Ten years on, Wednesbury couple have no regrets about their move to rural Gambia
It has lasted more than 10 years, taken its toll on their business and drained hundreds of thousands of pounds of their personal savings. But husband and wife Keith and Hilary Walker say they have no regrets about their work to improve the lives of families in Gambia.
Since 2001, the Wednesbury pair have spearheaded a project to set up a school and clinic and created dozens of jobs in the tiny village of Madina Salaam – raising more than £1 million in the process.
Last year their first batch of pupils left the school after nine years of education.
And Mr Walker, aged 65, said the project had been hugely gratifying.
"We have helped people achieve their realistic ambitions," he said. To reach their capabilities.
"To see these people take that responsibility and reach their potential. You can't put money on it. It's an inside feeling – it gives us an enormous amount of satisfaction."
Mr and Mrs Walker fell in love with Gambia when they went there for their honeymoon back in 1993.
"We kept going back and said when we're in a financial position to do so, we'll go back and do something that will really change people's lives."
They set up a charity called WYCE – standing for the Wonder Years Centre of Excellence – in 2001 and opened the school in 2003. At that point it was a single hut, offering free education to about 50 three and four-year-olds.
But since then the project has developed and now the school is made up of six blocks and teaches more than 350 children aged three to 12.
The school has a clinic which offers tests for diseases and such as malaria and over- the-counter drugs such as paracetamol. The couple's work has also involved setting up a roof tile business in Gambia using machinery from a firm in Cradley Heath and a lodge which people hire for working holidays. They send containers of items to sell and employ 65 people from the country.
But it has not been easy. They have had to juggle their commitments in Africa with their work running the Wonder Years Day Nursery in Church Hill, Wednesbury, where the also live. "It has been very difficult," said Mr Walker. "We have got through it."
They have raised more than £1 million to do the work, with fundraising involving treks up Mount Snowdon and Ben Nevis. This includes hundreds of thousands of pounds of their own money. Mr Walker said: "People say to us think what you could have done with that money. But we say to them look what we have done with that money."
