EducAid Sierra Leone	9 Lidyard Rd London N19 5NR UK	Tel +44 (0)20 7272 8674 Fax +44 (0)20 7263 6070
	Contact: James Boardman Email:jboardman72@hotmail.com

September 2002

Sierra Leone - Country Update

Sierra Leone has continued to enjoy lasting peace over the past few months. Following an injection of international aid, rebuilding of the country’s infrastructure is now taking place. However the plight of children affected by the civil war remains as desperate as ever – still many children are displaced from their homes, many without parents. The nationwide rehabilitation programmes simply cannot cope with demand. This is reflected at our EducAid School in Freetown which is full to capacity and we are constantly having to turn children away.

EducAid School in Freetown.

The school has come along way in 2 years. In September 2000, we initially enrolled 35 children, 6 of whom were ready to sit the exam at the end of the first year. All passed, which exceeded the national pass rate of 42%, and were able to progress to senior secondary schools in Freetown. In September 2001, 75 children were enrolled, 24 of whom sat BECE in June 2002 – their results are currently awaited. Our pupils are all children whose lives have been seriously affected by the war: they are aged between 13 and 23 and have missed between 1 and 10 years of schooling.

School staffing

We currently employ four full-time and two part-time Sierra Leonean teachers. We also employ a teacher/administrator named James Kelly (who happens to be an ex EducAid student!). Miriam, who set up the school, is still involved in teaching lots of classes. She also oversees curriculum development, designs teaching materials and trains the staff in educational method. We are very excited by the interest being shown in Miriam’s dynamic teaching method’s, which have been carefully prepared for the students, bearing in mind local culture and the wide range of recent experiences. In particular, the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DfID) has responded to EducAid’s successful approach by sponsoring new material development.

EducAid’s new school at Ropolon

In February 2002, land and a building adjacent to a primary school were donated to EducAid. The land is in Ropolon, some 50 miles from Freetown. Since then, the village community in Ropolon has worked tirelessly over the summer to help us transform the building into an educational establishment, and the school will now open in September. Currently children who leave the neighbouring primary school have no access to further education. Our school will therefore provide junior secondary education so that these local children can remain in education beyond primary level. Our bid DfID to fund the construction of a well and latrine system at the site was successful and construction will commence at the end of the rainy season.

Bend it like Beckham

As we have previously mentioned, many EducAid students are keen footballers. Thanks to the generosity of students at Aylesbury Grammar School, they are also now the proud owners of a new EducAid designed football kit. Pupils at Aylesbury raised enough funds to provide the team with EducAid football shirts, shorts, socks and boots. This thoughtful donation went down very well. This should take our boys to the top of the fashion league at least - move over Man United!!.

Many Thanks to…

Thomas Eggar (Solicitors), and specifically Chris Bell and Stuart Cookson, for a donation of some Pentium Computers. Also to the RAF for shipping them to Freetown and Chris Pearce for organising the shipment - earlier this summer. The PC’s were used extensively by the very successful summer school, which has just closed. EducAid provided free access to computer lessons to a large number of students who could not afford the alternative available courses provided on a commercial basis. A second consignment has just been donated and is being shipped shortly.

Please pray for….

· Give thanks for the generosity of those who responded to EducAid’s appeal. The additional funding will make a tangible difference to that which EducAid is able to provide to its students.

· Pray for the new students who will start at both EducAid’ schools this September and give encouragement to those who are continuing with their studies in difficult personal circumstances.

· Pray for the well being of EducAid’s staff, particularly Miriam as she takes on increased responsibility.

· Pray for lasting peace in Sierra Leone.

Sponsorship Programme update

One of EducAid’s first activities in the late 1990’s was to offer bursaries for children to attend existing schools in Freetown. There are currently 180 children enrolled in the programme. We have not recruited to this scheme for two years, as we are now focusing new funds to the EducAid schools. However, we have pledged to support the current students to the completion of the secondary level education and this provides access to education for students attending many schools across Freetown and up country. Some results are just out: all 15 of our Sponsorship programme students in Kenema town have passed the end of year exams – and ALL came in the top 5 of their respective classes. A great result.

EducAid Website!

After several attempts we really are now building a website – see www.educaid.org.uk. We will be adding materials and making it user friendly over the next few months. Do visit and let us know your comments. We would also like to invite you to receive future communications by email. If you would like to do this please send an email to: jboardman72@hotmail.com. We will continue to send hard copy in the post to anyone who would prefers that.