Workington’s ANA GOIA, 29, has returned from a two-week volunteering trip to Gambia. Here she shares the story of her trip

I heard about Project Gambia friends at Christ Central church who had volunteered before – I wanted to be part of it as it’s been in my heart since I was little.

I needed to raise £1,300 to go and tried to do it by myself, but I realised it wasn’t working. I prayed to God to make it possible for me to go to Gambia and that led me to share my plan with others.

The response I got was unbelievable. Family, friends and my church prayed for me and I received encouraging messages and donations of money and clothes for Gambia, some from people I have never met. I am grateful to God for making this possible. I raised about £2,200 so I had some spare money to help local projects in Gambia to bless people there.

During our time in Gambia, we renovated and furnished nursery and primary schools, worked with children, helped in the women’s community garden by building a toilet, distributed donations of rice, oil, clothes and shoes to families in need, organised and sponsored a school sports day and arranged an anti-malaria marathon to raise awareness.

When I was handing out donations some people responded with “God bless you” and I was able to talk to them about my faith and why I was there. I visited a Christian church and felt led to give them a donation to buy bibles.

They replied: “Thank God! We were praying for bibles for a long time.”

Being part of the volunteering group was an amazing experience, which I will never forget.

At the beginning, we were a group of strangers that by the end of it became great friends. Being in Gambia felt like home in so many ways. We were a great team that worked really well together. We spent so much time together in real life situations and created close bonds, which felt like we were a big family.

The people there were amazing hosts, staff, local people and children were so welcoming and made us feel at home.

This trip truly was the best experience of my life. I thank Project Gambia and Gunjur Project team and volunteers for giving me the chance to be part of this and everyone for their prayers, support and donations.