Support Environmental Sustainability in the Gambia and Help PRSP to Help Their Community

Fajikunda, Gambia, The, October 30, 2013 –(PR.com)– The Paper Recycling Skills Project (PRSP) is a community recycling project in The Gambia, West Africa. It is located in the community of Fajikunda on the south bank of the River Gambia close to the biggest conurbation of Serrakunda.

Its main focus is recycling paper (producing handmade craft paper for notebooks and albums) and biomass (grasses, leaves, sawdust, paper and cardboard) to produce biomass briquettes to be used as an alternative to using firewood for cooking.

As a small local self-funded not-for-profit it works from their own compound and generates income from the sale of their paper products within an ailing tourism sector and their briquettes within the local community. Any small extra income PRSP can generate is put towards raising environmental awareness through trainings and practical activities or supporting the education system by donating free exercise books to needy students (45,000 since 2001). Recently, PRSP has received a small grant from ECOWAS and are currently in the process of finding and training 2 community groups to set up as briquetting enterprises to replicate this aspect of our activities.

Their location on the banks of the River Gambia means that every year during the latter part of the rainy season the water run-off from the nearest main road (ca. 1 mile distant) turns their “street” into a temporary creek. Over the last few years local efforts have been made to carry out repairs but the very heavy rains this year proved too much – the road was washed away to a depth of about 2 feet virtually cutting off access for PRSP and a large part of the community along the river bank from the village road about 300 yards away.

To make matters worse, the road erosion destabilized the ground and the septic tank located under the workshop is threatening to break through the floor due to the wall foundations settling – all this is endangering the buildings and, in effect, the continuation of their work and the livelihoods of ca. 10 staff and part of the community.

PRSP has looked locally for support in dealing with these challenges and the community has rallied and promised to provide some of the labor to fix the road. However, to fix it “the local way” (filling it with building rubble) will be a short term solution and they feel they need to find a better – albeit more expensive – way to create a longer term sustainable solution. They also need to underpin the wall foundations and fix the concrete floor in their workshop before the building collapses.

Local financial resources for this kind of disaster relief are virtually none existent so PRSP decided to look for outside assistance – a relatively “small” amount of input will have a big impact in helping to create sustainability for PRSP and the community.

PRSP needs to raise US$ 18,000 to carry out these repairs and every little bit of support goes a long way to help many people here. Donations can be mde to our fundraiser here http://www.youcaring.com/nonprofits/support-environmental-sustainability-in-the-gambia/100067

For further info contact George Riegg on icecool@qanet.gm or Mobile +220 7707 7090