From Glassboro to The Gambia– A Collaborative Work with the University of the Gambia and a Winter Trip to the Gambia Villages

The Gambia is a small country located at the tip of West Africa. A team of Rowan University students has been working with the local people of the Gambia on various projects. In the fall of 2011, the Rowan team collaborated with a team from the University of the Gambia on three projects: 1) Develop an easy-to-follow technology to make fuel briquettes from peanut shells and to substitute firewood; 2) Survey local water supplies for a group of 8 villages in a remote area of the Gambia; 3) Inspect an important road connecting the villages to the outer world. In January 2012, the two teams met and went together to the 8 villages in rural Gambia. They interviewed the villagers, promoted the briquette making technologies, and provided recommendations to improve the maintenance of water wells and roads.