The Country

Gambia is the smallest country on the continent of Africa having an area of 1.3 thousand square metres. It is a republic with a population of 1.7 million people. It has a coastline of 80 kM to the North Atlantic Ocean and is otherwise surrounded by Senegal. Though it is not well known in Britain its natural beauty and proximity to Europe has made it one of the larger markets for tourism in West Africa through the single airport at the capital Banjul.

The country measures about 200 miles from the ocean to the eastern tip but only about 40 miles at the widest in the north south direction.

Gambia has few made up roads and the 160 mile journey from Banjul in the west to Basse Santa Su near the eastern border takes about 10 hours under favourable conditions.

The people

Gambians at birth may expect to live till about 55 but only 3% live to be over 65. Only 40% of them can read and write. Few can find work and of those who do three quarters work in agriculture and a fifth in industry.

Faith

90% of Gambians are Muslims and 9% Christian.

Industry

Agriculture is the main industry with products like rice, millet, peanuts, and maize. Some of this is exported total exports being about £40 per head of population. About 15% of exports are destined for Britain.

The Methodist Church

The map shows that the country hugs the Gambia River, in fact nowhere does the land rise as much as 200ft above sea level. The Methodist Church is most active in the western division of the country although at Georgetown, now called Janjanburgh, which, by scrolling, you will see is well upstream, a Wesleyan Mission was established in 1823. By 1835 a school was completed and the cultivation of peanuts had been introduced.

In 1926 Methodist medical missionaries established a mother and toddler clinic in Bathurst, now Banjul. Banjul is the capital city but its location on an island limits expansion and the largest town is the nearby Serekunda.

To this day the Methodist Church remains involved with agriculture, medical missions and education. Members of Trinity Methodist Church have supported the latter two for a considerable period and in 2008 the church set up a short term project to raise funds for the former two. Follow the links at the top of the page for more details of these activities.