Wonderland in The Gambia

Wonderland is entirely in aid of charity and run by volunteers, we do not make a penny from these events, we do them 'cos we love them and 'cos we love all of you too. All profits go to the Wonder Years Charity, supporting communities in The Gambia.

So far, we've raised over £31000 for charity!

Since 2007, Wonderland have been raising money for charity through hosting unique and wonderful parties, stages, rooms and interactions. All of the Wonderland crew are volunteers, working hard and partying for the love of it, and have grown to be one of London's most renowned alternative nightlife names.

Since 2010 Wonderland have been raising money for The Wonder Years Centre of Excellence (WYCE) in the village of Medina Salam, Gambia. This tiny charity has a big vision to make the village safe, healthy and sustainable for the whole community. WYCE provides free education in the school, free healthcare in the clinic, a stable job for many villagers in the working lodge and malaria support for the wider area. Relying on donations and volunteer visits for now, WYCE is looking to become self-sustainable as charitable donations are invested in enterprises such as shops, a bee farm and the future generation of Gambians.

Our certificate from the charity!

In Jan 2018, we donated £8000 raised throughout 2017 to WYCE, along with ongoing funding of school dinners at the school.
In Feb 2017, the crew returned to The Gambia and built a playground for the kids of the school and village - with a see-saw, large tyre swing, parallel bars, small swings and climbing pyramid - which the kids all seem to love! We also painted the new school classrooms and got to cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony!
At the start of 2016 Wonderland donated £3912 to pay for another two new school buildings, which were completed and opened in Feb 2017.
At the end of 2015 Wonderland donated funds to pay for a solar panel project - electricity is now being supplied to classrooms and the clinic, where medication can now properly be stored and care improved. Also, the children of the school can make use of the wonderful facilities after dark, with homework club and after school activities.
In 2014-2015 Wonderland raised enough money to entirely fund the building of another school building. It is amazing to see everyone work together, working for the future of Medina Salam as WYCE continually update on what has been achieved with the money raised. Wonderland will proudly continue to support WYCE until their vision of a self-sustainable village community is achieved.
In 2013, Wonderland were asked to specifically fund the completion of a school building and refurbish the school-dining hall. The crew managed to travel to Medina Salam, see the money being spent and help to begin construction. While there, they also founded African Jeniba, a jewellery and accessory project that sells beautifully simple wares crafted from local materials by the women of the village, and pays them a proper fee.

Here's a video diary playlist of our 2012 trip to the project...

Please take a moment to visit WYCE on Facebook, 'like' their page and spread the word!

Wonder Years

More information on Wonder Years on their website

Here's some other projects that money from Wonderland has gone towards or entirely funded:

We have been running 'African Jeniba' jewelry and bag making workshops. This is where local women come together and learn to make necklaces and bags from local materials which will then be sold on at market, in the lodge to volunteers and back here in the UK.
We paid the rent for 1 year on a new shop for WYCE in one of the larger towns in Gambia, allowing them to sell their products and services (such as bike repair) with profit going back to the charity. This is a really good scheme for the charity's aims to be self-sustaining.
We ran a batik workshop where we hired a local expert to come in and teach local women the dyeing technique.
While we were in Gambia in 2012, we worked hard producing concrete blocks, these are to be used on the project as well as sold to builders to help generate income. We managed to make 500 in a couple of weeks, we used some for school landscaping, and some were used by the contractors in the new school building.
We painted all the school buildings and painted, decorated and generally spruced-up the WYCE lodge to make it more homely for future visitors.
We entirely funded the building of four new school classrooms, and the completion of other buildings such as teacher accomodation, another classroom and the school dining area.
We built a playground for the kids of the school and village - with a see-saw, large tyre swing, parallel bars, small swings and climbing pyramid.

African Jeniba

African Jeniba is a range of jewellery made by the women of Madina Salaam, The Gambia. This project is a self-sustainable project for the WYCE charity. Around 25 women aged ranging from 17 years - 40 years are now involved in the project.

African Jeniba

For more information and sales please visit: africanjeniba.wordpress.com or visit us on Facebook.

The story so far...

Using money raised from Wonderland events we funded the equipment, training and development of this sustainable jewellery project. We invited women of the village to come and learn the skills needed to make the jewellery. We worked through ideas to use local materials, resources and low impact on the use of technical equipment. We advanced our ideas to be able to train two boys to make the beads in the village and source the fabric from a shop only 20 minutes away. We also only use a saw, hand drill, scissors, tapestry needles and a measuring tape to make everything needed for the jewellery.

There's now around 25 women involved in making the jewellery. The ladies visualise the project as a chance to learn new skills, time to get together and socialise outside of their compound, and earn some money for their family. Which is really positive for the women in this society. Two boys aged 15 and 18 who have been out of education since the age of 11 have been trained into making the wooden beads to make the jewellery. They also now have a skill and are earning some money to contribute to their families.

We are now selling the jewellery at Wonderland events and at various craft markets. ALL profits from the jewellery go to paying the ladies & bead maker's wages and go back into supporting the WYCE charity project in all its endeavors.

Wonderland

Wonderland in The Gambia

African Jeniba

Previous work