For Immediate Release – 5/31/2009

SEATTLE - Schools for Salone, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization dedicated to building schools for kids in Sierra Leone, is pleased to announce the special appearance of the Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars at its benefit concert, 8 pm Monday, June 15th at Neumos on Captiol Hill, 925 E Pike Street in Seattle.

All proceeds for the concert will benefit Schools for Salone. Tickets are $17 in advance $19 at the door. Available at Ticketswest, Moe Bar, 925 E Pike Street, Rudy’s Barbershops and select QFC’s.

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars brings a spirited and infectious fusion of traditional West Africa music, roots reggae and rhythmic folk music that transforms and uplifts. The band features the talents of Sierra Leonean musicians who had been living as refugees in the West Africa nation of Guinea. Their music decries the horrors of war and is an inspiring symbol of the healing power of music.

With the release of their first album, “Living Like A Refugee,” the band has been catapulted onto the world stage and recruited a club of A-list fans and backers including Keith Richards, Paul McCartney, Bob Geldof, Ice Cube and Aerosmith who had the group open for them.

Schools for Salone is committed to helping Sierra Leoneans rebuild the educational infrastructure in Sierra Leone, ranked as the poorest country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index. Schools for Salone opened their first school in 2005 and since that time has built nine additional schools, a library and four water wells.

“We work to revitalize communities, empower children and ultimately improve socioeconomic conditions for families, communities and future generations,” said Schools for Salone Executive Director Cindy Nofziger. “Through opportunities that only an education can provide, we strive to break the cycle of poverty, one school, at a time by constructing rural schools, destroyed during the country’s decade lone civil war that ended in 2002.”

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