Category News

The BigGive Christmas Challenge campaign has now closed.

The campaign raised a total of £6,130 for the African Oyster Trust, exceeding the target of £6,000. £3,000 of the total was provided by matched funding from the Coles-Medlock Foundation.

Many thanks to those who made a donation for this campaign.

The BigGive Christmas Challenge week gives African Oyster Trust supporters the opportunity to boost their donations and runs from 2-9 December 2025, during which any donations made will be matched by our charity champions the Coles-Medlock Foundation.



More information about the BigGive Christmas Challenge week can be found here:



biggive.org/christmas-challenge/

To qualify donations need to be made through the BigGive Christmas Challenge Week website by using the web link below:



donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05WS000005w9w6YAA

The Trust’s 2025 AGM was held virtually via Zoom on Sunday 12 October.

You can access below the documents that were presented and discussed at the AGM, along with minutes of the discussion.

The Trust’s 2024 AGM was held on Sunday 6 October, but not without some technical problems.

Our apologies to all those supporters who were unable to join us online for this event. Challenging personal circumstances meant that the original Zoom link no longer worked as we expected it to, and while we were able to get a new link to some of our supporters, we recognise that we didn’t reach everyone on the day, with others not able to stay on for the rescheduled session due to time constraints.

You can access below the documents that were presented and discussed at the AGM, along with minutes of the discussion. If you had registered to attend the AGM but were unable to do so because of these technical problems, please do submit any questions that are not covered here by email to [email protected].

Thank you for your continued support, and your understanding in what were unexpected and difficult circumstances.

There has been plenty of excitement at Jappineh Health Center in recent weeks, following on from the success of the Christmas Big Give campaign.

As we reported last month, the £4,000 raised in that campaign enabled the urgent purchase of new ultrasound screening and laboratory equipment, ensuring quick, cheap and accurate diagnosis, accessible for all the community.

Soon afterwards in January, a much-needed replacement ambulance arrived in a container from Germany at Banjul docks, and from there was delivered to the Health Center (having been carefully sourced to ensure as few computerised components as possible, to allow for local maintenance and repair).

This purchase had been made possible by a generous legacy from Mel Bixley, who sadly passed away recently. It was a donation from Mel and his wife Dee that enabled the purchase of the old ambulance – licence plate MEL1 – which had recently expired after 20 years of good service. So, it is fitting that the new vehicle carries a MEL2 licence plate. The ambulance has already been repainted and handed over, with Lady Kira and Kemo Bah attending the inauguration ceremony on behalf of the African Oyster Trust. The photos show the village chief speaking to a packed house!

The Health Center’s AGM was also held with a huge attendance from the community. The whole of the Trust’s Gambian Management Team attended – among those in the photographs is Fanding, Chairman of the Health Center committee; Ansumana, the Officer in charge; and Sainey Dampha, the auditor. Among the good news is that of the annual medication order – costing D700,000 or £9,000 – about half was covered by funds which the Health Center has managed to accrue once salaries, taxes and other day to day expenses are covered.

See below for a gallery of images from the arrival and celebration of the ambulance, plus a film of the event from Gambian television.

And to finish the news from Jappineh for now, we’re also delighted to report that Fanding Manjang has completed repainting and carrying out maintenance using his favourite colour scheme throughout!

A huge ‘thank you’ to all the African Oyster Trust supporters who helped us reach our Christmas Challenge appeal target in record time this year!

During the Big Give Christmas Challenge Week, all donations to our appeal were doubled by our charity champions The Reed Foundation.

We set out to reach at least £2,000, and to have that doubled to £4,000, for more diagnostic equipment for Jappineh Health Centre. We were thrilled to reach, and indeed slightly beat, that target.

The Health Centre, which treats 500-800 patients and delivers at least 20 babies each month, serves a very poor population of nearly 30,000 people in rural Gambia.

Thanks to your generosity, Jappineh can now look forward to a fully functional laboratory on site, which will not only ensure quick, cheap and accurate diagnosis, but also improve our ability to treat common but debilitating and deadlly tropical illnesses such as malaria.

A huge and heartfelt ‘thank you’ from everyone involved with the Trust and the services we support in Gambia. We hope these pictures of the new equipment bought thanks to the Big Give appeal tell the story of your support better than words ever could, and we wish you all a very Happy New Year.

The Big Give Christmas Challenge is back for another year, giving AOT supporters a unique chance to boost the impact of their donations.

During the Big Big Christmas Challenge Week, any donations made between midday Tuesday 28 November and midday Tuesday 5 December will be doubled by our charity champions The Reed Foundation.

To qualify, donations must be made via the Big Give Christmas Challenge website on this link (click to visit, for more details and to make your donation after midday Tuesday 28 November):

https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a056900002RXuPiAAL

Our target is to raise at least £2,000 and to have that doubled to £4,000.

We are raising funds for more diagnostic equipment for Jappineh Health Centre. The Health Centre, which treats 500-800 patients and delivers at least 20 babies each month, serves a very poor population of nearly 30,000 people in rural Gambia.

At present, seriously ill patients and pregnant women have to travel long distances for routine blood tests. Because of the difficulties and costs of travelling to the nearest lab in Soma, some patients simply can not make the journey until their condition deteriorates to a critical stage.

A fully functional laboratory on site will ensure quick, cheap and accurate diagnosis, and improve our ability to treat common but debilitating and deadlly tropical illnesses such as malaria.

Please give what you can and support the Trust during the Big Give Christmas Challenge, midday 28 November to midday 5 December.

The African Oyster Trust welcomed friends and supporters via Zoom to its 2023 Annual General Meeting on Sunday 1 October.

The formal proceedings of the meeting including the presentation of accounts for the year ending 31st December 2022 were followed by an update from Lady Kira Dalton and questions on another challenging year in The Gambia.

Please click the following links to download the minutes and report: