Contano

Supporting women in Basse, Gambia

Mission

"Contano" means happiness in the Madinka language. Although it's a popular saying that happinness can be found in little things, we want to spell it out loud and clear that the goals of our organisation are big and ambitious.

In general we focus our attention on the people living in Basse and offer them material and financial support. We collect clothing and school equipment. We've initiated cooperation with several high schools in Belgium aiming to send students specializing in the field of social welfare to Basse in order to offer them a broader learning experience combined with exchanging knowledge. This specific project focuses on the education project. Even today the average age on which girls start attending school in The Gambia is still too high and the time spans they do attend school are scarce and far between. During their international assignments, the students will be able to monitor the program and keep it going. One of our other ambitions is to further educate teachers who take care of disabled children. By teaching them educational techniques and skills, these teachers will be able to see to it that the disabled children will receive all the opportunities in life they deserve.

One of our most urgent goals is to enhance the harsh and vulnerable lives of the women and mothers living in Basse. With kind hearts and the willingness to listen to their stories riddled with domestic violence, abuse and poverty, we want to bring these topics into the spotlight. Without patronising and with all due respect for the cultural aspects of their society, we're convinced that together with the women and mothers of Basse we'll be able to get the public attention domestic violence/abuse deserves. Sensibilisation towards family organisation is key.