It’s done!  Schools for Salone’s first school building in Sierra Leone is finished!  Construction on our very first school – in the little village of Maforeka, Simira Chiefdom, in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone – is done!  The village has worked hard and spent the money we’ve raised wisely.  Teachers are hired and they’re ready to move into their new school.  It’s taken less than one year, from when we started to raise money last January.  Through the sale of note cards with drawings done by the children of the village (which has raised nearly $6,000) and, more recently, tax –deducible donations to War Child USA (www.WarChildUSA.org ) and The Foundation for West Africa, we’ve managed to raise nearly all of the $10,000 needed for construction and first-year expenses.  Now we figure that about $2,000/year will cover ongoing salary, books and supply costs.  Another $10,000 should allow us to build yet another school in another needy village.  So keep those donations coming and keep buying and sending out note cards.  One by one, we can build more schools and help more kids build a future.

I will be traveling to Sierra Leone in early November for the opening ceremony of the school.  Businesses have been very generous with their donations – including 150 t-shirts, toothbrushes and toothpaste for all (150) children, 10 soccer balls, books, school supplies from my son’s kindergarten class and workbooks, teaching supplies and materials from Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) for all the students.  I will be training the teachers in HWT’s incredible, straightforward, developmental approach to teaching children how to write.  With Charlotte Beall’s (RPCV Sierra Leone and former director of the Seattle Children’s Museum’s exhibits and education) assistance, I have spent time in my son’s kindergarten class teaching them about Sierra Leone – looking at pictures, playing musical instruments, dressing up in Sierra Leone clothes, “cooking” over a 3-stone “fire”, pounding rice, carrying baskets on their heads – and putting together a class project that I will be carrying in Sierra Leone for the children there.  Please take a look at our web site for more information and photos of the construction.  Photos of the finished school are available at the following website: www.SchoolsForSalone.org

Thank you to all for purchasing note cards and for your generous donations!  Note Schools for Salone is a sister project rather than a FoSL project

Cindy Nofziger

Proceeds from the sale of these cards will be used to support a primary school in Maforeka, a small village in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone.  Money will continue to be needed for teacher salaries and school supplies.  Drawings on the cards were made by students at that school and sent to Seattle as part of a school-to-school exchange with students there. 

To order a set of 12 (different) cards, send $15 + $3 S&H
(checks: “Schools for Salone”)
to 4204 NE 124th Street, Seattle  WA  98125

Cindy Nofziger can be reached at cindy@schoolsforsalone.org