{"id":2488,"date":"2014-03-29T18:49:04","date_gmt":"2014-03-29T17:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/winchester-and-district\/?p=2488"},"modified":"2014-12-11T20:21:34","modified_gmt":"2014-12-11T19:21:34","slug":"talk-by-marion-christmas-mbe-on-her-work-in-the-gambia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/winchester-and-district\/2014\/03\/29\/talk-by-marion-christmas-mbe-on-her-work-in-the-gambia\/","title":{"rendered":"Talk by Marion Christmas MBE, JP on her work in the Gambia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We were delighted to welcome the legendary Marion Christmas as our final speaker in the club year. \u00a0And what a finale!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2490\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2490\" style=\"width: 448px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"\/winchester-and-district\/files\/2014\/03\/Marion-Christmas-and-girl-scouts.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2490\" alt=\"Marion and two girl scouts\" src=\"\/winchester-and-district\/files\/2014\/03\/Marion-Christmas-and-girl-scouts.jpg\" width=\"448\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/winchester-and-district\/files\/2014\/03\/Marion-Christmas-and-girl-scouts.jpg 448w, https:\/\/sigbi.org\/winchester-and-district\/files\/2014\/03\/Marion-Christmas-and-girl-scouts-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2490\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marion and two girl scouts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">Marion&#8217;s involvement in the Gambia started In 1989. \u00a0A Hampshire Scouts Expedition (which included Marion&#8217;s son, Paul) spent six weeks building classrooms at Soma\u00a0and\u00a0Jirof Schools\u00a0in the Gambia. Two years later three scouts from the Gambia were sponsored to come to the UK to participate in an International Camp. For some of the time they stayed with the Christmas family. \u00a0Marion, in\u00a0her\u00a0capacity as Assistant Group Scout Leader for\u00a0Second Bentley Scout Group\u00a0asked the young men,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">&#8216;Of all the things you have seen here, what would you most like to have in the Gambia?&#8217; \u00a0She expected the usual teenager&#8217;s wishlist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">&#8216;A Scout Centre like Ferny Crofts&#8217;, they replied. \u00a0Ferny Crofts is\u00a0the\u00a0Hampshire Scout Centre\u00a0in the New Forest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">Marion&#8217;s response was &#8216;I&#8217;ll build you one&#8217;.\u00a0She had never been to Africa, had never built anything. Her husband was horrified!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">Some years later and true to her word, Marion raised enough money to buy land and materials to build\u00a0<a title=\"Kairo Konko Scout Lodge\" href=\"http:\/\/kairakonko.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kairo Konka Lodge<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div><a href=\"\/winchester-and-district\/files\/2014\/03\/Kairo-Konka-Lodge-from-front.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-2489\" alt=\"Kairo Konka Lodge from front\" src=\"\/winchester-and-district\/files\/2014\/03\/Kairo-Konka-Lodge-from-front.jpg\" width=\"576\" height=\"383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/winchester-and-district\/files\/2014\/03\/Kairo-Konka-Lodge-from-front.jpg 640w, https:\/\/sigbi.org\/winchester-and-district\/files\/2014\/03\/Kairo-Konka-Lodge-from-front-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">One of the Scouts who heard Marion pledge that\u00a0she\u00a0would build the Lodge was Lamin Jarjue. Marion\u00a0recognised his\u00a0potential. With the help of sponsorship\u00a0Marion\u00a0was able to enrol Lamin into Farnborough College of Technology\u00a0to study accountancy. He not only graduated with flying colours but, like Marion herself, when on to be rewarded with an MBE for his services to the Gambia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">Marion did not rest on her laurels but embarked on another project &#8211; the rebuilding of\u00a0Soma Lower Basic School. \u00a0She has powerful allies in the University of Winchester, Dame Mary Fagan, The Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, and Hampshire County Council, in spite of taking them to court over another issue! \u00a0There have been many other projects too. Knowing our particular interest in women, Marion talked about the many difficulties faced by women in the Gambia and this was well-illustrated by slides.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">Marion referred in passing to her role as a magistrate and a different type of role in the BBC series <em>The Village<\/em> which was broadcast in the 1990s. \u00a0The series in 1995 featured Marion&#8217;s battle with Hampshire County Council on behalf of\u00a0her\u00a0son, Mark and all people with dyslexia. \u00a0She is also an Honorary Fellow of the University of Winchester.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">Marion Christmas embodies all the attributes of a good Soroptimist &#8211; practical, courageous, open-minded and above all determined to change the world for the better &#8211; so it is not surprising that President Liz wound up the evening by inviting her to join SI Winchester!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We were delighted to welcome the legendary Marion Christmas as our final speaker in the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[78,79],"class_list":["post-2488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-club-news","tag-kaira-konko-lodge","tag-soma-millennium-project"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Talk by Marion Christmas MBE, JP on her work in the Gambia | News | Blog | Events | SI Winchester and District<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SI Winchester and District : Blog &amp; News : Talk by Marion Christmas MBE, JP on her work in the Gambia : Keep up to date with the latest news, articles and events from the Soroptimists of SI Winchester and District . 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