Since we arrived in Sierra Leone in February, we have been attending a church in a town named Waterloo. The area where the church is located was one of the largest resettlement camps that was used during the war. It is predominately a Muslim area where the church is located.
As part of the outreach to the community, two years ago the church decided to start a school that is connected to the church. Today, the school has about 600 elementary students and 300 secondary students. Bear in mind, the church sees this as a ministry and does not charge tuition. Because of the quality of the education they provide, they have students applying from all over the Freetown area.
As part of our community services on board the ship on Thursday nights, the crew gives offerings for local ministries. A few weeks ago, we did an offering for the school and church combined. Last Sunday we presented the School Administrator and Pastor with the crew's offering. It was a very touching time. Especially since the School Administrator had just made a plea for money for a new building for the secondary school.
Right now, the elementary students go to school in the morning and the secondary school uses the same buildings in the afternoon. The government of Sierra Leone is going to pass a law that requires all students to only go to school for a longer time each day.
This law places the school in a difficult position since they do not have enough room for both the elementary and secondary students at the same time. Pastor Daniel said they were petitioning the government for more funds to build a secondary school.
We were invited to come and visit the school on Thursday. It was a very humbling and overwhelming time. I was so surprised to see how crowded the classrooms are, but yet the students are excelling. The students are required to take government exams to graudate to the next level i.e. elementry to Jr High, and Jr High to High School. All of the secondary students who took the test passed. This is very unusual for a school to have all their students pass. It is a great testimony to the dedication of the teachers and the congregation to support the school.
This is the level 1 and 2 classroom...(yes there are this many children in the class!) In this classroom some students have to sit on the floor.
These are the level 4 and 5 students. They have no room in the buildings so they are in a shelter outside.
Some of the elementary students....
Some of the secondary school students...
The village chief giving a speech...
Touring the grounds where they can build a new building....
Enjoying the children...
The High School Principal, Village Chief, and Mike
We were given a budget to help improve the school. Supplies for improving buildings and giving them more school supplies would cost the church just over $2000.00 USD. To many it is not a lot, but to the people of Sierra Leone where the average wage per day is less that $5 US it can seem insurmountable. If you are interesting in helping the school, please contact us at m.d.jacobsen@juno.com
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