Lecture on The Gambia in Viksdalen
Published June 17, 2026
On Thursday, June 4, we invited the residents of Viksdalen to a talk about The Gambia, where we wanted to share our experiences from our sponsorship trip to The Gambia in November 2025. We also held a raffle.
We were fortunate to have Anbjørg Juliussen and Vigdis Vangen Skaalien join us; they drove all the way from Vikersund to be with us that evening. It was a real draw that the organization’s founder was there and could share how it all began and how Butterfly Friends is run today.
The Viksdalen Local Environment Council sponsored the food, and we received many wonderful prizes from businesses, private individuals, and the ladies from Vikersund. Here (above) you can see some of the prizes.
In the kitchen, we had great help from Vigdis Vangen Skaalien, Else Stensaker, and Evita Kvammen. They made lefse rolls, cut up fruit, brewed coffee, and served everyone who attended. A big thank you to them.
We had about 42 guests and raised just over 12,000 kr through raffle ticket sales.
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and the guests found it interesting to hear about both our trip
to The Gambia and the work of Butterfly Friends. We hope that the organization will become better known here in Western Norway and that we can attract more sponsors from this region.
