Help Famara the Farmer bring water to Kassakunda Village!

Hi, I'm Meander, a substitute teacher and hobby farmer from Washington state. I have a pen pal named Famara who lives in Gambia, and we bonded over raising chickens and swapping photos of our birds.

The more I got to know Famara, the more I learned about what a positive, hard-working, and loving guy he is. He not only takes care of his chickens but, as a single dad, his two boys with the help of his elderly grandmother (who he, of course, cares for in return!) Beyond his immediate family, Famara lives in a close-knit village community and helps look out for all the local kids, sometimes being the 'big brother' who brings them treats from town.

As Famara and I discussed our hopes and dreams for the future, I learned that he has always wanted to become a chicken farmer. For many people, starting a chicken farm is something one could choose to do if they were motivated enough, but it's not so simple for Famara. For one thing, he and his village don't have a source of fresh water. You can work as hard as you want, but without reasonable and reliable access to water, every task of living is slower and more difficult. To get water for any plants and chickens he raises--not to mention for his family's needs--he and everyone in his village must travel by donkey cart to a neighboring village and draw it by hand.

Hauling water home isn't the only demanding work Famara does. He and his boys make money by collecting sticks and branches in the forest and selling them in town. Despite the importance of work that makes fuel for heating and cooking available to communities, the job doesn't pay much and it's hard to keep up with ongoing costs like food... let alone having extra safe for expanding business or drilling a well.

Suffice to say, Famara works harder than I can wrap my head around, but it's not all bad. Famara lives in an incredible country and lives within a tight-knit community that's filled with meaningful connections, art, and beauty. Below you'll see pictures Famara sent me of the gorgeous masks a friend of his made, as well as the amazing lion head mask dancers wear during their Christmas celebration.

Famara has daily challenges many of us can relate to, like having too much work and too little energy and a crappy landlord. He bends over backward to try to make life better for his kids and 86 year-old grandma and is always wishing he could do more for the folks around him. Famara also has to deal with extremes in his daily life that many of us may never have experienced, including doing everything he does without enough food or medical help. And, while many of us are blessed with some kind of network or can get access to support services when we are in a pinch, most of the folks Famara knows are in a similar situation without the ability to substantially lighten his load when the road gets rough. If hard work alone could really make you a millionaire, Famara would be a wealthy man, but life is a lot more complicated than that and what he and his community need is a helping hand from those who have a little to spare.

With this in mind, I posed the idea of a fundraiser to Famara in December 2024. One of the big issues barring him from raising more chickens was needing a larger, and more secure chicken house. Raising money for a big chicken house started as a great idea in theory, but not owning the land he and his family live on means for him about the same thing it means for many a US renter hoping their landlord would be cool with them starting a small chicken business in the back yard. And since the chickens would need water the village didn't even have anyway, the only real way Famara was really ever going to be in the position to expand his business and make sustainable income was if he owned some land where he could install his own well.

But buying land...? Affording a borehole for a well? We figured something like that wouldn't be cheap, and neither one of us had ever tried to do something like raise funds for a project before in the first place. But as soon as the idea was out on the table, it soon seemed too important and necessary to walk away from. The reality of a well in the village wouldn't just help Famara develop into a full-blown farmer- it would also bring safe, life-sustaining water to kids and families from their village and beyond.

Once we decided to try it, he met with the landlord and a local independent drilling business that could service his area to get the financial lay of the land. I started reaching out to friends to brainstorm how to get the message out to folks in the real world (without relying entirely on the internet, since I'm not a social media user.) I came back with a plan for a zine campaign, and he came back with some target budgets.

Owing to the relative affordability of land and the availability of local contractors, Famara could see his dream of building a farm and chicken business come true for around $9950 USD. But more than that, Famara and the people he loves and cares about could have the reliable, clean, safe water that is so necessary for everyone on Earth... for around $9950 USD.

It is definitely a lot of money to fund-raise, but in a way, it's kind of not when you think about what having accessible, safe water does for that person and their community's trajectories.

If you feel like I do and believe that lots of people taking small action to donate and spread the word of this community's needs could make a real difference in people's lives, I hope you'll consider helping fund this project!

If you want to read more, you can see the website I created which offers pictures, information, and includes both an e-book and printable book you can share with others to help raise awareness!

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The raised money will be used like this:

The fundraiser funds will be handled like this:

WANT TO GET MORE INVOLVED?

If you want to help in some way, besides donating to this GoFundMe you could spread the message by sharing on social media or telling a friend about this project. The website I created has a sharable digital zine that tells Famara's story in a tiny book form, and it has a printable PDF that can be handed out or appropriately left in community spaces as a great non-digital way to reach out to others!

As a teacher, and working on a project that will help so many young kids, I'd also love to connect with any teachers or students who are interested in getting involved! I would love to create and provide free resources for talking to your students/classmates about Famara the Farmer and the value of safe water to developing villages and communities, as well as establish ways to connect your students to kids in Famara's village to do cultural exchange like sending videos, asking questions, and writing letters! Reach out to me via GoFundMe contact or the website.

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Thanks for reading about Famara's story and for any support you are willing or able to offer him and this great community of people in Kassakunda Village, Gambia, on the Smiling Coast of Africa! Please share this message with anyone you think would be interested in helping change lives in this lovely community!