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.
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, 25 September 2008
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
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
Sunday, 7 September 2008
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.”
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.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
