We want to start by saying thank you for being our friends.

1. Hello, Greetings from the children of Brufut Lower Basic School. How is everyone Badger Hill Primary School? Do you remember last time we said we would tell you about the census that has just happened in The Gambia. Well that is what we are doing today.

2. We want to start by saying thank you for being our friends.

3. And we love receiving your letters and learning about life in England.

4. The Muslim Holy month of Ramadan is just beginning here. Do you celebrate Ramadan in England?

5. Because it is nearly the end of the school year we are sorting out all the furniture that needs fixing.

6. So let’s tell you want we have learned about the census.

7. The census happened a few weeks ago. Our government does it to find out how many people live in The Gambia, how old are and things like that.

8. Every compound or house is numbered and marked. This is compound 145 in the Brufut area for the 2013 census. The census is done every 10 years The census officer came here and completed the form. So now they know all about everyone who lives here. And when all the figures for all the compounds in The Gambia are added up we will know all about everyone who is living in the country. They use computers to calculate and analyses the figures.

9. As a developing country our population is still young. 44 % of the population in under 15 and 54 % are aged 15 to 64 years. Only 2 per cent are aged over 65 Here is what the figures show. There are now 1.8 million living in The Gambia. This figure has grown from 1 million just 20 years ago. But we are still the smallest African country.

10. And because we are still developing our economy over half the population still live on the land growing food. But more people are coming to the towns to find jobs. As yet there are not enough jobs for everyone.

11. And the area that the English made The Gambia from had several tribes living here. We are going to tell you about the main four tribes. Before the Europeans came to Africa and made countries there was just tribes living in different areas.

12. There are four main tribes in The Gambia. They are: Mandinka, Wolloff, Jola, and Fula.

13. The Mandinkas are widespread through out the whole of west Africa particularly in Mali, Senegal, and Guinea plus all of The Gambia. The Mandinkas are some times refer to as Mandingo, Manlike or Mande and make up of 42% of the population of The Gambia – so they are the largest group.

14. The Mandinkas are mostly farmers. They were once nomadic but now many live in the kiangs and jarras settlements in the upper region. They migrated from mandin empire in ancient mali. They moved in search of good farm lands. They now grow much of Gambia’s rice taking water from The River Gambia.

15. The Mandinka tribe speak their own tribal mandinka language. They have surnames Fattys’ Sonkos’ Drammehs’ and Jawaras..

16. People from the Fula tribe are to be found in many West African countries. They make up 18% of The Gambian population. They are by tradition nomadic herdsman but now they settle and also grow crops. Many Fula’s like me are lighter in skin – may be because we come from the North of Africa originally. There are several dialects of Fula.

17. Common Fula surnames include Jallow Bah BaldehBendeh Barry Sowe

18. The photo shows a Fula lady in traditional dress. She also has a traditional mask. They were once common and permanent but now Fula’s use temporary ink and only for special ceremonies like weddings.

19. The Wollofs are to be found in fairly large numbers in the areas of land up river, but also by the sea as many of them are fishermen. But most of the Wollof people are to be found in Senegal. The Wollof ethnic group (or jollof, as they some times known) in Gambia make up 16% of the population and are the third largest ethnic group. They speak their own tribal language of Wollof. Wollof surnames include Jobe, Njie ,Joof ,Sarr, Jeng.

20. Do you recognise this man? He is Akon, the American singer. He is from the Wollof tribe originally from Senegal. Majority of the Wollofs live in Senegal – the country that surrounds The Gambia.

21. This is our traditional way of dressing. In the future I will dress like this – but only on special occasions like religious festivals or family celebrations. Do you like the dress?

22. The Jolas are located mainly in the Kombo and Foni in the Western Region and mid-Gambia. Our president is from the Jola tribe. He is from the Foni Region.

23. Do you what a griot is? It is a story teller who remembers all the important things about a tribe and tells his children. So important information passes from one generation to another through the griot No one is sure were we tradionally came from. And we have no griots to hand down our history. But is known that we were the first group in The Gambia area

24. We are traditionally farmers. We have the common surnames Jarju, Nyassi, Colley and Sambou. My own surname is Sambou. We have sub branches too called the karonincas, foni and casas.

25. Well we hope you enjoyed finding out about the census and the people of The Gambia. It is nearly time for the summer break for both us and you. We will write again in September. For now we say good bye and thank you to you all at Badger Hill Primary School for being our friends.

26. Hey we almost forgot . . . We hope you have a GREAT summer break and let’s write in September.