Healthcare Visit to Sierra Leone in March 2010. Latest.

There is still time to think about going. If you read some of the stories of the orphans in the post below, you will see why health care is a critical issue.  To read all the details about this visit, please click on green health care label below.

Community Healthcare - Update 3

The team is coming together well, but places are still available. There could be a need for able-bodied people willing to help with building work. On the healthcare side this would probably involve assisting in building pit latrines, depending on the assessment of needs when the team is in Looking Town.

The Orientation Day, which anyone hoping to go is asked to attend if at all possible, will be from 9.45 am to 4.00 pm on Thursday, 3rd December, at the Riverside Centre, Derby. If you wish to attend please contact tswindaleuk@yahoo.co.uk

To see all the posts on Healthcare together, click on green health care label.

Want to know what Sierra Leone is really like? Watch this.

Having visited the country on six occasions and travelled to Bo, Kenema and Makeni, and into the villages - as well as Freetown and the Western Peninsula, I would say this gives a great impression of the transport, roads, shops, markets, homes, the beauty of the countryside and the friendly people. I loved it!

High days and holidays

In the life of the school some days have a special appeal. I was present for some of them and a lot of work is put in to make a great day for all concerned.

Sports Day

First off is the school Sports Day, which usually takes place in March.

The school's houses are lined up for competition

Obstacle Race

Carrying the Baby

The eating competition

A fine group of sportsmen and women

Thanksgiving Day

After a formal service in church, the school marches through the community, accompanied by a band. Members of the team of 2005 are on one of the photographs

We have arrived back at base!

Field Trip

This was a most impressive occasion, and the staff took the opportunity to show the children a number of modern aspects of Sierra Leone.  We travelled by bus to the new exhibition centre in Freetown where the boys and girls looked over the equipment that was for sale.  We also visited Hastings Airport where we were permitted to board a plane used by the Red Cross. Photographs were not permitted there!

Inspecting generators at the Exhibition Hall

The Day of the African Child, 16th June every year.

In Soweto, South Africa, thousands of black school children took to the streets in 1976, in a march more than half a mile long, to protest the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language. Hundreds of young boys and girls were shot down; and in the two weeks of protest that followed, more than a hundred people were killed and more than a thousand were injured.

To honour the memory of those killed and the courage of all those who marched, the Day of the African Child has been celebrated on 16 June every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organization of African Unity. The Day also draws attention to the lives of African children today.

The day is celebrated with music, dancing, food and maybe a film.

Sir David Frost interviews the President, His Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma

Ernest Bai Koroma, a former insurance broker, won the presidential election in 2007. He now faces the daunting task of reviving Sierra Leone's fortunes after years of corruption, economic mismanagement and violence.

His Excellency will be in London for a Conference on the 18th and 19th November 2009 where, together with such worthies as the Minister for International Development and the World Bank Vice-President for Africa, they will be looking at the Government of Sierra Leone's 'Agenda for Change', - a poverty reduction strategy, and also Trade and Investment opportunities.

More on the Healthcare Visit Update 2

There has been much interest in this opportunity to give real input into the healthcare of a very poor community.
Currently 2 GPs, 2 nurses, two students on health related courses and one young lady with previous experience in West Africa have expressed an interest in coming on the visit in March.

The orientation day is likely to be on Thursday 3rd December, and participants will  get full details very soon.

This initiative comes at a critical time in Sierra Leone's attempts to improve its healthcare provison.

The President has just sacked the Health Minister.  Full story below from the BBC dated 4 November 2009.

The President, Ernest Bai Koroma

Sierra Leone's president has sacked two of his ministers, one of whom has been indicted for corruption.

Health Minister Sheku Tijan Koroma appeared in court on Wednesday charged with illegally awarding contracts.
He is the first minister to be charged with corruption since President Ernest Bai Koroma came to power two years ago.

No reason was given for the dismissal of the other official, Leonard Balogun Koroma, who is minister in the vice-president's office.
Mr Koroma promised to crack down on corruption when he won elections in 2007

A few weeks previously the Health Ministry had started the closure of 44 illegal and unregistered clinics, one of which is in the vicinity of the Looking Town Schools and township.  This has led to the local fear that the provision of health facilities is becoming much worse, rather than better.

There is still the chance to be part of this trip and you do not need to have a healthcare background, only an interest in the topic.  Please e-mail tswindaleuk@yahoo.co.uk to register an interest.

New Building - The Urgent need!

The plan for the new building, which is to house an admin centre including a library, and classrooms which will be used for the Secondary School and, out of school hours, the vocational studies students.

Desperately needed because

Due to the good academic and moral ethos of the school many parents want their children to go. The Staff see the need and want to help. Extra space is urgently needed.

The Primary and Secondary Schools, using the same building on a rota system, creates a difficult situation which does not help learning.Vocational studies students have nowhere to go during the rainy season when they cannot work outside.

There is no other Vocational Training Centre in the area, which is one of the poorest and depressed in Freetown.

Primary occupations are gardening, charcoal burning and collecting firewood none of which generate a steady income. Most houses in Looking Town have leaking roofs and poor or no toilet facilities.

Many parents are poverty stricken. Many families have only one meal a day. Their children become the breadwinners and are exposed to moral and physical danger. For economic reasons many young girls are forced into either an early marriage or prostitution.

Schooling and vocational training give hope and are essential to lift people out of poverty.

Some pictures of vocational students at work

Vocational students are doing fine in the sun, rain is a different matter.

Sewing machines outside - impossible if it is wet!

Carpentry training. Making desks and benches for the school

Phase One the Foundations is already done.

This is the present state of the building work

Phase Two    The Super structure, the walls, supporting columns and beams is costed at £1655.

Phase Three   Roofing is estimated to cost  £1982.

Phase Four     Completion - finishing and plastering, the ceiling, windows and doors, and painting at a cost of £6461.

Total cost is just over £10,000

The season for building, the dry season is starting around the end of November and continues to late May.  When the team goes out in March it would be great to see it all taking shape.

Anyone wishing to give a donation (which can now be gift aided) or to help in fund-raising please contact us. details below.

Any Able Bodied Men who would like to come to either help with physical work in the healthcare sector, e.g. building pit latrines, if this is identified as a need, or with the new school building, would be most welcome.

Further details from tswindaleuk@yahoo.co.uk  or on 0800 9707571

Moving on (1)

I have found this clip from Bill Johnson very challenging. Some readers may never have heard anything like it, but followers of Jesus Christ are pushing back the darkness that still covers the earth. This may involve building schools and hospitals, ensuring the best care for orphans, and seeking jobs and an income for all. It involves seeking a safe and healthy environment in which to live. But is there more to life than that?

Could what Bill Johnson describes as happening in Mozambique happen elsewhere?
Sierra Leone, the UK, Germany, United States, Canada?

Community Healthcare Visit - Update 1

We have had a number of very positive enquiries about this trip and hope to arrange a date for the Orientation Day (likely to be a weekday) shortly.

Suggested Dates  28 February - 6th or 8th March

Flight  - Freetown Flyer from Heathrow operated by BMI

Accommodation.  Likely to be the hotel used by the last team to visit, a good standard and very near to the community we are working with.  The hotel 5/10 is owned by the Teachers' Union in Sierra Leone and built in co-operation with a charity started by a Sierra Leonean in Denmark.  It is called 5/10 because the 5th October is World Teachers Day.

Hotel 5/10

Hotel Dining Room

Cost:  Up to £1,000 in total, including flight, accommodation, transport, meals, purchases and gifts you may wish to give towards individuals. 

Medical matters.  Please consult your GP about vaccinations and anti-malaria tablets.  For Sierra Leone, courses or boosters usually advised are: diphtheria; tetanus; poliomyelitis; hepatitis A; typhoid; yellow fever.

Please see the first article, Community Healthcare in Freetown, for details of this visit.