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.