Apu-Paku ry – Charity Without Middlemen
Apu-Paku ry is a development co-operation organization working at the Gambian countryside. The Republic of Gambia is located in the western part of Africa and about third of the population is living below the income poverty line US$1.25 per day. We are running a school and a small farm in the village of Pakau Penku which has about 500 inhabitants. Our goal is to help the poor local community to raise their living standards permanently. To achieve this goal we have offered the locals education and created new means to make a livelihood.
The idea of Apu-Paku ry dates back to 2007 and the organization was officially set up two years later. In 2010 a small group of friends decided to get a van and fill it up with goods received as donations. With a van full of donations and volunteers they drove through Europe all the way to the Gambia. Once they reached their destination they handed out the contents of the car for the local community to use. The van itself was also given to away. During that trip the building of a pre-school, a farm and dwellings began. This is also why the organization was named Apu-Paku ry (a help van).
Here you can find the latest news and updates (only in Finnish unfortunately)
The purpose of this fundraising campaign is to improve the school facilities and the well on the Apu-Paku farm. Most of the money will be used to give the students drinkable water and a daily school meal. Also, we want to buy school uniforms for the students. If there is enough funding, we will also install an effective solar panel system in the school.
The funds raised through the Mesenaatti campaign will be used on:
1. Daily school meals for about 100 children and 20 adults for the whole school year.
2. To finish the work on the sanitary facilities and to build a kitchen for the school.
3. School uniforms for 100 children and 10 teachers
4. To improve the well on the Apu-Paku farm
+ A solar panel system if the raised amount of money exceeds the goal!
School meals
Our goal is to offer our students, teachers and other school workers one free school meal a day. There are about 120 persons in total and most of them are Gambian children aged between 4 and 8 years. There are three class rooms in our school building and one is used by pre-school and the two others by primary school. Our pre-school has 40 students and there are 59 students studying in the primary school. The primary school extends to the grades 1 and 2, but we are building more class rooms for the next school year so we would be able to set up higher grades as well. To raise funds for this project we are throwing ‘Afrikka16’ fundraising party in the spring 2016. There are four Gambian teachers working at the primary school and the pre-school is run by Finnish and Gambian volunteers. There are three to nine pre-school teachers depending on the time of the year. At the moment, there are two student teachers from the University of Oulu working at the school. More student teachers and early childhood education students are coming to work at the school during this school year. School meals are important for the students as well as for the teachers to have the energy to study and teach the whole school day.
The well, the kitchen and the sanitary facilities of the school
Our school and farm are located next the each other and together they form “Apupakuland”. Apupakuland has its own well which was dug by volunteer workers some years ago. At the moment, the water is lifted from the well with the help of rope and buckets. The farm’s banana, orange and cashew trees and cassava shrubs eat up about 500 litres of water a day during the dry season. Lifting that amount of water from the well takes 1-2 hours every day. This is why we are planning to install a pump and some plumbing into the well. The well also needs a concrete lid and the well pit should be lined with concrete so that the water will remain drinkable also in the future. Concrete mass and other building supplies are also needed to build a kitchen for the school. Gambian government agreed to hire cooks for the school, but could not provide the funds for the school meals and for the building of the kitchen. School’s sanitary facilities are half-done and they were built with the help of money raised at the ‘Afrikka15’ party. Now, the goal is to finish the work.
School uniforms
For some of us Westerners school uniforms might sound like useless luxury, but in Gambia and many other poor countries school uniforms have an important function. Firstly, schools are not considered official or respectful if the students are not wearing school uniforms. In discussions with the locals the importance of the uniforms was emphasized. Secondly, the countryside of Gambia is very poor and all decent clothes are more than welcome. The school uniforms will be manufactured by a local tailor from Pakau Penku – who is incidentally using a sewing machine brought by Apu-Paku some years ago – so we are supporting local business at the same time. For these reasons we want to offer school uniforms for all the students and teachers.
2000 euros is needed to realize the aforementioned development projects with the daily school meal being the most expensive and most important investment towards a better a future.
Solar panel system
Pakau Penku village does not have electricity apart from Apu-Paku’s single solar panel. If this campaign exceeds the goals, we will be able to supply the school with a simple and mobile high quality solar panel system. This would able a lot of things in Pakau Penku: we would be able to use information technology as a teaching tool and also to teach the use of information technology. In addition, we could even hold movie nights for the locals. With the help of this system they would also be able to charge their mobile phones and other equipment.
The funds raised with this crowdfunding campaign will be forwarded straight to the Apu-Paku Pakau Penku Lower Basic School. Gambian children will be grateful for your support. Children are the future!