Hundreds of orphans have been abused and exploited in orphanages operating illegally in the Gambia for six years. The main culprits are Penny Appeal, a UK-based international charity with injured reputation and a possible con artist in philanthropic clothing. 

He operates a chain of businesses and charities, raking in profits on the backs of the orphans under his care. The children want justice for the rape and mistreatment meted out on them. 

But they might as well be waiting for justice that may never arrive. With the perpetrators allegedly using money, influence and threats of marabouts, the state authorities have retreated, if not frustrated or blocked the pursuit for justice. 

Malagen Investigates

Sitting on the balcony of the third floor at Adama Kassama’s house offers 12-year-old Ansu* a bird’s eye view of the middle-class neighbourhood of Kerr Serign. But his eyes, suddenly sunken, are fixated on a compound situated a few blocks away. The complex is nicely decorated with kids wall cartoon paintings. But Ansu isn’t fascinated. He’s troubled by the sight of the place. He remembers vividly what happened to him there. 

“They raped us there,” he muttered. The shy-looking boy recoils on a locally made bamboo chair, fiddling with his tiny, smooth fingers. 

There means an orphanage that used to shelter him. The 10-bedroom facility housed 50 orphans and caregivers. It was run by a UK-charity, Penny Appeal, through a local partner, Annasru. None of them have however obtained any legal permit to operate an orphanage. 

Ansu lost his father when he was barely a month old. The mother, Ara*, is a petty trader. She enrolled Ansu at the orphanage when he was 6 years old. 

“Whenever I visit him there, he would cry and tell me in Fula that he wanted to leave,” she said, adding: “They abused him. They made him a wife. Anytime they need sex, they go after him.”

Like his mom, Ansu wants the perpetrators punished. “I want them to go to jail,” he said with a tinge of anger. 

But his culprits are nowhere near the gates of jail. 

In this investigation, Malagen has interviewed nearly two dozen people. They include orphans, teachers, caregivers, parents and guardians, police, state prosecutors, ministers, and social welfare workers. We have gained access to vital official records. 

The evidence gathered points to systematic and widespread abuse and exploitation of orphans in the orphanages that were operating illegally by the UK charity, Penny Appeal, and its local partner, Annasru. 

The man behind the operations of both charities is a self-style philanthropist. Atabou Aidara created a chain of businesses and so-called charities that feed off the funds that come through for the orphans. In his childcare facilities, children – boys and girls – as young as six years old, were sexually abused, raped, beaten up, incarcerated, starved, and forced to eat stale food served from his wife’s fast food restaurant. 

The state investigators have established that crimes were committed. 

“There is evidence of physical and psychological abuse of children in their facilities,” social welfare authorities reported. 

But perpetrators are not just walking freely. They are talking to the authorities, seeking to deny justice for the orphans. 

While the Minister for Justice, Dawda Jallow, said he is contemplating relaunching the case, the minister responsible for children, Fatou Kinteh, has concluded that there was no wrongdoing. “The case is over, and we’ve written to them to resume their work,” she told Malagen. 

From digging boreholes to running orphanages 

Penny Appeal opened its Gambia office in 2014. It is registered as a charity but has not obtained a legal permit to run a child-care centre. 

Annasru, the local partner, is neither legally registered as a charity nor as an orphanage. 

Yet, in six years of operations, the two outfits recruited an estimated 385 children into their 10 orphanage facilities spread in the Kanifing and West Coast areas.  

The charities have not been operating covertly though. One of the main sponsors was a British boxer and two-time world light welterweight champion, Amir Khan who presided over an elaborate launch in 2018, covered by international news media, including the BBC. 

How come an orphanage that has not regularised its status was allowed to operate under the nose of social welfare authorities for that long? 

The coordinator of Child Protection Alliance (CPA), a consortium of child welfare advocacy organisations, said the case of Penny Appeal and Annasru is not unique. Lamin Fatty highlighted that a greater number of orphanages in the country are operating without a legal permit from the Department of Social Welfare. “There is not even a data on the number of orphanages we have in the country,” he added. 

The demand for orphanages in The Gambia appears to be high. The 2013 Census shows that 40 percent of children under the age of 18 are not living with both parents, either because the parents have died or other reasons. And 8 percent of children under the age of 18 are orphaned. 

The high percentage of orphaned children creates business for charities like Penny Appeal. As social welfare apparently neglects its duty to keep them in check, they operate without any effective oversight. 

Samba*, now 14, was enrolled at 9 years of age. “I was told there is a school that helps orphans to learn the Quran and English,” said his mom, Kumba*. 

Fatou*, 36, worked at the orphanage briefly before she was summarily terminated. She enrolled four of her orphaned kids. “Shortly after their father died, things became tough on me,” she said. 

Profiting from the orphans 

Atabou Aidara operates or is linked to at least three businesses and four charities that feed off each other. The funds coming through for orphans seems to be the main source. 

With Penny Appeal needing to pay tuition for the sponsored kids, Aidara opened a school where he enrolled the orphans as students. The Chow’s School of Excellence was named after its former headmistress Fatou Chow, a family friend to the Aidaras.  Now deceased, she was a mere front. The registration documents show the school is owned by Annasru, a charity established by Atabou, according to more than dozen sources, including teachers and students of the school. 

The school offers nursery, lower and upper basic levels even though it does not yet have approval to run an upper basic school. 

Chow constantly changes addresses. Suntu*, now 17, was enrolled when he was 10. His school changed locations at least five times in six years. 

“I attended one at Fajara, Kerr Serign, Old Yundum, Abuko and Bijilo,” he said. 

The school’s current location is the upper floor of the Heewal Supermarket complex in Bijilo. 

The Chow is just one of the businesses. Atabou’s wife, Naffisatou Hydara, runs a fast food restaurant, Delices Du Sud, that supplies food for the orphans. Registration documents show Atabou was the sole proprietor but transferred ownership in his wife’s name who now holds 80% shares. Buba Saidykhan and Momodou Lamin Dukureh hold 10% each. Both are employees of Penny Appeal Gambia. 

The food is said to be generally poor and inadequate. “Every day is bread and beans [for breakfast],” said Saikou Jobe, a former teacher. 

“The children barely get fruits. I barely saw standard food there,” a former senior staff of Penny Appeal told Malagen 

“They sometimes serve the same food for one week. They just warm it up every day,” said Samba, one the orphans. 

Lamin Darboe worked as a health officer at the orphanages for two years, between 2014 and 2016.  One of his tasks was to monitor how food is served to the kids was prepared. 

“I did that monitoring for one week and I was instructed to stop,” he said. “I reported that the quality of the food is very bad.” 

The conditions of the kids in the Kerr Serign orphanage drew sympathy in the neighborhood. Majula Minteh, a struggling single mother of six also came to meet the kids at a nearby corner shop where they often go to beg for stale bread. 

“I asked them if they were hungry, they said yes,” she said. “I brought them to my house… From then on, they kept coming for lunch.” Her food bill soon skyrocketed, from 6 to 30 cups of rice per day. 

Atabou also operates a construction company called Nur-Binako Group. Multiple sources alleged that construction works sponsored by Penny Appeal and his charities are mostly carried out by the company. This includes the Chow school complex being constructed in Bijilo.  

While Penny Appeal and Annasru are engulfed in controversy, Atabou set up another charity. He calls it I-Support The Needy. This one too is not legally registered. 

£50 per orphan 

In January 2020, Penny Appeal and Annasru purportedly entered into an agreement. Through the MoU, which was not signed, Penny Appeal agrees to transfer 285 orphans under the care of Annasru, leaving them with about 100 children. 

Penny Appeal commits a monthly allocation of £50 per child, a total of £113200 for the upkeep of the orphans for eight months. But, according to the deal, Annasru is under no obligation to abide by the standards of the international charity. The reason given is that £50 per orphan is ‘considerably less than’ what Penny Appeal allocates for the upkeep of the children. 

The parents and guardians of children were not informed of this arrangement. 

While children were scavenging and selling scrap metals to buy bread, Annasru was headquartered at a luxury apartment opposite Atlas fuel station at the Kotu Police station junction.  

How the scandal erupted 

The Penny Appeal scandal came to light in August 2020. Adama Kassama, who Ansu was visiting, lives near the orphanage in Kerr Serign. He blew the whistle on the mistreatment and poor living conditions of the orphans to the media, police, and social welfare authorities. 

“I often see them scavenging for scrap metals. I told them to stop it and come to my house for food each time they are hungry,” he said.

That opened the floodgates. About 50 of the kids started coming to Adama’s house for food, clothes and money. 

Adama became disgruntled. The stories the kids told him were unbearable to him. “I noticed some of them started walking oddly. I brought them inside and enquired. Seven of them said they were abused.” 

He devised a plan, handing a smartphone to them to secretly record the state of the orphanage. He then shared the information with a private TV station, QTV 

The footage laid bare to the horrible conditions at the orphanages. The mattresses are old and dirty without bedsheets. They are not enough and are reportedly infested with bedbugs. In the video, four kids are sleeping on a single bed mattress. In the same room, about six kids are sleeping on a bare, dirty floor. 

“Samba got really sick and when I took him to the hospital, the doctor told me he must have been sleeping on the bare floor,” said Ndey, the mother of Samba, one of the kids at the orphanage. “He gained so much weight. I nearly shed tears when I saw him.”

The crimes and cover ups 

When QTV broke the news about the scandal, the government put together a fact-finding team led by the social welfare department. 

The police, led by head of the gender and child welfare unit, Ramou Sambou, later investigated the matter. 

In official reports, which are consistent with the findings of independent Malagen investigations, social welfare authorities and police documented a wide range of alleged crimes and coverups committed at the orphanages. 

Prosecutors at the Justice Ministry drew up 12 charges, pressed against at least nine people incriminated in various crimes of rape, sexual exploitation, domestic violence, and illegal operation of childcare unit.  

• Atabou Aidara, the founder and chairman of Penny Appeal Gambia and Annasru was charged with five counts of operating a childcare centre without permit
• Penny Appeal Gambia as a legal entity was charged with five counts of operating a childcare centre without permit
• Buba Saidykhan, acting director of Penny Appeal was charged with five counts of operating a childcare centre without permit
•  Alasana Jargue, a manager for Penny Appeal, was charged with five counts of operating a childcare centre without permit 
• Mai Mankara, a foster mother was charged with two counts of rape, one count of domestic violence and one count of sexual exploitation 
• Nfansu, now 18, a student was charged with two counts of rape, one count of domestic violence and one count of sexual exploitation 
• Sheriff, now 17, a student was charged with two counts of rape, one count of domestic violence and one count of sexual exploitation 
• Ahmed, now 15, a student, was charged with two counts of rape, one count of domestic violence and one count of sexual exploitation
• Jasong, now 15, was charged with two counts of rape, one count of domestic violence and one count of sexual exploitation  

 Medical records confirm that some of the children have bruises – signs of sexual abuse – on their private parts. “When I went to the hospital, the doctors told me that I have an infection on my anus,” said Samba.  

The culprits are mainly older boys. “I told them to stop but they refused. They are more powerful than me,” Ansu said, referring to Nfansu who have repeatedly raped him. 

Sheriff* raped me several times. They are older than us. He raped Eboy* who was about 7 years old. 

Teachers and caregivers too have been named in sexual abuse allegations. 

Official records reported that 12 children were sexually abused. But interviews with orphans, teachers and former staff at the orphanages suggest that sexual abuse was more pervasive than reported. 

There was a Yankuba, who reportedly sexually abused a girl in one of the orphanages. 

There was a Hydara, who reportedly impregnated an underage girl in the complex in another orphanage.  

Corporal punishment was a deep-rooted practice. In the orphanage in Kerr Serign, the foster mother operates a cell where she detains children she considers stubborn for hours. The small room has a tiny window for ventilation. One reportedly fainted in it.

“They beat us so badly that we could not sit properly,” Samba told Malagen. 

“Everyone in the neighborhood knows that the kids get beaten and they don’t get enough food. For some of them, I have seen the wounds myself,” said Majula Minteh, who lives near the orphanage in Kerr Serign. 

The crimes committed against the children are swept under the carpet. And children get punished for reporting abuses. “When I told Mai that I was being raped by Nfansu, she beat me,” said Ansu. 

“Forster mothers put fear in children not to talk and that prevented the children from talking,” a former senior staff off who wishes not to be named told Malagen. 

Multiple sources informed Malagen that Penny Appeal UK was aware of the abuses and exploitation through petitions by staff, but they failed to act. 

Recommendations – done and not done 

When the scandal was exposed on Aug. 12, 2020, Penny Appeal issued a press statement within 24 hours, saying it was horrified by the allegations and promised to ‘commission a full and independent investigation’. 

Until today, the charity did not publish any investigation report. Our inquiries through an email sent to them on Dec. 24, 2021, was met with silence. 

Barely one week after the initial statement, the charity issued a statement claiming ‘we can thus confirm that every child that has potentially been involved in the recent upheaval is safe and cared for’

That story is unfounded. Malagen has got in touch with nearly a dozen affected children and guardians who are not being ‘cared for’. 

Besides the failed pledges of Penny Appeal, the taskforce led by the department of social welfare made a set of recommendations, which have largely been ignored. 

How authorities fall short 

The case of Penny Appeal orphans exposes practices by the police and social welfare authorities that not only compromise the quality of the investigations, but also raises concerns about lack of victim-centred approach.

“When I contacted the police, they said they did not have a vehicle,” said Adama, the neighbour who blew the whistle on the orphanages. He said it took police investigators a whole week before they launched the investigations. Even then, it was Adama who offered his vehicle to take them around. 

Yet, the police and justice ministry left out key witnesses, including the man who blew the whistle on the orphanages. 

In their fact-finding, the social welfare department led committee did not talk to any of the parents or guardians of the orphans. Nor did they inform them of the decision to relocate the 13 children – six abused and seven abusers – to the state-run orphanage. 

“I still have not heard from the police or social welfare. It was Samba who informed me about their meetings,” said the mom.  

The sexually abused and their abusers, were put in the same house, retraumatizing and putting them at risk of being violated again. 

When contacted, Ramou Sambou, the police head of the gender and child welfare unit, has refused to comment on these concerns. 

Will there be justice?

More than one year on, there is still no justice for the orphans. 

The justice ministry had in June last year announced discontinuation of the case. The reason given is the discovery of ‘new evidence’ that absolves those indicted. It did not say what the new evidence was. No one has since been charged.   

“We will wait until the investigation is out again and we will charge them accordingly,” Lamin Jarjue, one of the state lawyers in charge of the case, told Malagen.

He added: “As per the evidence in the case file, we do not know who is behind Annasru.” 

But who owns Annasru appears easy to know. It is just a click away. On his social media handles, Atabou Aidara openly reveals his relationship with the charities he created. Moreover, every person familiar with the operations of the charity, even children, know of his ownership. Besides, he solicits media coverage for his charitable works. 

Penny Appeal UK seems to be pulling strings from the other end. In an audacious move, the charity has asked the Ministry of Justice to issue a joint statement, clearing them of any wrongdoing. Our source said Minister Jallow had refused, insisting to them that ‘withdrawal does not mean acquittal’.

When contacted, Justice Minister Dawda Jallow confirmed that he ordered for the withdrawal of the case. But he was quick to admit that he might have made a hasty decision. 

“As far as I am concerned, we will get to the bottom of the matter,” he assured nonetheless. 

But the Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare, Fatou Kinteh, takes a different position. When contacted, she complained that the questions sent to her regarding the case are too many and she does not have time to answer.

During a brief chat, she insisted however that no crimes were committed, a position that contravenes the findings of the department of social welfare, which is under her ministry. 

“I have already written to them to resume their operations,” she added.  

When contacted, Aidara refused to answer questions. He however said he was aware of Malagen investigations. “I heard about you from everywhere…I know you went to the Ministry,” he said in what could be described as a confirmation, albeit inadvertently, that he has informants in the government.

Editor’s Note: The names of children and their parents as well as other identifiable details have been altered in line with the law and ethics of reporting on children’s issues