Diocese of Bo

Well the adventure started on Wednesday 12th November and we headed first to Moyamba School to be met by the children doing some cultural dancing and then for a brief time of statements and fellowship. It was great to beback in the school were we were made very welcome.

Since so much happened over our ten days in Bo I am just going to quickly run through were we visited. On the Thursday we spent time at Kangahun and Masso Dasse, two schools in the Moyamba District on the way Bo.

Then over the weekend we went first to Bishop Sams 70th Birthday celebration and retirement do. It started with a service then on to the methodist hall for a party, and on the Sunday was Bishop Tuckers Enthronement.

On Monday we went back to the schools visiting Bo Coronation Field, the Bo Damballa Rd infants and Juniors. We then hit the road and headed on to Sahn a school still within the Bo District but 22miles away on dirt roads.

Tuesday we headed for our first day of two in the Pujehun District, going to Koiva , Vawahun and Helebu. On Wednesday we went Bayama, Massam Kpaka and finished with Gobaru. These schools are all around 40 miles form Bo but have some good links.

Thursday was on to Kenema District, visiting Blama, Komende and Talia. Komende in particular is a very difficult school. They are still yet unable to complete the building of their new school due to lack of funds so are currently meeting in the town square. After visiting these schools we headed to a place called Daru accomodation there cost me Le8000 around £1.90 for a night. I don't think you willl ever imagine what it was like but though I should add it so you know it isn't all glamour out here.

Friday we headed as far East to finish our visits in this Diocese visiting Baiima and Levuma two good school building that were both destroyed during the war but have been given govenment assistance. You will all be pleased to know that each school gave me a package to hand on to their link schools which is fantastic.

Then back to Bo before heading back to Freetown on Saturday to finish off the work there.

Week beginning 3rd November

This week will be a simple report writing week. We originally had a trip to Bonthe planned sadly this has now been cancelled and we are going off there at the end of the month. This is because within the space of three hours 3 of the 4 diocesean cars broke down across Freetown, fortuately for me I wasn't in any of them but still it meant immediate arrangemnets needed to be changed. The week after this we will be back on the schools visits visiting a futher twenty three schools in two weeks in Bo diocese, so please be patient as we update this blog

What has been going on

It may now look like I have been having a holiday for the last 12 days, sadly for me this hasn't been the case at all. Over the last 12 days I have had two groups visit me. The first was from Holy Trinity School in Crawley. They came with 9 students and 3 teachers to visit their link school Bishop Johnson Memorial here in Freetown. My job was to cordinate their visit, it included the foundation school at BJMS and a trip up to Schlenker a school mentioned on this page before. I then went off to Bo for the consecration of the new Bishop of Bo. Hios name is Emmanuel Tucker. This also included meeting with a group of representatives from West Wittering community, also from Sussex. They have been assisting in the building of a new Secondary School in Bo. Our visit to Bo concluded with the opening ceremony followed by a cultural show on Wednesday and then returned to Freetown on the government bus at 4am on the Thursday morning. Quite a worldwind of two weeks. I will try to keep you uptodate with any futher news.

17th October

On Friday we continued to knuckle down to some school links work. We visited 11 schools starting off with two schools at Christchurch, where both head teachers were extremely welcoming and accommodating. We then continued on to St George’s Cathedral schools (made up of 5 schools) before finishing with St John’s Brookfield, both infant, and junior. The 1st set of schools is unfortunately located beneath a local church in what, I am sure, was meant originally to be the church hall. However, it is now made up of 10+ classrooms all poorly divided spilling noise and distraction onto each “separate” teaching environment. St John’s Brookfield is a similar set up, with many classes occupying a large hall. This of course is not ideal for any form of schooling. However, even with such bustle, noise and distraction here there is a strong sense of community and closeness surrounding these schools, which I am sure, is provided by living and working in such close quarters. Such communities give these schools great appeal to any school in England seeking a link to a school in Sierra Leone.

16th October

At 7am Pah Jalloh arrived in the vehicle with two further guests for the day, the Diocesan Secretary (Rev Edmondson) and Rev Wright, the Chairman of the Diocesan Board of Anglican education. By 10am we had reached the first of the day’s schools - at Rogbere Junction. The school is located, as the name suggests, at the meeting place of various roads. Furthermore, an adjoining road to, and from Freetown, being well surfaced does suggest a perfect location for an international link between schools. However, although the school is in desperate need, with many children studying beneath the trees in makeshift (open-air) classrooms, it is unlikely that the school will obtain a link with a school in the Diocese of Chichester. Unfortunately, we have quickly learned that without an enthused Principle in Sierra Leone, a link with an English school will prove to be near impossible. In this case, the Principle is just temporary, holding the position until a suitable long-term replacement is chosen.
Much concerned by the lack of facilities at Rogbere we continued inland to Makeni. The school, linked with St Margaret’s - Angmering, has a promising future. The classrooms are not overcrowded, as is the case with many of the schools in Sierra Leone, and nearly all of the children have a seat, and a desk to accompany it. However, one concern that both myself and Iain had towards the schools, was the way in which the 5 year old pupils entered their classrooms. After acquiring a grappling hook and climbing rope from the local rock climber, each child proceeded to haul their way up the massive step outside. Joking aside, the half a metre step was a ridiculous site to behold, causing both myself and Iain to hold our breaths as each child attempted to climb back down.
After a brief lunchy of crackers......and more crackers, we set off for the last school of the day located at Masheka. The school is newly formed and in desperate need of attention. With nothing but a well providing water, and a building to house the kids, this project we believe will be an exciting development project for a school in the Diocese of Chichester. Unfortunately, the school was destroyed during the rebel incursion, however, it was once attended by the President of Sierra Leone and hopefully this will provide a platform for its return to prominence.
The day was extremely long, tiring and productive, and once we reached Freetown we were both in serious need of some shut eye!

Wednesday 15th October

We left the house at 8am and it took us 55mins to get up to Holy Trinity, its only 2miles away!! We were greeted at the gate by the curate of the parish and were guided into the curates office we here met with the wonderful Mrs Finney(head of the infants school), Mrs George(head of the Girls Primary) and Mrs Williams(head of the Boys primary) we spoke about their concerns and the schools well being. It 3 schools that have such a wonderful atmosphere we were then introduced to each classroom and had a small tour of the buildings.

We left them around 11.00am and went on to St Philips. We first visited the parish office and before long I had my hands inside a printer trying to fix a small ink cartridge issue (fortunately it wasn’t too serious and we didn’t need Duncan). We were then given a drink and escorted into the school. The parish have been trying really hard to build a new hall that can be used as classrooms. It is close to be finished but unfortunately it has a whole year group(four classes) sharing it. This means there are approximately 200 pupils trying to be taught in one room. Otherwise the school has fairly good facilities and two superb headteachers Mrs McCormack(head of the Infant school) and Mrs Kamara(head of the junior). This school has an existing link with one of our schools but has unfortunately there has been no contact in three years.

Finally we visited Bishop Crowther. This is a school in a fantastic compound. The Infant school with a new head Mr Clarkson has excellent buildings with 8 large rooms that have recently been decorated. The junior school however has been struggling with the use of the old church building. Fortunately this shouldn’t be for too much as they have been given a grant by the ministry of education to build 2 new classrooms. This is very uncommon is Sierra Leone as the Ministry doesn’t have much money. This is al being overseen by Mrs Comber who has been head for over 15 years.

Friday 10th Otober

Today Dunc was due to leave us to head back to life in England but since his flight wasn't till 7pm that night we thought we would take the opportunity to visit the school at Lungi. Lungi is the peninsula opposite Freetown where the international airport is.

Lungi Primary was a school that used to have a lionk woith one of our schools. Unfortunately over the years the link faded. I think this is mostly due to lack of computer access and unreliable post. For this school to access the internet they must take the hour ferry crossing to Freetown and then find a internet cafe (which are quite unreliable) and then prepare for the hour journey back. Abit of a long haul really. We were warmly welcomed and the school was desperate for a new link but it will probably be difficult to manage.

Tuesday 7th October

Today I started my planning with Bishop Johnson Memorial School about the imminent arrival of Holy Trinity Crawley. Every year a number of pupils and teachers (this year 9 pupils and 3 teachers) are heading over to Sierra Leone to spend some time in their link school. A fasinating project I believe. I have been here in Sierra Leone nearly a month and am continually learning the new culture and most importantly patience. I think the children and teachers will learn alot over their ten day visit. More will follow on this visit as it will take up part of next weeks work.

Monday 6th October

Today we headed too Port Loko to visit Schlenker secondary school and SLC Primary in Port Loko. It was a good trip after a two hour journey we were greeted by Mr Kamara the head, who was happy to meet with us. He spoke warmly of all that Bishop Bell school had done for them over the years. He introduced Duncan to the IT suite which was a good space unfortunately lacked many working computers. There is still a shortage of electricity at the school which makes using the computers quite difficult although they very much appreciated the gift from Bishop Bell. We then spent some time around the classrooms, some which are in quite good condition others which need a complete rebuild. But the school is an amazing place since it was all burnt down by the rebel fighters in the war. I very much look forward to many more visits back.

In the early afternoon we headed first two the pre-school. It was a tiny little school with just two small classes of wonderful toddlers. The school deals with children from 3-5 years old. When we arrived most of the children where napping but were soon awaken as a camera was brought out. They went wild for having their pictures taken. Mrs Dowda is very keen on a link but one still needs to be found for them.

We finished our day in SLC primary school, again they spoke very warmly of their link with Storrington Firsts. They were given a cheque around six months ago to help them build a hall. The biggest issue facing the school there is a lack of clean drinking water for the children. The closest pump is nearly two miles walk for them.

We had a really fantastic day and it has been fantastic to see some of the country school they have here in Sierra Leone.

3rd October

Today was going to be a really important day. Now with only one week before Duncan was going home we had to get into the secondary schools to see what computer facilities they had on offer. We visited Freetown Grammar for Boys and Annie Walsh Girls schools. These two schools are the best performing schools around. They have both been established since the mid 1800’s and are still at the top of the league tables for results. Both schools will have future leaders of this country amongst them.

So we spent the morning at the Grammar school which was fantastic and Mr Serry – the link teacher - showed us around and spoke about what they would want in a link and introduced us to some of the classes. I asked a number of questions about what the pupils knew of England, the most common response was football but we did get some good answers too. We also managed to get Duncan around the computer suite which was surprisingly good.

In the afternoon we went off to Annie Walsh. We met with the two heads and spoke about their link with Davison High school for Girls in Worthing. They talked with such excitement about what Davison had done for them and then took us around the school showing us what the money donated had done for them. It was fantastic we then met with the senior school in their assembly and introduced ourselves. Hopefully it won’t beour last visit to either of these schools.

29th September

We today visited the parish of Holy Trinity, Kissy Road. With the compound walls is Holy Trinity school. It is a school that was established in 1894. We were met by Mrs Finney the head teacher of the morning school and presented a check to them for £2813. This was a wonderful present from a family member of one of the IDWAL committee who had opted to receive money for a school rather than presents for their 25th wedding anniversary. What a gift, this would allow them to build a new toilet block. The current arrangement is just two toilets between 600 pupils. I will look forward to a trip back to the school in due time to meet more formally the three heads of school.

25th September

We arrived in Bo after a few days stuck in Kenema and decided to visit the new school that the Parish of West Wittering had funded. We arrived around 11 just as the children were having there morning praise. It was a fantastic opportunity for us to meet with them as one large group. We were introduced by the head and then explained why we were there. The children were very excited to meet us. What a fantastic building, the parish should be thrilled and we will look forward - with 14 members of the parish – to the grand opening later in October.

Thursday 25th September

We had hope that this morning we would be waking up in a hotel in the centre of Bo. Unfortunately due to the difficulty with the diocesan car we ended up having a night in Kenema. I though since I was here that I would take the opportunity of spending some time visiting the schools in the compound of St James Kenema.

It is a fantastic space with a junior secondary school and primary school buildings. We were welcomed by Canon Tucker the parish priest and Bishop of Bo elect and he introduced us to the head Mr Price Samba Esq. I had a great chat with Mr Samba about where the school had come from and what its future visions are. It was established only four years ago with some help from an American charity. They built five classrooms, a staff room and an office for the head. Mr Samba however had a vision that he needed three more classrooms and a computer suite. This was going to be funded by the £4 a term class fees that the students pay. They are linked to Storrington Lions.

I then moved on to the Primary and met Mr Prince Dakowa the head of the am school and Mr Frank Coker the head of the pm school. Between the two schools they have 3095 pupils, 1750 that come from 7.30am-12.30pm and 1345 that come from 12.30pm-5.30pm. It was quite amazing that they could manage so many pupils many of whom had to spend the whole school day on their feet. It was a joy to see how happy the children were, just at the opportunity of having and education.

Monday 15th September

We set off to see school number 1 at Moyamba. This is a new school that was built by St Mary and St Paul first school, Harting. We were welcomed by the head Mr Raymond A W Davies. The school was a simple building with four classrooms and an office for the head. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite finished the whole school need painting and eventually a toilet block built.

After I had spent some time with Mr Raymond I had a walk down to what remained of the old school. It was essentially a mud hut that had washed away. It was probably only 6m x 15m. The school has 131 students over 6 school years so if you can imagine, it would have been a tight squeeze.

An Apology

Dear All

I just want to start by apologising that I made some mistakes on this blog. For some reason it started to take blogs that were due for my Friends. I have removed those and will add some new blogs about our time here. I apologise if you found any of them slightly unproffessional. I hope you will use this webpage as a source of information

Sorry again
Iain

Our Story in the paper

Switching on Sierra Leone

Most of us spend our summer holidays sunning ourselves on a beach in the Med, doing as little as possible and who can blame us, we work hard all year around for two weeks of “me-time”. So, it is both admirable and inspirational to meet two young guys who are not only turning their backs on the lure of an 18-30’s holiday, but are planning to forgo home comforts in Sierra Leone, West Africa, to install information and communication systems in village schools.

Iain Parks and Duncan Haper are set go to to Sierra Leone to assist with an education based project that will provide communication support for schools in the Anglican Diocese’s of Freetown and Bo.Iain said: “Sierra Leone is a still developing nation that is recovering from a rebel war that ended a decade ago. Fortunately, there are many causes for optimism with their new government in place.”The project is run as part of the Diocese of Chichester’s Inter-diocesan West African Link (IDWAL), which builds contacts between parishes and schools in the Diocese of Chichester with those in West African nations such as Cameroon, Guinea, Liberia, Gambia, and Sierra Leone.

Duncan explained why his trip was important, “The availability of communication technology in Sierra Leone is very poor. There are very few internet points, Limited access to telephones and posting mail is too unreliable. Improving access to communications is essential to Sierra Leone as it develops”. Using the ICT skills he utilises at CIC, Duncan will be providing ICT advice and analysing their communications needs for future visits from members of IDWAL. This will also help develop the communication of the children of Sierra Leone and the children of Sussex, as they grow to learn from each others experiences.

Duncan and Iain will be going without home comforts, living in basic accommodation during their visit and can expect temperatures of around high 30’s and 98% humidity. Duncan said “I feel a mixture of nervousness and excitement, it will be a lot of hard work but I know it will be worth it.”