Need to get that roof on - Fast!

Delighted to be able to send another £600 to Freetown today to pay all our teachers for the month of May, apart from two who are paid by the Government of Sierra Leone. A report on the state of the country at this year's Independence Day, 27th April, claimed the government are running out of money. I was hoping they would take over paying the teachers, as they have promised in the past, but we shall wait and see. It will be a delight for me when they do!

The school has been very successful recently, both in exam results and also in the pupils ability to deal with the Ebola epidemic, where the Primary Department  came second  out of around 50 Primary Schools.

The Government approved a Senior Secondary School on the site, which started last September, and this has meant extending the present buildings in view of the increased number of pupils wishing to be taught at the New Era Community Schools.

We began this work with a generous grant from a Trust and have received  further donations. This is what the building looked like in May 2016.          

New building is making progress.

In time for Independence Day on 27th April we were able to send a further £500 for our new building which will go towards the completion of the roof.  We also sent £600 to cover the teachers' pay for April.  A report on the state of the country at this year's Independence Day claimed the government are running out of money. I was hoping they would take over paying the teachers, as has been promised in the past, but we shall wait and see. It will be a delight for me when they do!

Debate among six Secondary Schools on Independence Day - 27th April.

As the BBC reported

1961: Sierra Leone wins independence Sierra Leone has become the latest West African state to win independence, after more than 150 years of British colonial rule.The new nation was born at the stroke of midnight, when its green, white and blue flag was unfurled. A huge crowd, gathered at Brookfields Playground in Freetown to watch the historic moment, broke into tumultuous cheering. Independence Day formally began as the Duke of Kent handed over royal instruments recognising Sierra Leone as an independent nation. Sir Maurice Dorman, Governor since 1956, was then sworn in as Governor-General by Chief Justice Beoku Betts. In 2016 Alpha Kargbo has invited five other Secondary Schools to send pupils to debate the respective contributions of men and women to the future of the country. Sounds interesting and I hope they have a great day. The Queen did not attend the original Independence Day Celebrations but she did visit the country shortly afterwards. As we are now celebrating her 90th Birthday I would like to record of her visit. Did you note the train running through the street. Times have changed.

Very latest news - and I am amazed.

In 2011 we set up our micro-enterprise scheme which lent money to the poorest of the poor to set up or expend a small business. We began with five clients who were given the equivalent of £140 each.

 Fatamata Conteh was typical of those that the committee wished to support. She was married with two children, Hassan and David. She had been in business for the last eight years and used the loan to purchase equipment to keep produce cool until she it needed for her small food outlet.

I don't know how she survived the difficult economic conditions during the Ebola period when prices rocketed due to the banning of movement in the country and nothing coming in from abroad.

Her loan repayments would have ended by now anyway.

Alpha tells me that the programme is to restart after Independence Day, 27th April, and they have 7.5 million Leones in the kitty. Sounds better in Leones but it is actually £1,335. I am amazed at this! What about you Andy Meek? You helped to start it all.  And before anyone asks, No. It can't be used for the building Fund.

Our Building Challenges - but God is with us!

The community is extending their school accommodation in view of the increased number of pupils wishing to be taught at the New Era Community Schools. They have now started a government approved Senior Secondary School and this has meant extending the present building.

Pupils of the Senior Secondary School.

Gables are being put on this week and the amount we have sent so far has paid for this and for much of the corrugated sheeting that will form the roof. I am now looking for a further £1000 at this time to finish this work and go towards plastering,  painting, doors and door handles, steel windows and bars. My faith is for a bit at a time!

All the pillars are in place for the gables to go on this Wednesday 20.03.16

If you are a praying type, please pray for this money and future amounts to arrive at the right time (we need the roof to be secure soon before the rainy season starts in three or four weeks). If you wish to contribute please contact me, so I can send you details of how to do so, tswindaleuk@yahoo.co.uk.

Just a reminder - where we have come from!

It was at Easter 1986, thirty years ago, that Graham and Sandra Hinds and Ian and Margaret Trueblood from the East Midlands Christian Fellowships first visited Sierra Leone. Initial links had been made through SOON, a charity that publishes Christian testimonies in simple English to be read in less developed countries.
Pen friendships were formed and this is how I first contacted Alpha Kargbo, who became our Programme Director for the present work. I met him on my first visit to Freetown in 1989.

Alpha Kargbo today after a friendship of thirty years.

From these beginnings People in Partnership was formed in 2000 to work with a local registered NGO called the New Era Evangelism and Development Organisation (NEEDEP) based in a Loko Baptist Church,.  Since these early days, we have helped to establish a Christian School in a Muslim area in a very deprived part of the capital, Freetown. This has expanded to a Primary and Junior Secondary School with just over 700 pupils. 

The school just before it opened in 2004. 

Sierra Leone was the first West African country to be evangelised (1785), yet over 200 years later only 13% of the country claims to be Christian.  The Loko, a tribe whose main base is in the North of the country, are classified as an unreached people group. The Joshua Project defines this as a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance.  

Working with the charity, Links International, in 2010 and 2011 we have taken two teams to pioneer work in Primary  Health Care and Micro-enterprise, which gives loans to the poorest of the poor to start small businesses.

We continue to work with the school, paying the wages of most of the teachers until the Government takes them on, which it has promised to do. We are also funding new building work to accommodate the increased number of pupils.

During our partnership we have had to contend with the aftermath of the civil war and recently with the Ebola crisis which killed 47 people in our local community, including parents of school pupils but only one pupil, a girl, died.

Mother and child being sprayed with disinfectant during the Ebola crisis.

We sent  £2350 during the Ebola emergency, which bought food for orphans and the starving and also basic medical and disinfecting supplies.

Sierra Leone declared Free of Ebola

After some 17 months of tackling the Ebola crisis in which around 4,000 people died, the country was declared free of the virus this morning, Saturday, 7th November by the World Health Organisation. That is because there had been no new case of the disease for 42 days.

There have been celebrations in Freetown and the President, Ernest Bai Koroma, has paid tribute to the 35000 workers in the fight against Ebola “whose heroism is without parallel in the history of our country”. He praised their bravery and said the country mourned their sacrifice, adding: “The disease challenged the very foundations of our humanity.” He called on the community to halt the stigmatisation of survivors and said the focus was now on improved hygiene, healthcare and economic recovery.

"Ebola has ended but we must be prepared for a re-emergence and we are retaining some laboratory testing capacities and treatment centres," the President has said, "But we are confident we now have a system in place to respond."

Although the State of Emergency has ended, there is a 90 day period of "heightened surveillance" to catch any signs of a return of the virus. A consultant at the Connaught Hospital said "There is still a lot of anxiety about what might happen. There is still Ebola in Guinea and we know it is not over yet."

It is reported that there was a party atmosphere in Freetown, the first for many months, a celebration but tinged with sadness for the many lives lost. One survivor, who had lost 2 sons and 15 other relatives said, "Today brings sad memories but I take comfort that the disease has been defeated."

As a result of the virus there are now 12,000 orphans in the country, some of whom are in the New Era Schools that we support in Looking Town.  There will be much work to be done to rebuild the economy, the local community and faith in the Health Service. Sierra Leone has been ranked as the world's poorest country for many of the last 15 years. I feel privileged to serve Alpha Kargbo and the New Era Evangelism and Development Programme as they seek to impact an area of Freetown with the love of Christ.