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Building schools is the primary goal of Schools for Salone. Our first school built in 2005, was a personal request by Cindy's friend from her Peace Corps days, John Sesay. She quickly recognized that she needed incountry expertise, and called upon another Sierra Leonean friend and former colleague, Joseph Lamin, now Director of the Masanga Children's Fund. Although MCF has a broader mission than Schools for Salone, we bring together a common desire to build schools and enhance educational opportunities in Sierra Leone. With Joseph's construction expertise and local knowledge, we were able to develop a strong site selection criteria and provide construction oversight, both of which help to assure timely and cost effective sucess for each of our many projects.
Since 2005, Schools for Salone has built 15 primary school buildings and 2 secondary school libraries. Several of these projects involved accompanying water wells. We focus on building schools in rural villages who are highly motivated to educate their children and offer a high degree of participation in the construction and the maintenance of their schools. There are so many devastated schools in Sierra Leone and so many requests for help that we are constantly seeking funds for additional schools.
The interactive map at the right shows where each of our current and projected schools are located and the year they were opened for students. Click on a school square to learn more about that school. Scroll down this page to learn more about our site selection and school construction processes.
Joseph Lamin and his staff visit and assess many potential sites all over Sierra Leone. In keeping with our believe that self-initiated solutions are the most effective, requests for schools must come from Sierra Leoneans and each village must provide:
Leadership and commitment to the school project.
Adequate land for school construction.
Free unskilled labor.
Local materials such as sand and stone.
An arrangement with the Sierra Leone Ministry of Education for payment of teacher salaries.
Once funding is secured, Schools for Salone provides for the purchase and transport of construction materials not available locally, as well as for school equipment and supplies as necessary and as funding allows.
Masanga Children's Fund manages procurement of all materials and oversight of the construction processes.
Building the Walls 
Schools for Salone opened our first school in November of 2005. Since then we have undertaken many more successful projects. See their stories by following the links below.
Jr Secondary School Library - July 2011
Primary School
Opening Ceremonies - July 2011
Supported by the
Seniors at Foothills Technology
High School,
Ventura California
Primary School
Opening Ceremonies - September 2011
Supported by the
"Brownstones to Red Dirt" Project
Primary School Addition
Construction Completed summer 2010
Supported by
Essex High School Red Raiders
Essex, Ontario
Primary School & Water Well
Opening Ceremonies - February 2010
Primary School & Water Well
Opening Ceremonies held February 2010
Primary School &
Water Well complete
May 2009. Opening
Ceremony held
August 2009.
Primary School & Water Well
Opening Ceremonies held March 2009
Primary School & Wells - July 2008
Primary School & Well - February 2008
Primary School - February 2008
Primary School - February 2008
Library repaired - June 2007
Primary School - February 2007
Primary School - February 2007
Primary School - November 2005
Funds sought to expand this first school.
We need donations
to complete the
roofs of 3 buildings
of the secondary
school project
begun by 11 villages working together
near Dankawali.
We need donations
to procede with this
Proposed Project.
Proposed Project
for the village of a
Sierra Leone
Refugee All Star
See new album
"Rise & Shine"
released March 23, 2010
