A welcome Christmas Gift

Glad to be able to bank a cheque for £810 a couple of days ago. £745 of this was an unexpected gift from the Greenway Primary School in Hull who are twinned with our New Era School in Kissy, Freetown. They raised the amount through events on Children in Need Day and also in the lead up to Christmas. It is a school with around 468 pupils and they must have worked hard with the staff to produce such an amazing amount.

The Beverley Male Voice Choir Christmas Concert 2009

The further £65 was a donation from the Beverley Male Voice Choir. We thank them, together with the school for the giving of their time and effort in this cause.

Alpha with Mrs. Liz Wilson



The Head Teacher at the Greenway Primary School, Mrs. Elizabeth Wilson, has visited Freetown and met Alpha Kargbo, who is Head at the New Era School. She appreciates the problems that the staff and pupils in Sierra Leone have to contend with.

Head Teacher Alpha Kargbo in his office

The gift, along with a donation from the United States, has ensured that the school enters the new year free from any debt and with the teachers in a good position to offer free education to the needy children in the area. This has been an answer to prayer. Thank you to all who have contributed to this.

New Era School - Freetown

Africa Mercy leaves Sierra Leone

The Africa Mercy has now completed a 10 month field service in the Sierra Leone where around 1000 volunteers from 40 nations have provided free medical care and humanitarian aid to thousands of the country’s poorest people. They are about 400 volunteers onboard at any one time.

Volunteers waving goodbye to Freetown

The charity reports that since February, the volunteer medical teams have performed more than 2,700 free surgeries such as tumour removal, cleft lip and palate correction, cataract removal, orthopaedics and skin grafts for burns victims. Volunteer dental teams have also carried out more than 28,700 dental procedures, providing essential dental care in a country that has only one dentist for every 1million people.

Leone is one of the world’s least developed countries and healthcare in Sierra Leone is largely unavailable for the poor with the majority of the population living on less than £1.20 per day.

As I mentioned earlier in this blog, HRH The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence witnessed first-hand the work of Mercy Ships during their trip to Sierra Leone in October.



Judy Polkinhorn, Executive Director of Mercy Ships UK, said, “This was Mercy Ships’ seventh visit to Sierra Leone and the team this year has worked extensively with the Ministry of Health and local hospitals to focus on capacity building and the training of local doctors, anaesthetists, nurses and other health professionals.

The country is still recovering from its 11 year civil war and its people are still in need of hope and healing - which I am proud to say we have been able to provide.”

In 2012 the Africa Mercy will be based first in Togo, then in Guinea.



Mercy Ships. Teaching about malaria. Would you volunteer?

As mentioned in a previous post, on 25th October Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, accompanied by her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, visited the world’s largest charity hospital ship in Sierra Leone as part of her tour of the country.  The 16,000 tonne Africa Mercy is in its eighth month of a 10-month field service in Sierra Leone, a country the charity has visited seven times over the last 19 years providing free medical care and humanitarian aid.  

Since February, Mercy Ships volunteer medical teams in Sierra Leone have performed more than 2,700 surgeries and 28,700 dental procedures and worked extensively with the Ministry of Health and local hospitals to focus on capacity building and the training of local doctors, anaesthetists, nurses and other health professionals.

5 year old Emmanuel who had surgery for a cleft lip.



I noticed this video because the teaching they are doing on malaria is very similar to the way we do it and it emphasises the importance of mosquito nets (with a small boy acting as the insect!). The government has begun to distribute nets for free and many of the community we serve have them. The teaching is important because people do not always use them correctly. Some wrap the net around them, which allows the insects to reach their skin. Some have used the nets for fishing!

Much of the video invites people to volunteer to work with Mercy Ships. This blog is read in many countries and some of my readers may want to do this.  The volunteer crew pay their own airfare and crew fees to cover the cost of their time on board.

Water Filters up and running!

It has taken some time to see the pictures of these filters in operation, but they have been up and running for a while. The school needed to buy some locally available plastic containers. Untreated water is poured in at the top and clean drinking water comes out of the tap. The children in the school are drinking safe and good tasting water in greater quantities which will prevent sickness and dehydration.

The system as it was before. Hard work and not very clean water!

But now -



Freetown Children's Hospital gets important visitors

When we visited earlier in the year we were very pleased to be welcomed as a team to the Children's Hospital in Freetown. But the important visitors I am writing about were not us! 

Since April 2010 when the free health initiative was introduced, the results have been amazing. It is reported that in the first month, antenatal clinics in Freetown saw seven times more women than they had before and 179 per cent more children visited health centres.


A hospital doctor, Dr David Baion, has said that since health care was free the number of children dying on the wards has actually halved. This was because people were presenting themselves quicker. They were coming to the hospital when still treatable. In our Community Healthcare teaching we were asked to emphasise the importance of taking children early for treatment.

We were welcomed and shown around by Dr. Fred Martineau, who works at the hospital as part of the Welbodi Partnership team.  Welbodi is the Krio word for Health and the Partnership, which has its base in England, supports the provision of paediatric care in Sierra Leone and helps the Ola During Children's Hospital deliver quality services to its patients.


They do this by working in collaboration with the hospital management and staff and with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to identify priorities and develop solutions. The work began in Sierra Leone in 2007.

Fred is a trainee paediatrician from the UK who is volunteering in Sierra Leone from 2010-2011. In addition to clinical work in multi-ethnic communities in Bristol and East London, he has worked with organisations supporting the health needs of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. He trained at Bristol University, has a BSc in International Health from UCL and a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from Liverpool. He is a Member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

A home-made Triage sign in the entrance to the hospital. Triage  is the process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition. This rations patient treatment efficiently when resources are insufficient for all to be treated immediately. In spite of the benefits of free health care, it is still impossible to treat everyone efficiently due to shortage of materials and of staff.

We were invited to give blood. There was not enough time for everyone to do so, and we were assured that the needles were sterile! Sarah and Sam volunteered.

And now the really important visitors. Princess Anne, the Princess Royal and her husband visited the hospital a couple of days ago and met some of the patients.   I understand her visit has been prompted by the 50th Anniversary of Independence for the country.

Unlike us, she has also managed to visit the Mercy Ship which is still anchored in Freetown.

Ali, a volunteer nurse on the ship, has said "When she did arrive, Princess Anne was lovely. She met the two patients we had picked out for her, and then just kept right on going around that side of the ward and met all the rest of them, too. I got trapped in a corner, and so when she got around to the lady in Bed Twelve, I was the one the princess turned to when she asked about the patient's surgery.

I got to talk to the princess, bright blue scrubs and all. I've done come crazy things here on this ship, but explaining oro-nasal fistula surgery to the daughter of the Queen of England? That's right up there with the rest of them."

Looking to add more clients to our Micro-Enterprise group!

Really glad that through the generosity of supporters we are able to send £600 to Freetown today, which will set up a further four people in their own business. The administrator of the scheme,  Albert  Lebbie will have more to do but I am sure he will be delighted to help more of his countrymen into self-sufficiency.

Albert Lebbie, given the name Barnabas at his baptism. Barnabas has the meaning "Son of Encouragement" and he has the job of encouraging his clients in their business ventures.

Micro-enterprise is up and running. Meet our first five clients.

I am delighted to introduce the first clients in our micro-enterprise scheme. They have each been awarded One Million Leones (£140) to get their own businesses off the ground.  This will help them to serve their communities and be able to provide for their families in a sustainable way.

Abu Sesay

Abu is a 57 year old man, who describes himself as a petty trader. He is married to Nyamday and together they support six children and dependents. He lives in Looking Town and is selling basic domestic items which will save people from having to walk long distances to purchase them. Finance generated will help to educate his children.

Fatamata Conteh

Fatamata (30) lives in Wellington and is married with two children, Hassan and David. She has been in business for the last eight years and has used the loan to purchase equipment to aid in keeping produce cool until needed for her small food outlet.

Emmanuel Conteh

Emmanuel (45) is by trade a Mason who for eight months has run a small cafe, mainly selling cold drinks, in Lunar Street, Kissy. He already had a freezer and crates for storing the drinks, but needed extra tables and chairs to expand the business. Married to Margaret, a seamstress, they have three children, Francis, Jane and Samuela. He hopes that the business will help him to take care of his family and "help some of the immediate needs of the community".

Ramatu Bangura

Ramatu lives in Beccle Street Wellington and describes herself as a petty trader selling items from her home for the local community. She has been doing this for six years and hopes that the loan will enable her to better serve the people by carrying a wider selection of stock and also enable her to meet the basic needs of her family. She has a husband, James, and  five children.

Sama Williams

Sama (60) has been in business for eight months selling basic food condiments. She has some equipment - a table, measuring bottles, pans and cups - but needs a better stock of condiments. Asked how the loan will benefit her she said, "It will help me as bread winner of the family to pay fees for my children and take care of my home. My community will no longer have to walk half a mile to the market."  She supports her husband, three children and a nephew.

It is really good to hear these stories and to know that our generous benefactors are changing lives so dramatically through their giving.  Our grateful thanks go to them.



Tourism. What's on offer?

Sierra Leone has much to offer the tourist. Beaches, forests, history, colourful crafts, friendly people and almost limitless sun in Winter.  But not many tourists are coming even though the war has been over for nine years. The Tourist Board realises that for too long the country has presented an image of poverty, disease and war.  It is seeking to change that picture.

The infra-structure still leaves a lot to be desired. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office point out that there is no really risk-free way of going from the Airport to Freetown. What town planner came up with the idea of placing the International Airport, Lungi, at the other side of a wide estuary to the capital city? The link upon poor roads is 70 miles long. They advise against using water forms of transport at night. However I have done so on every trip I have made, apart from last year, when we stayed at a hotel before the ferry. This year the night ferry battled into a headwind, but it was fine and not so crowded as daytime.

Crowds wait for a morning ferry to Freetown.

Tourism is the fastest growing industry in the country and it is estimated to employ 8,000 people. Before the war (1991-2002), around 100,000 tourists came to Sierra Leone per annum. This fell to around the zero mark during the years of fighting. Recovery has been slow. There are guests at hotels, but few of them are tourists. They are either expats or business people.

My party has always been met at the airport and our friends have guided us through the throng of people wanting to help. A local hotelier has said, ‘I believe a sense of safety starts at the airport, its security and the handling process. If the airport is chaotic when you land, and people all over are coming up asking to help you when you don’t know who they are, people feel unsafe.’

The Winter months are the best time for tourists. The rainy season lasts from May to the end of October, with the heaviest rainfall being in July and August. This is the main time for holidays for those with children in school in the UK, but Easter or even Christmas would be much better.

A map of the Western Peninsula showing all the beaches mentioned below, although I note Bureh Town is called Bure Town! Note Kent and the Banana Islands at the bottom.

There are miles of lovely beaches, many in deserted areas, but this one, Lumley Beach is close to a number of hotels and beach bars. The Cape Sierra Hotel is on the headland.

This is Bureh Town Beach, where the local community engage in fishing from boats pulled up on the sand.

There is a local community association that provides basic accommodation and meals. We had a meal largely of lobster and it was delicious. In the background is some craftwork that we were invited to purchase.

Because none of the beaches have life guards it is considered unsafe to swim alone and the British Consulate have had to deal with British people who have lost their lives in the sea. Some have drowned when with others. The wife of a gentleman who died this year said, “In general, the west coast of Africa is a dodgy place to swim unless you know what you’re doing.”  He had been caught in an undertow and didn’t make it back to shore. An inquest in the UK heard he was caught in a spot notorious for its strong currents.

The beach at Kent Village

At the village of Kent along from the beach is this headland. From it we are looking across to the Banana Islands. Our hosts in Freetown have suggested we make a visit to the islands on our next trip. The boats look a little primitive and I am glad that everyone appears to be wearing life jackets!

        

Kent has links with the slave trade, and the historical remains of this evil part of mankind's history have been developed in other African countries to attract tourists. In this slave house, the masters lived overhead while the slaves lived in the basement until they could be loaded onto ships to cross the Atlantic.

The upper part of the building is now used as the village school.

The slave quarters

We were shown around by a local guide, but without many facts or stories of the days gone by. There are parts of the country where much work is being done to uncover the past and I am sure that the history will be better presented as it become more widely known.

I have always found the hotels adequate and we enjoy breakfast and an evening meal at the Hotel 5/10

Breakfast

Some hotels enjoy facilities such a swimming pools such as the one at the Airport Hotel.

We are considering staying here for our last night on the next trip (probably Easter 2012) so the Team can relax and have a debriefing session before heading home. This time we all visited the Crown Bakery in the heart of Freetown for coffee and cakes. This is a ex-pat home from home and very popular. Needless to say there are always a number of beggars outside.

Thinking of souvenirs to bring home? I would suggest wood carvings, some of which are excellent. They will be a wide variety of beads and clothing is very popular and colourful.

My children were delighted with these gifts - although the photo is some years old now!

A Freetown Hotel owner has said, ‘If I could give people one message it would be (that) Sierra Leone is open for business, we don’t need aid, we need investment, and with that investment things can be transformed here.’

Sierra Leone has just one national park at present, the Outamba-Kilimi National Park, though another five national parks have been proposed. The existing national park was established in 1986 and it’s located in the north west of Sierra Leone. There’s an assortment of wildlife  such as elephants, chimpanzees, hippos and more and the landscape includes both savannah and jungle.

The potential is great and it is within reach!

International link for New Era School

I spent 30 minutes this morning talking to Mrs. Elizabeth Wilson, Head Teacher of the Green Way Primary School in Hull. Since 1980 Hull has been twinned with Freetown and the Freetown Society of Kingston upon Hull was established in September 1981 with the support of the council. Recently six schools in each city have been linked through the Global Partnership Scheme operated with the British Council and the Department for International Development. Now a further ten schools are to join the scheme and Liz Wilson was given the first chance to choose one and picked the New Era Primary and Secondary School, because she had read about it on this blog!

She is due to visit Sierra Leone with other teachers from 14th to 24th October and will be staying at the Hotel 5/10 where teams from Derby have stayed on the last three visits. I was able to tell her about the school and the hotel. Our school is within walking distance although some parts are a steep climb.

Hotel 5/10 is owned and operated by the Teachers' Union of Sierra Leone. The figure of teachers in the courtyard holds a sign showing their calling.

A recent OFSTED report describes the Green Way Primary School as approximately double the size of the average primary school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is considerably above the national average. The majority of pupils are of White British heritage. There are a few pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds who speak English as an additional language. More pupils than average have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The school holds various awards, including Healthy School status, Arts Mark Gold, the Eco Schools award and the Basic Skills Quality Mark.

The school wishes to add the Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) to this list. This award recognises achievement in putting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) at the heart of a school’s planning, policies, practice and ethos. A rights-respecting school not only teaches about children’s rights but also models rights and respect in all its relationships: between teachers / adults and pupils, between adults and between pupils. The relationship with New Era will deepen the children's awareness of the difficulties faced by African children such as lack of basic teaching materials, clean water, adequate food and medical care. Pen friendships could develope and various forms of support.

I am delighted by this news. A three year qualitative study by researchers at the Universities of Sussex and Brighton found that "The RRSA has had a profound effect on the majority of the schools involved in the programme."

Funding is provided in the programme to bring the headteacher from Freetown, currently Mr. Jeremiah Cole, (on far right of this photo) to visit his partner school in Hull.

The inspection of Green Way said that "led by its inspiring headteacher, the school is a highly-inclusive community where mutual respect and consideration for others are very much the order of the day." We wish Liz Wilson a very successful and enjoyable visit to Freetown and look forward to great benefit for both schools from this link.