Trade Aid

In June of this year Watton Rotary made a donation of £425 to the charity Trade Aid. This amount was sufficient to purchase a box of tools to be sent to The Gambia.

Trade Aid is a charity formed by the Rotary Club of Grantham Kesteven some 16 years ago. The charity's main aim is to provide sustainable humanitarian aid and to build self respect. It achieves this through the delivery of boxes packed with tools which provide individuals and communities with the means to support themselves and their families.

A variety of boxes are used to support specific trades e.g. seamstress, mechanic or carpenter. The boxes are given to people, often in remote parts of the world, who may have lost the means to earn an income due to a natural or man-made disaster, or may have left school at an early age without having learnt a trade. If possible, Trade Aid will also set up vocational training units, where graduating students are presented with a box of tools enabling them to go out and earn a living.

Our donation  was used to support a specific project in The Gambia. Whilst supplying a hospital in Banjul with building tools for maintenance work at the hospital, the charity's attention was drawn to the nearby Janjanburgh Prison. Here, prisoners were found to be living in squalid, unsanitary conditions.

Rotary provided the prison with new plumbing equipment, including pipework, toilets, sinks and showers, but the prison lacked the means to instal this equipment. Our donation purchased a box of plumbing tools, which has already been sent out to The Gambia. Training will be provided to prisoners, enabling them to learn the skills required to instal the toilets and showers.

Rotarian Ken Billington, representing the Charity, visited Watton Rotary recently to present a Certificate, give us an update on the prison project, and to thank us for our support.