ABOUT US
The HAL Project is an education programme that improves the health and well-being of children in The Gambia
Healthy Active Lives
In February 2018 Lindsay went on holiday to The Gambia with her husband and parents. Lindsay and mum, Wendy visited Kotu Lower Basic School where Lindsay delighted local school children with a spontaneous gymnastics class and some healthy eating games. Lindsay returned from The Gambia thanking the children for such a warm welcome to their school, saying that she had had the “most fun and wonderful experience”, which was both “a pleasure and a privilege”. Turning 50 shortly afterwards had a profane effect on Lindsay with the sudden and obvious realisation that "I've lived more years than I have left" and propelled her towards a long held desire to help children in Africa. Wishing to make a difference she promptly founded The HAL Project.
After the visit to Kotu Primary in February 2018 Lindsay began regular correspondence with teacher, Masanneh Jallow and began to build a picture of education in The Gambia, one of the poorest countries in the world. The HAL Project started fundraising and in December 2018 Lindsay and daughter Alice flew to The Gambia with arms full of PE equipment and educational games with a promise that 15 teachers would attend the first HAL teacher training programme. They were not disappointed and whilst educational resources are extremely limited teachers enthusiasm and appreciation are in abundance. Please read their blog to share our experience.
The HAL teacher training was so successful that The HAL Project became a registered charity in the UK and an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) was confirmed between The HAL Project and the permanent secretary for education in The Gambia. Following a meeting in December 2018, Momodou Jeng the director for In-Service Education and Teacher Training (INSET) took an active interest in The HAL Project and organised the second HAL teacher training in December 2019. Again please read their blog to share our experience.
For Lindsay, The HAL Project was a 10 year plan involving three phases. Phase 1 was to establish the relevance and need for the programme. Having piloted delivery and evaluating feedback The HAL Project hopes to fulfil Gambian teachers requests and deliver HAL teacher training to all regions of The Gambia. Phase 2 focuses on embedding HAL and to implement HAL training into the Gambian teacher training qualification. Discussions with Momodou Jeng (director of INSET) have taken place. Phase 3 focuses on the sustainability of HAL and this will be achieved by training teachers in The Gambia to become future tutors of the programme.
And unexpectedly the charity may also be able to help with employment. The Gambians are sourcing local materials so that they can begin to produce their own skipping ropes, agility ladders, hoops and soft balls.
Founder: Lindsay Broomfield
Our dedicated trustees:
Louise Broomfield
Rebecca Scott
Alice Draycott