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soap

Click the Gambia River Soap button and visit
some of the women as they make pure Gambian soap.

Unlike industrialized nations where the populations are getting much older, The Gambia is like other African nations, with about 60 percent of the Gambian population under 25. Consequently, much of the world’s future is in Africa.

The Port Of Harlem Gambian Education Partnership (POHGEP) not only connects Americans and others with the world’s future but also fills a void, as implied by a question that a Gambian friend once posed to me in 2001: Why don’t I see any African-American Peace Corps workers or other African-Americans working to develop The Gambia?

My response: Your children will never be able to say that.

That five-minute conversation has evolved into our creating connections between Gambians and Americans since 2002. I hope that you will join me in making a connection today.
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-Wayne Young
President, POHGEP

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National Centre for Arts and Culture

from these shores

Our newest permanent exhibit, "From These Shores," accompanies the "West Africans in Early America" exhibit we completed at the Juffureh Slavery Museum. The new exhibit celebrates the accomplishments of known and lesser-known Africans in the diaspora across time and geography. The online version is now available via the menu (under Culture) on this page.

Baobab Youth Development Association (BYDA)

The growing BYDA-Phillis Wheatley 660-book library is now in a newly renovated space with ceiling fans and Wi-Fi. A mural adorns the inside and outside of the building. We named the library after the famed Senegambian poet.


 

Baobab Youth Development Association (BYDA)

BYDA administers our 17-student scholarship program for economically challenged K-12 students. In 2022, BYDA sent its first-ever video (vs. paper) thank-you notes to our donors.

Baobab Youth Development Association (BYDA)

The BYDA Women's Division makes and sells soap locally and sells some soap in the United States (see the poster above). We started the Barrel of Soap program, where POHGEP financially supports, and BYDA makes and donates soap to local charities.
 

Baobab Youth Development Association (BYDA)


BYDA recently received its ninth, tenth, and eleventh barrels of mainly gently used clothes. We accept donations in Metro Washington, DC, particularly shoes, children's clothes, and teenage and adult clothes up to size 10 for women and waist size 32 for men. The profits are used to fund other community projects.

Baobab Youth Development Association (BYDA)


BYDA completed paving 155 meters of a 180-meter (1/10 mile) road, which will make it easier for people, especially women giving birth, to get to the nearby hospital, the market, and school during the rainy season when the dirt roads turn into mud. BYDA also renovated a new office and library space.
 

Baobab Youth Development Association (BYDA)


Artist Sheban Mbye completed the first mural commissioned by BYDA and POHGEP. It is in the BYDA-Phillis Wheatley library. He has created another mural outside the library.




Read Africa @ Francis Gregory Library - DC


Read Africa Week Festival @ Francis Gregory Library is co-sponsored by the Francis Gregory Library, Friends of the Francis Gregory Library, and the POHGEP and took place in 2019 and 2020. COVID interrupted its continuation. At past events, children took home a free Africa Access-approved book. Africa Access has held the annual Children's Africana Awards and Book Festival in Washington, DC.

 
 
 
How You Can Connect: I pay my own travel expenses; your contributions go directly to empowering the people in the villages in which we serve. We have four categories of donations; just click here or the Donate button to donate to one or more of the categories.

If you are in Metro Washington, DC, buy some Gambia River Soap or donate shoes, children's clothes, and teenage and adult clothes up to size 10 for women and waist size of 32 for men.
 
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