Eddie's Army
Let's Build a Respite Centre
As some will know Hart House was a facility providing short term residential
respite care for children with learning difficulties and also some with physical
disabilities.
Sadly Hart House closed following the unexpected passing of its founder and main
stay Geoff Hunwicks.
It was hoped that the Methodist Church, to whom Hart House (The Building) was
bequeathed to would continue operating as Hart House.
After meeting with the head of the Methodist Church in The Gambia it was
apparent that this would not happen.
Since then thanks to the Joss Stone Foundation, the children and their families have
continued to receive support by means of a weekly get together with some of the
staff from the former Hart House and these continue to provide an important
link, supprt and development for the children.
Eddie
Eddies story is a difficult read. In his very early life he faced being killed by his
father when he realised how profoundly disabled Eddie was.
Mum fled with his sister from Cassamance region to the Kombo area.
Despite all his difficulties Eddie never stops smiling. His mum does everything she can but as you can imagine life is very very difficult.
Hart House allowed Eddie to interact more providing his mum time to get
get household chores done and do what she could to provide for her family.
We provide rice monthy from our own pockets and have given her items of
clothing to sell to help provide an income and see if it is possible to build a small business.
It is difficult to imagine how much this centre will help Eddie and his mum both in terms of Eddies welfare but also mum's ability to improve her life and that of her children.
Our Dream
I have been working seperately to create a new facility to recommence
residential care following the Hart House model utilising some of the experienced staff who know many of these children.
We have acquired a 50m x 50m plot of land at Sanyang seaside.
We have had plans drawn and quotes from builders for a 2 phase build.
Phase 1 will be the fencing (walled) and a borehole installed for water and a single storey hall to be used as a day centre for these children.
Phase 1 will Cost D9382694 (£109,101@ D86 to the pound).
This is a mammoth project and we will work hard to make this work.
By raising as much as we can before the middle of September we can maximise our financial position by making the cost of a higher exchange rate work for us (D93 v D86 as of 11/5/2025).
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Financial donations, sales of goods, our classic Hook a Duck at events,
encouraging schools to consider supporting via non unform days are just many ways we aim to try and raise the funds.
We can also obtain in the UK items for the build such as Plumbing pipe Reels of electric cable sockets and junction boxes through donations and this again will help bring down the cost.
A £5 club is up and running for people to donate £5 per month (less than £1.16 per week) to help with the build and running costs and when up and running we hope to have minimum 500 members to help with the running costs and wages.
How You Can Help
Our Bank details are:
Lloyds Bank
Aid2Gambia
sort 77-22-17
A/c 51446360
Paypal is: aid2gambia@hotmail.co.uk Please use Respite as a reference,
Every penny counts and for those able to donate any amount we are registered with HMRC to claim gift Aid.
You will also find a template letter for schools to try and get the involved in
helping with Non Uniform Days or similar. If you are a parent Grandparent
pupil or teacher then please download the letter and send it to your school and lets see “Kids helping Kids”.
We have set up a GoFundMe for people to also share.
Where Are We Now?
As of the 31 st August 2025 we have raised £7150.
The £5 club is standing at £80 per month.
The forecast is that around the end of 2025 we will be at least 10% funded.
The Plans have been agreed. The cost has been agreed, I will travel to The Gambia in early January to meet with the builders to set a
start date for the sinking of the borehole and building of the perimeter fence
and erection of gates aiming to commence in February 2025.
At the end of March / early April I will return to check on the progress take photos and videos and return ready for next years events season.
