Tower and Town, September 2019

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TTV: Lucy Strover

Last year, in August 2018, I went to The Gambia with the ‘Thriving through Venture’ programme.

One of my most important memories started on the first day, when we wound round the obstacle course of potholes in the dust roads until we reached TARUD. Here we met our Gambian team. My partner was Arabiatou, a 17 year old girl interested in the sciences at school - similar to me. What was so magical was how quickly everyone accepted each other and had so much to talk about. The room was quickly buzzing with the vibrant noise of everyone chatting. At the end of the two weeks, I had made great friendships with everyone in the group. By working closely with them on the TTV projects, I got to explore a different perspective and way of life. This experience really made me reflect on my everyday life in UK where it often feels that people judge people too quickly and are scared of opening up. Here, in The Gambia, this was definitely not an issue. Remembering this experience has helped me to feel much more confident about being myself when meeting new people.

I was in the photography group. We visited different people at their workplaces, such as the bee hives, the DIY store and the phone shop. As we took pictures of the workers and talked to them about their jobs, it was fascinating to hear and see the contrast between how similar jobs are done so differently. One of my favourite examples was at the shoe shop. Here, he was fixing pairs of very basic flipflops that I would probably have chucked away. It made me realise how I should make the most of everything that I am given in life - materialistic things and practical opportunities.

We also visited an eco-tourism hotel, decorated the TARUD building and visited the British High Commission. One of the most interesting visits was when we went to the fishing village at the beach. We learnt about the Chinese exploitation of the fishing industry in Gambia. I have heard about things like this before from my studies but seeing it in real life really made me think. Since then, I have avoided shopping in places like Primark where the workers are exploited, to make sure I am not feeding into these sorts of activities.

The most enjoyable activity was when the Gambians came to the swimming pool at Gunjur Project. I was so surprised to find that none of them knew how to swim. It soon became obvious as to why. They would never have had the opportunities like us to have swimming lessons. We all tried to teach them to float and to swim. I loved being able to give back teaching and receive their teachings too.

Back in England, I could not stop thinking about how much I had learnt and the special friendships I had made. This TTV experience gave me the motivation and initiative to raise funds to return last April to volunteer in the community and also to help fund a young Gambian to do his taxi driving training. TTV is definitely the most influential venture I have done so far in my life.

Lucy Strover