Welcome to our latest Newsletter where we hope you will enjoy reading about what your local charity has been working on with the community at St Paul’s School, Bo, in Sierra Leone. We have completed two major projects and several minor ones in the past year and continue to help the children and to work with the local community in one of the poorest countries in the world; to give them a good education and help all of them to participate fully in their school life.
Our first major project was the Domestic Science Lab, a purpose-built building with electricity, running water and a separate kitchen with all the necessary teaching facilities and equipment. This replaced a classroom with poor hygiene and with none of those facilities, the £12,000 cost raised through your generosity.
We have also installed a package of solar panels, batteries and switching gear which will ensure that the Senior Secondary School always has sufficient power for its needs, including recharging the batteries in the computers we installed last year.
Other work we have carried out includes the following:
• Installing toilets in the David Baker Hall which will allow it to be used for social functions which will bring in income for the school.
• Increasing the security around the high value classrooms and offices by fitting planks in the ceilings so thieves cannot cut their way up through the veranda roof spaces and down through adjacent ceilings to gain access.
• Putting in more shelving and cabinets in the school library to accommodate the c.1,000 books which have been donated locally and through Bishop Luffa and which are now on their way to Sierra Leone.
• Reinstating the Bikes for Bo project which was suspended during Covid as bike prices went through the roof. New bikes are now down to about £60 each so we will be sending out the remaining funds, sufficient for 20 more bikes plus the servicing of the existing fleet.
The Head Teacher Cecil Williams is keen to develop a link with a local secondary school with the aim of building relationships and also learning about the latest teaching techniques and academic syllabi. We are hoping that talks with Bishop Luffa in Chichester will enable a link to be created between the two sixth forms. The local link with West Wittering Primary School continues unaffected and is of great benefit to both schools; but for academic reasons we feel a secondary school link is also necessary.
The school in Bo continues to thrive and has kept its “A” rating under the Sierra Leone Ofsted. The current head girl, Augusta Vamboi, a sponsored student, is the only pupil from the Bo district to be selected by the Education Ministry to be on the national panel to interview applicants for the annual ‘best teacher’ award, an honour awarded by the President himself.
Head Teacher Cecil Williams says: ‘with your support the school is moving forward very positively and is recognized as being among the fastest growing schools in the country in terms of academic and infrastructure achievements’.
Next year the Bo project will have been running for 20 years and we will be organizing a visit in October 2026 to celebrate everything that has been achieved in that time with them; and of course taking the project forward in various ways as a visit is intended to do. Please join us if you would like to see the project at work and get to know some of those involved, staff and pupils. The cost is likely to be £1200-1400 for the 10 day visit.
On the subject of costs we are having to consider raising the cost of sponsorship which has remained at £5/pm, or £60 pa for 20 years, but worldwide inflation means despite many cost-saving measures we are not covering our costs and it is only fair to forewarn our sponsors. We do not use direct debits so any increase can only take place with your consent.
Thanks to all of you the project continues to help ‘000’s of the world’s poorest children by giving them the opportunity only a good education can give and helping them to build up the economic self-sufficiency of their local community. It is beginning to make a difference. People in Bo are really proud of their local secondary school, parents and children, and their pride is spreading to their local community. More of the school’s graduates are getting jobs, a major achievement as unemployment is still @ 75%. We will continue to support them into jobs and businesses where we can and with time this little part of Bo will begin to move from dependence to independence. When that happens you will have achieved something quite amazing and meanwhile we continue to build on the foundations you have helped us lay and we and they are hugely grateful for your support.
