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Each year, the Schools for Salone Executive Director, Cindy Nofziger, travels to Sierra Leone to personally inspect completed projects, observe projects in progress, and discuss plans for future endeavors. She coordinates with in-country teams, community representatives, local non-governmental organizations and governmental officials to further the goals of Schools or Salone. Often additional Board Members accompany her at their own expense.
(See 2009 Trip and 2010 Trip below)
Photos are from the February 2007 Trip to open Buma, Masanga and Sahn schools. Board Member and Buma well donors, Chris Thomas and his friend Rembert Pieper, as well as Buma and Masanga Donor, Rachael Jaffe, accompanied Cindy.
Preliminary Trip Report
by Cindy Nofziber, SfS Executive Director
My son Michael and I got back late Thursday evening, April 9th, from Sierra Leone. It was a great trip. Long hard hours on bumpy dusty roads, beach time, lots of cassava leaf, wonderful and exhausting as only Sierra Leone can be.
The Calaba Town School Opening Ceremony went well. The school looked beautiful.
Joseph, Michael and I traveled a huge 500+ mile circle visiting all the schools SfS has funded. Joseph and I decided we might not do that the next time - but only go to the north or the south. We're getting old for all those hard miles! We found the schools are doing very well, enrollments increased over last year. They are flourishing. We purchased $1500 of schools supplies in Freetown and left some at each school.
In Maforeka we saw Janet Dumbuya, a young girl whose parents were killed in the war and some friends of mine have sponsored her to go to school. We found Foday and Jusufu in Makali - two other young children who weren't in school before we found them in Feb 2007 - and are now in school and doing very well - thanks to being sponsored by friends. One, Jusufu, we had found dragging himself on the ground in 2007, his legs paralyzed by polio, getting tripped over and filthy. He now has his own wheelchair and his friends push him around with beautiful smiling telling all how happy he is.
We traveled down the Bo Yele road to Bo. We collected some cartons of books from a private school in Bo that had received a shipment of books from Books for Africa. I had been in contact with the school before leaving the US. Donors in the US (I met the lead donor with Fakulli , Alusine's brother, at the Books for Africa conference that I attended last September in St. Paul) had offered us their extra books for our schools in the south. We were able to deliver a carton of books to every school in the south including 4 more cartons to Junctionla/Mogbwemo for Ishmael's school. We visited Sahn (the Frey Primary School) where the school was being used in the off hours for a womens workshop. We went on to Buma, Kandor and Jaiama Bongor. The junior secondary school at Jaiama Bongor has now moved into the new school that was built near by with World Bank funds.
Betty Press, a professional photographer, attended the opening ceremony in Calaba Town. She traveled with us on our entire upcountry journey, taking stunning photos every where we went.
Joseph and I met with Antionette Lincon in Bo. She is helping to organize the teacher training this July. Her mother, Dolly, was in the hospital when we were there. Dolly, President of FAWE in Bo, was supposed to be coordinating the training. Antionette is stepping in while her mother recuperates. I visited the Youth Center in Bo where the training will be held. Antionette was communicating with the Center's Admin to secure the place for the workshop.
At Lakka, I met with a canadian who is doing solar power. We discussed possibilities of collaborating on future projects to bring electricity to our rural schools. We have a group outside Jackson Hole that is interested in doing this with us - so stay tuned.
Joseph and I met with Sallieu Turray, at the Sierra Leone Book Trust/SL Library board. We discussed details of incountry costs involved with clearing, storing and delivering the BFA books to designated schools and libraries. Also met with Alusine's brother, Sewa, in Freetown who will help coordinate getting BFA books to Dankawali.
Mahera, met with the teachers and community education committee (Amadu and Bai Bai). They expressed gratitude for refurbishing work done there hope to bring more text books, benches, shelves to their schools.
I'm sure there is more - but this gives you a brief overview.
Thank you to you all for your amazing support and hard work. SFS is because of all of you working hard to support the children in Sierra Leone. We are making a difference.
