Illiasa Village in the North Bank Region (NBR), recently inaugurated a D250,000 adult literacy school for women sponsored by Withinton Girls School in London. The objective of the project is aimed to  empower women through education by improving  their literacy skills.

Edward Seckhan, Governor of North Bank Region (NBR), speaking at the inauguration ceremony on the school grounds extolled the donors for their kind gesture.

He described the project as timely, and greatly complementary to efforts of the Gambia Government towards the provision of accessible and affordable education to all Gambians.

Mr Tamba Kinteh, local government officer (LGO), Kerewan Area Council (KAC); Alhaji Afang Saikou Jammeh, Alkalo of Illiasa village; and Mrs Kaddy Marong, chairperson of the Village Women Development Association, all expressed heartfelt and sincere gratitude to the donors for the project.

Lamin K Jammeh, project manager of Malvern Charity Organisation in The Gambia, urged the villagers to make good use of the school. He gave assurances of his organisation's readiness to work with the village association whenever the need arises. He revealed that the donors had built a nursery school named after Mama Tamba  in Illiasa Village.

The Withinton Girls School also donated 2 bycles to Duntumalang village and medicament worth thousands of Dalasis to the Illiasa Village Health Centre in NBR.

The donors, on December 19, 2007, also laid the foundation stones of a poultry house valued at D150,000 in Kombo Kerewan Village, Western Region (WR). The poultry house  is expected to  start  operations in Febuary ,2008.

Mrs Kaeren Browninj, head of the Withinton Girls School delegation, expressed pride in setting up the poultry house in The Gambia. According to her, the project is part of her school's development programmes for The Gambia. She revealed that the chicken for the poultry will be secured in The Gambia through the Department of Livestock and Vetinary services.

Ebrima D F Jarjou, representative of the Alkalo of Kombo Kerewan, Alhaji Dawda Jarjou, described the laying of the foundation stone of the poultry house as yet another positive development registered in the village.