. Whilst on his latest crusade, Bob also managed to pay for Fulla Camera, an Ex Serviceman, to have his cataract surgery done, and once again this came out of Bob’s own pocket.

In November 2004, Bob spent some of his time in Gambia out in the bush, seeing how the charity could help the Out of Bounds clinics. Since then, he has sent 7 pallets worth of medical supplies to them, including a compete First Aid unit for Gambians and tourists alike to use. Four resuscitation units were also donated by the Staffordshire Health Authority.

Bob more recently visited the village of Marakissa to find out what they needed to stock up their medical centre. When he arrived, he was once again overwhelmed with the reception he received. All the elders of the village, along with the doctors, gathered in the community hall to greet Bob and accept the medical supplies – which included beds and the basics that we take for granted such as plasters and bandages. Bob also made a personal donation of £40 (about 2,000 Delasis) - this may seem a small amount, but this equates to one month’s wages for the Marakissa villagers, so by their standards it is a very generous indeed. Just the fact that Bob spared the time to visit the villagers himself was greatly appreciated.

Since Bob’s charity work began a lot has improved in Gambia, and many of the clinics are now benefiting from the donated medical supplies. Training has also been given to the local women so they can learn valuable trades such as seamstresses and bakers. As you have read, Bob has achieved so much over the past few years, and a presentation in his honour was given to him by the Vice President to thank him for all his efforts.

Bob has been given the full backing of the Vice President of Gambia, and he is now looking forward to liaising with the President Germain of Gambia. Bob has also been asked to help by local registered charities. He has also recently sent 40 computers to a school in Walsall after they lost their star rating.

Bob has since organised the training of Life Guards to be present on the beach, making sure tourists are safe. They have already rescued several holiday makers from the sea when they got into difficulty.

He has also arranged (and pays for) a nurse to be present at the beach hotel AND is in the process of arranging for a midwife to be stationed in the hospital he set in in one of the outlying villages (pictured above). There really is no end to his boundless enthusiasm and talent for Getting Things Done.

Bob's latest fund raising venture is a Biggie. He and three other volunteers are driving two cars 4,000 miles from Birmingham (UK) to Banjul (Gambia) on 31 October 2007 to raise funds to start up the Bob Powell's Gambia Schools & Health Scholarship. (Details here)

Guy Elliot’s original intervention with his kind donation planted the seeds for all Bob’s outstanding charity work. Without the £2,000 donation, Bob would never have carried on raising money to help those less fortunate in Gambia. When asked, Bob says that if, 15 years ago, someone had said that he would raise over £11.5 million worth of medical, educational and sports equipment by the end of 2006, he would have laughed in their face.

It took just over six years to achieve the £1million mark, and only another year to reach over £2.5million … and he continues on. To date (May 2007) he has raised almost £13million. That's quite an achievement!

Bob’s party of Newcastle First Aiders have trained 285 Gambians to British First Aid standards. For this, he has been awarded the honour of ‘local hero’. The Red Cross has also kindly donated a Range Rover Ambulance, which has been sent over to Gambia and where, in the first few months alone, saved the lives of many local people.

Bob would like to thank all those people who have supported him over the years - from buying raffle tickets, sponsoring walks and even printing posters, everyone has helped Bob with this amazing achievement. Thanks, and keep up the good work!

If you would like to help Bob’s charity in any way, big or small, please click here for details.

If you would like to know what kind of equipment and/or donations are needed for Bob Powell’s Gambia Schools and Health Project, click here .

As well as organising fund raising events and regularly sending over medication and equipment (his garage is always bursting at the seams with items to be shipped to Gambia), Bob’s charity has achieved many things over the years.

Shipped over desperately needed equipment, including hospital beds, bedside cabinets, medical supplies, catering equipment, a heart machine, examination tables, resuscitation units and filing cabinets (all donated to the charity).

Supplied and installed computers at St Josephs School and St Teresa’s School (with volunteers Paul Hartwell and Liam Yardley).

Sent supplies and equipment to the Gambian Ex Servicemen Legion (and personally paid for one ex serviceman to have cataract surgery).

Sent 40 reconditioned computers to a school in Walsall after they lost their star rating.

Organised, trained and paid for lifeguards on the beach so that tourists can enjoy the sea without worry – they have already rescued two people who had got into difficulty.

Organised and paid for a nurse to be stationed at the Sunny Gambie Hotel during the holiday season.

Organised and paid for a midwife to be stationed at a village clinic that Bob helped set up.

Paid for a bakers oven to be installed at an outlying village and provided bicycles for delivering bread to surrounding villages so that villagers could become self sufficient.

Sent over an ambulance to an village (donated by the Red Cross), which has saved and treated hundreds of people who otherwise have no access to hospitals.

Bob Powell's Gambia Schools & Health Project Ongoing

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