Newsletter 4

THE ROGBONKO VILLAGE SCHOOL TRUST

Newsletter 4. October 2005

NEW SCHOOL BUILDING NEARS COMPLETION

The new school building nears completion, now scheduled for November 2005. Building work began on 11th December 2004. The early arrival of the rainy season meant that work had to proceed at a slower pace than hoped. But in June the new zinc roof was put in place. The work has been entirely carried out by teams of youth volunteers from the village working under the instruction of a local builder. In total 100 volunteers working in groups of five have given their time.

As many materials as could be collected locally were used in the construction, including sand, rocks and timbers. In addition, the building blocks were also made by the village.

Funds for the new school building were raised by Brandeston School in Suffolk, who held a series of fundraising events throughout the school year and succeeded in raising a total of £8361.

Thanks to Brandeston School’s remarkable achievement the new building, which was originally planned to have four classrooms has been extended to include five classrooms, a library, storeroom and staffroom. In addition a three bedroom guesthouse has been built for the use of visiting staff.

Plastering and painting of the new building will begin soon. There will be an official opening ceremony to coincide with the start of the next school term in January 2006.

Rogbonko Village School Trust, c/o 161 Waller Road, London SE14 5LX. rogbonkotrust@aol.com

Four Eighth Grade pupils at King George Public School in Guelph, Ontario set the assignment of carrying out a selfless act by their school teacher decided to collect supplies to be donated to Rogbonko Village School. Codenamed Operation Education, the teenagers collected hundreds of items including pens, pencils, markers, chalk and crayons. With the help of Air Canada, who agreed a special rate for their act of charity, eight boxes of supplies were shipped in June.

Rogbonko Village School first started in January 2003 as an informal school to provide children with basic literacy skills following the civil war in Sierra Leone. Our first four teachers were all drawn from the village and, though enthusiastic and committed, had no formal training as teachers.

Last year, with the help of a gift from one of our sponsors, Rogbonko Village School Trust was able to commit to providing formal training for those staff who desired to continue their education.

In October 2004 Augustine Kamara, the school’s head teacher, was admitted into Makeni Teacher’s Training College. The Trust also provided him with a bicycle to travel the distance to Makeni twice weekly. Augustine has now successfully completed his first year at the college.

Now a second Rogbonko teacher, James Fullah, has gained admission to Makeni Teacher’s training College. James will begin this October. James will also be provided with a bicycle by the Trust.

A new, qualified teacher Alice Koroma has been appointed to replace Isatu Kabia who is moving away from the village. Alice will take the Class 4 pupils. Our thanks to Isatu for all her work.

The Trust has purchased a solar lighting system for the new school. The system is to be provided by Bright Light Solar who are specialists in solar systems for the developing world.

Rogbonko like most of Sierra Leone outside the capital city has no access to mains electricity. The system will be capable of lighting all four classrooms for several hours each evening, thus allowing the local people to make full use of the new facilities and enable adult education classes currently being planned in literacy, numeracy and skills training.

In addition to obvious environmental benefits, a solar system once fitted, does not require skilled or frequent maintenance and will provide a far more reliable power supply for many years compared to ordinary diesel or petrol generators.