Dear Project Supporters,
Your ongoing support is greatly appreciated as it continues to make an impact on the future leaders in Sierra Leone. Two of the students that have directly benefited from your generous support are Festus & Joy.
Festus has four younger half-siblings and lives with his father and stepmother in a one-room flat rented in a big house compartment at Looking Town in the Grafton community, the Eastern part of Freetown. His favorite subject is mathematics, he loves playing soccer and hopes to work professionally at a bank when he grows up. He is currently in class four and is attending the Our Lady of Mount Camel Catholic Primary School.
Joy has no siblings and she lost her father at a young age. She lives with her mom in a single room at a joint apartment at the Smith Lane, Gbendembu, Goderich community in the western end of Freetown. Her mother is a low-income earner, she does door to door sales of rubber slippers. Joy is attending the Methodist Girls High School and she is in her second year at Junior High School. Her favorite subjects are Mathematics and English and she enjoys singing and reading. Joy would like to become a Medical Doctor when she grows up so she can take care of sick people.
Your support has truly made a difference for Festus, Joy, and other students in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We welcome your ongoing support as we continue to provide children in Sierra Leone with the resources they need to be the Future Leaders of Sierra Leone.
Our recurring donors are truly making a lasting difference. If you haven't had the chance to sign up for a recurring donation yet, we warmly welcome your ongoing support as we continue to provide children in Sierra Leone with the educational resources they need to be the future leaders of Sierra Leone.
Please share this project with your contacts and invite them to consider supporting this ongoing project. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at GlobalGiving@developafrica.org.
Warm regards,
Amy and the Develop Africa team
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Dear Project Supporters,
Your ongoing support is greatly appreciated as it continues to make an impact on the future leaders in Sierra Leone. Below is an update from the Sierra Leone Develop Africa team, regarding the challenges related to delivering school supplies to remote villages. You can also see in this video how challenging it is to navigate the roads
The main roads between Freetown to Makeni are paved and suitable for standard taxis and other vehicles which will take approximately 2hrs 30m to get from Freetown to Makeni when using your private car but will spend more time when using public transports. The distance between Freetown and Makeni is 138 km. The roads to provincial towns like the Makeni to Kamakwie road are in very bad shape and will take approximately 4hours to 30 minutes to cover a distance of 55 miles. Despite the ongoing work in recent years, there are still many more miles to be covered before the journey could be safe.
Travelling by road is probably the most dangerous part of getting books and supplies to Kamawornie a village in the far north of the country where Develop Africa is supporting the primary and junior secondary school as well as providing academic support to the village teachers.
Getting to Kamawornie from Kamakwie is another 11 miles and here there are no public taxis or minibuses except motorcycles, bicycles or walking on feet. Motorbikes are often the only form of transport.
We usually make use of the Poda’s(minibuses), they are the cheapest form of transport but are poorly maintained, stop frequently, and pack passengers tightly. Minibuses travel between major routes and will generally contain more people than there are seats. Private own vehicles especially NGO’s are much more respected at checkpoints than the public transports as the local police will only ask for identification and applaud you for bringing development to their communities.
While the roads will continue to be a challenge, the students and teachers in Kamawornie were very thankful for the school supplies and learning materials. It is thanks to YOU, that these school supplies were able to be distributed to students in Kamawornie.
Our recurring donors are truly making a lasting difference. If you haven't had the chance to sign up for a recurring donation yet, we warmly welcome your ongoing support as we continue to provide children in Sierra Leone with the educational resources they need to be the future leaders of Sierra Leone.
Please share this project with your contacts and invite them to consider supporting this ongoing project. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at GlobalGiving@developafrica.org.
Warm regards,
Amy and the Develop Africa team
Links:
Dear project supporters and friends,
We have some excellent news! We’re together helping to close the technology gap for the future leaders of Freetown one student at a time.
This has been possible thanks to you and an organization called Computer Equipment for Kids.
Computer Equipment for Kids is an organization in Virginia that provides computer equipment to families who cannot afford them. They take old/used laptops/tablets, refurbish them by cleaning the system, installing a new operating system, and fixing minor issues. They have been sending a steady supply of refurbished laptops and tablets to Develop Africa.
Your donations have helped to ship the laptops and Kindle ebook readers to Freetown. These donated laptops and tablets are being distributed in Freetown and used by students in school for their studies, computer classes, and reading books on tablets.
Computers are an essential part of the information age because we live in a technology-driven world. More and more well-paying jobs require computer knowledge and experience. Too many Freetown students don’t have access to computers or tablets. Thank you for helping to fill the technology gap.
Our recurring donors are truly making a difference. If you haven't had the chance to sign up for a recurring donation yet, we warmly welcome your ongoing support as we continue to provide children in Sierra Leone with the educational resources they need to be the future leaders of Sierra Leone.
Please share this project with your contacts and invite them to consider supporting this ongoing project. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at GlobalGiving@developafrica.org.
We deeply appreciate you.
Cristopher and the Develop Africa team
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Dear friends
This week, we are excited to provide a flashback regarding how we made a difference with the help of a group of kids.
What do 727 pounds of school supplies?
Check out this link to see a 727 pounds pallet of school supplies sent to us in August 2010.
When we received this surprise pallet of school supplies, we were amazed and overwhelmed at their kindness.
Yes, we have been doing this for over 10 years - since 2006.
Funds from this project helped to ship the supplies.
What's more - The kids who collected the supplies also sent us a bunch of heart-warming index cards - with messages written on them.
Here are some quotes from the index cards at the above link:
Finally, here is a copy of a moving and uplifting letter that was sent to us by one of the staffers. Below is a quote from the letter
We love what you guys are doing. Thanks for focusing so much on the needs of others and on giving to meet those needs. We appreciate you and know that you are making a difference in the lives of so many. We'd love to partner with you guys at other times, and would love to hear updates on the children that you guys get to work within Africa. What a blessing to be able to buy a pack of pencils, which seems so minuscule to me, and know that it will go to help someone who might not have been able to have a god set of pencils!. Thanks for all you guys do. I know at times it may seem like a frustrating task as you pack things into boxes and figure out to ship them, but we are excited about the huge impact you are making on the world through education. Thanks for chasing your dreams and loving kids through providing for them half-way across the world.
This is why we are so passionate about helping to make a difference through education.
We certainly could not do what we do without your generosity and the kindness of our in-kind donors.
FYI: Did you know that we receive school supplies year around?
We know you are passionate about making a difference. Here are a couple of additional ways you can make a difference:
1. Send us items from our Amazon wish list. It's quick and easy. Amazon will ship the items to us - our address is provided during check out.
2. Send us school supplies that are in your office or home directly - see this page for more information.
Thanks for joining us in making a difference!
Sylvester and the Develop Africa team
Links:
Project Supporters,
We are truly grateful for every donation and supporter of these future leaders in Freetown. Nchumalen has been a part of the Develop Africa education program since 2011 when Sylvester visited her during his visit to Sierra Leone.
Sylvester said during that visit, "It was a rare delight to meet Nchumalen. Nchumalen is one of the girls that are receiving scholarships, books, and school supplies through this project. This was the first time I had the opportunity to meet her. It was a true delight to see her smiling, happy face. The support we are providing to Nchumalen and the other students in Freetown represents a definite step in the right direction and I brought back their appreciation to all donors who are helping make their education a reality. Thanks for your tremendous support!"
Now, 9 years later, Nchumalen is about to start her third year of junior secondary school this fall. She enjoys reading, singing, dancing, and going to school. She is so thankful for the support she has received so that she can attend school each year. Nchumalen would like to be a nurse when she completes her education so that she can help take care of her community when they are injured or sick.
We welcome your ongoing support as we continue to provide children in Sierra Leone, like Nchumalen, with the educational resources they need to be the future leaders of Sierra Leone. Please share this project with your contacts and invite them to consider supporting this ongoing project.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at GlobalGiving@developafrica.org.
Warm regards,
Amy and the Develop Africa team
Links:
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