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.



We're nearly there. Micro-enterprise is about to take off!

Now that Samuel Kargbo, Programme Director, is back from his time in the United States we are expecting details of the first five or six "customers" to be given awards to start off their own businesses. I have faith that the overseeing committee will have given much thought to this and have chosen good recipients for the money.

I note that the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, said a few months ago that "There is no more urgent time than now to break down the compartmentalised thinking that separates trust in God from the world of work".

I am glad that we are taking a step in this direction and will continue to write about how it all works out.

Could it be making and selling craft work?

Or preparing and serving food? We look forward to seeing

who the committee have selected.

Chris Tarrant on his recent visit.

Chris Tarrant, TV personality currently associated, in my mind at least, with hosting “Who wants to be a Millionaire” has returned from a short visit to Sierra Leone and talked about it on The One Show tonight 4th August. He kept a diary and noted

“I have finally arrived in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone has some of the most depressing child survival stats in the world. Life expectancy is just 42. Just over a year ago, the government of Sierra Leone made a fantastic step forward when health care for children under five and breastfeeding mothers became free. But there’s still a very long way to go before children stop dying from easily preventable illness……

We jump in the car and drive to off to Kroo Bay – one of Freetown’s worst slums. Kroo Bay is a dump – literally. It’s located on the banks of the Crocodile River where the better-off Freetown residents throw their rubbish – it all gets washed up in Kroo Bay. Most of the 17,000 plus population live in shacks made from corrugated iron that are built on huge mountains of rubbish.

Kroo Bay

I know this is a sweeping statement but I think this is the worst place I’ve ever seen. The overcrowding is terrible. I’ve got six, wonderful, resilient, unspoilt kids – but I don’t think they could even cope seeing this level of poverty, let alone stay here – the living conditions are beyond their comprehension.”


Currently the Save the Children Fund works in Kroo Bay and at one time Youth with a Mission also worked there. I do not know if they still do.

Stephen O'Brien visited Freetown last week. Who is he?

Stephen O'Brien, Minister for Overseas Development in Westminster visited Freetown for four days from Tuesday, 19th July 2011. This was his second visit in the short time that the present government has been in office and shows the importance that is attached to helping the country at this crucial stage in its history.

He said  "Every Friday when I am back at home, my constituents are saying to me, okay, while we are giving a lot of this money where are the results, what are we achieving. And that's why I am here to see for myself exactly what we are achieving.  I would certainly report back that on water and sanitation there are really results."

Stephen O'Brien



It is encouraging to have someone with access to Ministers in the Government of Sierra Leone reporting back in a very positive way on the new free health initiative and sanitation. All issues on which our teams have shown an interest.

On the free healthcare initiative, he said "enormous progress has been made since my last visit.

The first year of the initiative has seen a doubling of consultations for under-fives (children) and 40,000 women delivering safely in health facilities.

Sierra Leone is a country with massive potential and I am pleased to see how innovative approaches like the free health care initiative are demonstrating real results in improving people's lives."

It is also good to hear that he was "heartened and encouraged" by a determination to stamp out corruption in
the country.