ibrakeforRALLYcake!: Message from Omar

Message from Omar

Published Monday, July 17, 2006 by Chris Lawler | E-mail this post

My name is Omar Janneh. I was born on 03/03/67 in a village called Kaur Janneh Kunda, which is to the east of The Gambia on the north bank of the River Gambia.

Kaur is large and is one of the oldest towns in The Gambia with many different ethnic groups such as the Mandingoes, Wolofs, Fulas, Manjakos, Serers, Mansuwankas and others. It has physical features such as low hills, streams, lakes and rivers.

A primary school was built there in 1947 for the children in Kaur and the neighbouring villages. Later, in the 1950s, a Junior Secondary School was also built. Now in Kaur we have Primary, Junior Secondary and a Senior Secondary School.

I attended Kaur Primary School from 1973 – 1979 and then went to Kaur Junior Secondary School from 1979 – 1982.

I further went to a vocational training school in Banjul from 1983 – 1987, where I was trained in bricklaying, block-laying and concreting, and acquired a City & Guilds Certificate.

I worked as a masonry craftsman for a few months and then, in September 1988 I joined the Education Department as an unqualified Primary School teacher. I taught for a few years and then in 1992 I joined the Gambia College to be trained as a qualified Primary Teacher. I completed my training in June 1995 and then, on 1 September 1995, I was appointed as a qualified teacher. Since then I have been teaching as a qualified Primary School teacher up to the present date.
I am now teaching in Sinchu Baliya Lower Basic School, which is one of the largest primary Schools in The Gambia.

I am married with two sons and three daughters. I also have two adopted children, a boy and a girl. My hobbies are scouting and gardening.

Pippa, Ian and Kemo Ceesay met me at Sinchu Baliya Lower Basic School in October 2002 and gave a microscope to my headmaster so that we can use it in our Science lessons. So, being the Science Resource Co-ordinator in our school, the headmaster gave it to me so that we could start doing microscopical drawings with my Science Club children, and we did. Then, in February 2003 the group came back to award prizes and certificates to the children who came out with the best drawings.

Since then our relationship has developed through their helping the school with teaching and learning materials. Pageant built a Science Resource Centre for us and Pageant members are now sponsoring many children in our school. Every year Pippa and Ian visit the school in February and October and now both the children and teachers are benefiting a lot from their sponsorship.