Nov 17, 2015 - New Uniforms for Kamalo School

Just last spring, Kidsgive began to assist an informal school in Kamalo, Port Loko. Though located very close to a major international airport, a trans-African highway, a mining railroad, and a global fiber optic network, the little Timne village of Kamalo has no government assisted, public school! Three years ago the Conforti Children's Aid Organization started, a small, informal classroom. Using a local building as a school, two teachers offered lessons on a single blackboard. Last spring, the school requested that Kidsgive help with the...

Nov 15, 2015 - FAWE girls' school, Mattru Jong

When I arrived at FAWE Girls School in Mattru Jong, I had a wonderful surprize. The whole school - all the students and teachers - had come out to greet me with song. The head mistress, Beatrice, welcomed me and Kidsgive to the school. Fortunately, none of the children were affected directly by Ebola. The school had had a difficult year, as the teachers went without salaries for eight months. Nevertheless, classes started again last April, and 17 students took the national sixth grade exams. FAWE started in 2002, right after the war, as...

Nov 11, 2015 - St Mary's High School, Kambia

Yesterday I made the trip to the far north of Sierra Leone, just south of the border with Guinea, to visit St. Mary's High School. One of our Kidsgive Partner schools, St. Mary's is the very first high school in Kukuna, a small town near the border. The way to the school starts out on the paved TransAfrica Highway, but then turns into a dirt track. As my driver said: 'This is back to Africa!' At the school, I met with the principal, teachers, and local village leaders. There are about 400 students enrolled in 7 classes, 7th grade through...

Nov 7, 2015 - Ebola Free!

It's official! The World Health Organization declared today that the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone is finally over, after more than 8000 cases and 3500 deaths. Last night there was a candlelight vigil at the Cotton Tree, in central Freetown, and today there are celebrations all over the country. Daily life continues as usual, but everyone seems to be smiling and in an especially good mood. As they say in Krio - Ebola don don. But there are still a lot of challenges for the country. I met a 9 year old girl at Conforti School who lost her...

Nov 3, 2015 - Conforti School

Conforti School in Calaba Town, Freetown is the very first Kidsgive partner school. I discovered this gem, located off the main highway passing from Freetown into the interior, during the very end of my first year in Sierra Leone. Even then, I knew that there was something different about this school. For one, the teachers and the students were in the classroom together - which was very usual at that time! Often the salaries of teachers went unpaid, and, as a consequence, they held other jobs while the children waited for them in...

Nov 2, 2015 - Bonthe Island

Last weekend I took an amazing journey to Bonthe Island, after a two hour boat ride up the Jong River to the Atlantic Ocean. One of the oldest settled regions in Sierra Leone, the community seems untouched by time. Many of its original mission and colonial buildings are still standing; even now, there are no cars on the islands and people still trod the walking paths set out by the British. We stayed at the Sherbo Island Hotel, the only tourist accommodation available on the island, and were treated to a catfish (extra, extra large) dinner,...

Apr 18, 2013 - Freetown, Sierra Leone

As we were coming in to Freetown, we saw something on the shore and were trying to figure out what it was. As preposterous as I thought it would be in Sierra Leone, I said that I thought it looked like a large hovercraft. I was rather proud and surprised when we went by in our zodiacs & realized that’s exactly what it was. Based on the signs we saw, they use it as a ferry from Freetown to some other place. Too funny! The streets and marketplaces we passed were crazy beehives of activity. Sierra Leone has a population of 6 million, and 3...

Apr 5, 2013 - Sierra Leone--Some reflections

I take so many things for granted... *Clean, drinkable water from the tap *Toilets that flush *Food that I don't have to worry about whether to eat it or not *Ice cream *Paved roads and traffic rules *Internet and TV when and where I want it *Electricity *Warm showers *Showers David, Andrew and I arrived back in London last night and are now at our Aunt Annette's in Suffolk, England. Before we left, David told me that his theme for this trip was "perspective." Mine has changed. My mind is full of the adventures, stories,...

Apr 4, 2013 - Freetown, Sierra Leone

Ok, so it's been a couple of weeks since I last updated, due in no small measure to the lack of any good internet connections. So my last update was from Ziguinchor in the Casamance region. The Casamance is a pretty volatile area , and trouble flares up periodically there although I found it a lovely peacefull area.From here it was off to Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, and it was a very straightforward border crossing with no hasssle at all, in fact, the border guards were very friendly. I arrived there after a few hours and decided...

Mar 31, 2013 - Sierra Leone Rain Forest

Electricity is sporadic and most often in the evening, if at all. The Internet is even less available. I have about 30 minutes right now. So, apologies for the messages I send with typos etc as there is hardly time to go back to check and getting the message in is a little difficult. I will do more from England but for now a couple of tidbits. We left Freetown last Thursday for Bo, then Tiwai Island to the South of Freetown. This part of Sierra Leone is even more beautiful, if possible. It is much more rural with villages of adobe huts...

Mar 27, 2013 - Back in Freetown

Sierra Leone suffered from a horrendous and cruel civil war from 1991-2002. Consequences of that war can be seen everywhere--destroyed buildings and infrastructure, amputee camps and drug abuse. Yet, there is an unvanquished spirit that is clearly evident. People smile and say "Welcome." There are markets and beautiful textiles, baskets and produce for sale. There are new buildings and people interested in investment. This afternoon, we visited a small museum about Sierra Leone with the story of Bunch Castle, a launching place for the...

Mar 25, 2013 - Images

I have 14 minutes to make entries at the Internet Cafe so I just want to share some initial images of Sierra Leone. We arrived yesterday morning about 5:30 and suddenly time stopped. We waited for the hovercraft to fetch us after negotiating our baggage delivery to the beach and the car to take us to the hovercraft. A couple of hours later the hovercraft came towards us, and as we watched flew up on the beach covering us in sand and stopping right next to us. We sat on fake zebra chairs on the boat and traveled to Freetown where Dena picked...