Progress on the charity project in Kemoto
Help Kemoto
Here you can follow the progress of the project in Kemoto.
Updates will be posted here and on Seil med Larsen 's Facebook page.
Clothing
Big thanks to Kari Elin Sem, Knut Einar Sem, Eivind Augestad Larsen and Cecilie Kirkevoll for a huge delivery of clothes. Clothes have been collected for both boys and girls from infancy to adults. Both clothes, shoes and school bags. On the left you see the first load of clothes. Another load is on the way. Everything is unloaded aboard Odin for environmentally friendly transport under sail from Norway to Gambia.
School matters
The following school supplies have been purchased:
500 pencils
320 eraser
160 pencil sharpeners
1000 writing books
Unloaded aboard Odin for an environmentally friendly transport to Kemoto in Gambia
Thank you very much for all the donations that have helped to make this possible.
Toys and sports equipment
Big thanks to Grevskogen High School and Tønsberg Gymnastics and Handball for lots of sports equipment.
17 Handballs
1 Football
1 Volleyball
1 Basketball
3 Tennis balls
1 Baseball
3 rubber balls
25 cones
Lots of Rope
1 Inflatable goal with pump
4 bags full of layers of suits
Unloaded aboard Odin for an environmentally friendly transport to Kemoto in Gambia
Water pump for well
1 Pedrello KIT FLUID SOLAR 1/20 has been purchased
1 1500W water pump
1500W with solar cells
Control system
Cables
Everything except the solar cells is unloaded on board Odin for an environmentally friendly transport to Kemoto in Gambia
The solar cells did not fit on board and have therefore been sent by cargo ship. Transport for this was donated 50/50 by Jørn and Anne Augestad Larsen and Martin Augestad Larsen. This is therefore outside the accounts.
Thank you very much for all the donations that have contributed to being able to purchase this.
What happens now?
Odin set sail from Porsgrunn on 20.10.25.
On 05.11.25, Odin's mast snapped in a violent storm. An emergency mast was built and Odin was sailed 317nm to the nearest port. Vigo in Spain.
All equipment that has been sent with Odin has come through undamaged. Work is therefore underway to find a replacement mast that can take Odin on to Gambia.
Work will start continuously. The following will happen:
Distributing clothes and equipment that have been donated to the population.
Installing a pump and solar cell system for a well.
Repairing the pipe system for drinking water.
Drilling a new and deeper well and installing an extra pump.
Repairing the fence around the school's vegetable garden.
The work had started
Thanks to the quick and good help of John Mast, Odin was able to sail on 22.12.2025
Odin dropped anchor outside Kemoto on January 13.
We have been very well received here, the entire population is eternally grateful for the assistance you have helped with.
The school has meanwhile completed most of the roof. But still needs many improvements.
We have been met with a surprising amount of bureaucracy. Physical work has therefore been put on hold. On January 14 and 15 we had a meeting with the school and some from the village committee/board. On January 20 we had the last meeting before work started. Everyone from the village committee/board was present. We had asked them to make a list of the most necessary things that need improvement.
The priority list looks like this:
1. Improve the drinking water system
2. Electricity at the school
3. Fence around the vegetable garden
4. Complete the construction of the health center
5. Build a wall around the rice fields to prevent salt water from destroying the soil.
School and sports equipment has been distributed to the school.
Which further distributed to the students and kept a small stock for future use.
Clothes were distributed at the alkalo's compound, Everyone in the village got their share. They are all super grateful for the help they receive. They therefore made a thank you ceremony where they wished all contributors a good, blessed and long life.
Watch video below
Push the picture bellow to play the video
The work on improving the drinking water system is underway. The pump has been upgraded and the wiring is currently well underway. There were a lot of loose connections and Beres, as you can see up in the tower, is being trained to later do similar electrical installations in the village. As well as maintain and troubleshoot the system that is being installed.
Here we are changing the water pump
Push the picture bellow to play video
New solar cell system has been installed. We found metal from scrap metal lying on the side of the road. Buba the welder was hired for 3 days to assist with welding the frame and attaching it to the panels. .
Beres has been training in electrical engineering.
Otherwise, many people have shown great interest and spent much of their days up at the water tower.
Left: Buba the welder, from the neighboring village of Janneh Kunda
Right: Mustafa, Alkaloen's deputy.
Here Lamin celebrates the completion of the first borehole.
New pump, 4 new solar panels, cleaned up the old system, replaced old cables and re-terminated all old connections.
Drilling of new borehole
Here we start drilling a new well. This will work in parallel with the existing well. This means that we now have one water tower with two separate wells. These are powered by separate pumps, with separate solar cell systems. This will ensure a large production of water, which will be more than enough to feed the residents. At the same time, they will be ensured constant operation. As water will still be produced if one system fails.
First, a channel is dug for the "cooling" water for the drill.
Drilling requires many people. Some to maintain the water pump system, one to operate the drill, 2-4 to remove sand from the water channel and one to make tea that is frequently served to the workers.
After two days of hard work, we finally reached the bottom. The walls were sealed with plastic pipes.
Beres is now trained in electrical engineering to take care of the system. Here we are connecting the cable to the water pump.
New pump in place
The water tower must be located 2.6 km away from the village to avoid salt in the groundwater. The old pipes were very small and leaked in several places. This creates very poor pressure in the taps. We therefore used the remaining money on new pipes. In total, we bought 1003m. We are still missing 1600m.
The pipes must be buried for protection.
1km is LONG and digging by hand. We called in all the men in Kemoto. At the same time we called in all the displaced. Kemoto almost doubled in population and the work went at record speed. in just 4 days 1km was dug.
In the shade it was about 35 degrees. But large parts were dug in the sun.
The youth were given the task of washing the tanks, which were very dirty.
Then the pipes were laid and glued together. One by one. Each pipe is 5.8m
Then filling
We now produce more water than the village can use. Here is an short video of the result.
A big thank you to everyone who has contributed to making this possible. Never before have the residents of Kemoto gone a whole day without worrying about water. Now they finally have all the water they need.
The pressure is still poor in the taps that are located higher up. At the same time, many houses have now started to run water pipes into the house. This makes it critical for us to replace the remaining 1.6km of pipes. This is budgeted at 450,000 Gambian dalasi. Including an excavator that will dig a deep trench 400m in order to avoid going uphill over a hill.
Please support us by making a contribution and sharing the project further.