Tower and Town, June 2020 (view the full edition)The Wider WorldNick Maurice, founder/patron of the Marlborough Brandt Group brings news from Marlborough's linked community in Gunjur MBG has appealed to many friends to support an Emergency Fund to provide sacks of rice to the poorest families in Marlborough's linked community of Gunjur in The Gambia, who are really suffering as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In the past month alone some £20,000 has been raised, 900 sacks of rice have been bought by MBG's partner organisation in The Gambia, and the rice distributed to 430 families.  At the time of writing there have only been eleven reported cases of coronavirus in The Gambia and one death, but the land and sea border with Senegal is extremely porous and there have been many more cases in that country. The outlook for The Gambia is not good. The Government has demanded the appropriate measures of lockdown, hand washing and social-distancing, but in a predominantly Muslim country with large families it is almost impossible to persuade people to lockdown and keep their distance from friends and extended family in neighbouring compounds.Food supplies are becoming limited and of course it is the poorest who suffer most. 25 years ago 80% of the rice consumed in The Gambia was 'home grown'. It is now estimated that 85% of rice is imported, but the pandemic has meant firstly that less rice is being produced in those countries and therefore less available for export, and, secondly, that with no flights now coming into The Gambia and few ships, the amount of imported rice has drastically diminished. Baai Jaabang, the Director of TARUD (MBG's partner organisation in The Gambia), expresses his really sincere gratitude on behalf of the families in Gunjur to the many donors to the MBG Emergency appeal. The appeal is still very much open (the rice so far distributed will only last an estimated two months), and if there are others who would like to donate please go to the MBG website for details. Do please consider making a donation, you may well be saving a life. Nick Maurice |