Smiles and Hope for the children of Senegal

Hi I'm Justine, company secretary of DJW Electrical based in Orsett Essex

Have you ever been to Senegal? Have you ever heard of Senegal?

If the answer was yes you will understand why I have started fundraising for these desperately needy children…….if the answer was no then I guess you will have to believe what I am writing next…….

I chose to travel to Senegal for my annual holiday this year along with friends for our two-week winter destinations…looking through the glossy pictures it looks absolutely beautiful…….we arrived at Dakar airport and traveled down to Pointe Sarène to our hotel passing through several villages along the way and just could not believe my eyes…………. Children walking along the roads with no shoes only buckets in hands waving at us in desperate need. I think the whole coach load of people was crying by the time we reached the hotel, never have I witnessed such a poverty-ridden country for my own eyes, yes I have seen on the news how Africa is advertised but to actually be in this country to see for myself is just truly heartbreaking. So here I was in my luxury hotel with hot running water, clean white towels as much food as I could possibly eat and yes a suitcase full of nice designer shoes…….do I need this many shoes of course not…my first reaction to my question in my head was yes I take too much for GRANTED….next time I will travel lighter

On Monday 13th February, I decided to go visit a school within the village of Malicounda, the smiles received were maybe one of the best experiences of my life just to see the children welcome me will stay in my heart forever, Senegal has no law that the children have to be educated it is a choice so I was so pleased I see over 400 children in this school starting the education they rightly need to become the best they can become…….every child deserves to gain an education, flourish and shine this is certainly what I witnessed when in Malicounda

My project is very very ambitious, building a classroom for these children and giving them the basic tools to start their education…just basics to get them started will be enough PENS, PENCILS, CHALK, and BOOKS….…..the current classroom that is holding 48 children is in desperate need and will almost certainly not be there after the 5-month rainy season. The walls are rotten fencing and the roof is held up with tree branches, certainly no health and safety here! The majority of the children walk over 10 km to get to school in temperatures we can only dream of in the UK, so they are all very determined to gain the education they require in order to go and find employment once completed at school.

The funds raised will be spent solely by myself and the team of electricians so no monies are transferred to Africa this will be done when we next fly in November to purchase the building materials so this is the first guarantee, secondly, we will be installing a huge plaque with every donor made to us on the wall of the school so if you ever decide to visit Senegal you can witness were your contribution went…..These children desperately need our help to help them flourish and shine look at the children you have and imagine if they had to go to school with no shoes on their feet or could have a meal every day its truly heartbreaking but this is the reality in Senegal if you can HELP in any way I would be truly grateful my mission is going to span over a two year period due to the climate and weather season so please please help get this started

Along with this GoFundMe fundraiser DJW Electrical is holding monthly item donations to fill a container by November, pens, pencils, chalk, teddys, balls and clothing for the little ones, school bags, and playground equipment are all items required so please if you do have any items bring along to our office in Orsett or you are welcome to contact me via email justine@djw-electrical.co.uk for more information or Whatsapp me on 07970565850

Thank you for reading My story to help get the mission started Justine xx