{"id":6714,"date":"2021-12-07T16:44:11","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T16:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/christmas-light-display-raises-thousands-for-gambian-project"},"modified":"2021-12-07T17:22:38","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T17:22:38","slug":"christmas-light-display-raises-thousands-for-gambian-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/christmas-light-display-raises-thousands-for-gambian-project","title":{"rendered":"Christmas light display raises thousands for Gambian project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Christmas light display raises thousands for Gambian project An Archbishop has covered his house in Christmas lights to raise money for charity. Jonathan Blake, from Welling, works with Water for Africa charity to raise funds for villages in The Gambia with no water supply.<\/p>\n

The Christmas light display takes him around 26 days to fit outside his home. Jonathan has continued to raise money since starting his display in 2002.<\/p>\n

He reveals that the electricity bill can cost up to \u00a3300 for the Christmas period and that he pays for it all himself. He told the News Shopper: \u201cNothing is taken from the donations that are given, not one penny.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lights and way it generates, goes out of my own pocket.\u201d Jonathan says he started to display lights, as he has \u201calways been concerned for the world since he was a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cSeeing children in villages with no water and are ill, even when I shower or brush my teeth, I always think of the children who have no water.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make it possible for children to have clean drinkable water, this Christmas.\u201d In 2018, the lights raised \u00a312,000 for village Tiaba Nyass.<\/p>\n

Jonathan added: \u201cNot only did hundreds of children and adults have safe drinking water but they could irrigate their crops and water their livestock.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued to support the charity and raised a further \u00a312,000 in 2019 for village Dobong in Foni Kansala. An additional \u00a312,000 was also raised last year, to supply 500 residents of Gambian village Kusamai.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cNeighbours come round, and say we adore your lights. \u201cMe and my wife are deeply moved by it. It is deeply, deeply moving. \u201cIt\u2019s becomes very painful and very exhausting to put the lights up but then people react like that and see the joy, it all of them becomes worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan says he has plans to visit The Gambia next year, depending on Covid restrictions. \u201cMe and my sons have aims to visit The Gambia next year. Every penny that comes through the door I value, I want every bit of money given reaches villages like the ones in The Gambia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan says that they\u2019ve raised \u00a367,000 since he first displayed the lights and aims to raise an additional \u00a312,000 for this year. The display is available for people to view at Danson Credent in Welling. The lights are on every night until January 6, from 4pm until 10pm. This year\u2019s effort has already raised \u00a32,398.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Christmas light display raises thousands for Gambian project An Archbishop has covered his house in Christmas lights to raise money for charity. Jonathan Blake, from Welling, works with Water for Africa charity to raise funds for villages in The Gambia with no water supply. The Christmas light display takes him around 26 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[2355,2361,2989,260,3085],"class_list":["post-6714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-christmas","tag-gambia","tag-gambian-project"],"yoast_head":"\nChristmas light display raises thousands for Gambian project - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christmas light display raises thousands for Gambian project An Archbishop has covered his house in Christmas lights to ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/christmas-light-display-raises-thousands-for-gambian-project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas light display raises thousands for Gambian project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christmas light display raises thousands for Gambian project An Archbishop has covered his house in Christmas lights to ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/christmas-light-display-raises-thousands-for-gambian-project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-07T16:44:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-07T17:22:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2021\/12\/img-61af983ea3de2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"528\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/christmas-light-display-raises-thousands-for-gambian-project#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/christmas-light-display-raises-thousands-for-gambian-project\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Christmas light display raises thousands for Gambian project\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-07T16:44:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-07T17:22:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/christmas-light-display-raises-thousands-for-gambian-project\"},\"wordCount\":426,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/christmas-light-display-raises-thousands-for-gambian-project#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2021\/12\/img-61af983ea3de2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Christmas\",\"Gambia\",\"Gambian project\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/christmas-light-display-raises-thousands-for-gambian-project#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/christmas-light-display-raises-thousands-for-gambian-project\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/christmas-light-display-raises-thousands-for-gambian-project\",\"name\":\"Christmas light display raises thousands for Gambian project - 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