Tower and Town, October 2020

  (view the full edition)

Editorial: Gunjur

From 1983 to 2009, through the Marlborough Brandt Group, people in Marlborough and beyond welcomed an estimated 400 visitors from our partner community in Gunjur in The Gambia. Our Gambian friends came in groups of 15 and lived with different families in the town, working alongside young Marlburians on projects such as constructing the cycle track along the old railway line; working with students in Wiltshire schools to introduce them to people of colour from Africa, African music and the Islamic faith; even cooking Gambian meals for school lunches. Some Gunjurians came for training in early childhood education, hotel management, engineering, seamstressing and refrigeration mechanics.

Simultaneously, young people from St John’s, Marlborough College and beyond lived with families in Gunjur, either as groups working on a building project - a classroom block for the primary school; a fence around a women’s vegetable garden to keep the cattle out - or as gap year volunteers teaching English in the secondary school in the community.

Having spent time with us in Marlborough and been introduced to a very different community, many of our Gambian visitors later decided to leave home and live in the West, becoming personally better off and able to send money home. It is estimated that three times the money given for development in Africa by aid agencies reaches families in Africa as remittances from family members overseas.

In this edition, Gambian friends who have benefitted from the relationship with Marlborough and are now living in the West share their experiences. In particular, Lamin Bojang, our first long-term visitor and a student at St John’s from 1984-86, writes movingly about the impact his time in Marlborough had on his life.

I am grateful to all the correspondents who have contributed to this edition.

Nick Maurice