School Feeding Program in Sierra Leone

A Brighter Tomorrow for Africa

Fall 2015 Report

The sad, sad news is that the Ebola crisis continues in Sierra Leone.  They have yet to be declared Ebola free and ask all of you to please send positive thoughts and energy over to that beautiful country. 

Other sad news: the capital – Freetown – just experienced a terrible flood and, as a result, many people now have no homes.  The flood victims currently are currently living at the national stadium waiting for the Government's to relocate them to safe and permanent areas in the Western Rural District.  A

But ... our feeding programme’s continued success is our good news. The children are always in school and ready to work. The daily school feeding has made our children stronger, healthier and more energetic to work hard in school. I am also happy to report that there has been no major sickness among the pupils.

The BTA supply from Nursery through the Senior Secondary School continues to have a great impact on our children’s academic life because they are having a good nutritious meal when they are in school, thanks to people like you.

Our programme is feeding over 900 children from Nursery School to Junior Secondary School age. Here are some stories of our beautiful students:

• One ten-year-old girl in Class 3:  She is the fourth child of ten children of her mother and father. She and her parents live at Condama Village.

Every day, she walks eight miles by foot to come to and from school. She usually comes to school with an empty stomach but she gets good food now at school every day and it has improved her life. She is now learning more at school, because she is able to concentrate better.

The serving of BTA to children, like this ten year old girl in Class 3, has been helpful, because she personally likes eating BTA and it sustains her until she gets home to have a daily meal with her family in the evening. She is proud to say that she never goes home with an empty stomach.

• A 16 year old boy from a small village called Gmebagboh in Upper Banta Chiefdom: He is currently in Junior Secondary School. Each day, he comes from a far village to attend COTN School in Ngolala.

He told  a sad story about his life. He is one of four boys in his family. His mother and father are farmers. They hardly get enough food to eat because of the difficult life their parents are living.

One day, a friend in their village who was attending the school told him about the BTA food in school. He said to him that every day in Mallory Jansen School supplies them food to eat. He secretly told his mother to tell his father that he would like to attend school in Ngolala. The mother wondered how she was going to tell her husband about Eddie’s decision of wanting to attend school. Eddie could not wait on his request made to his mother. Instead, early in the morning, he followed his friend that was attending COTN School.

After searching for him in the village, his father came to the school during lunch time. He met them eating food that was served to his friend. From that day, his father decided to send him to school and registered him in COTN’s Mallory Jansen Memorial School in Ngolala.

Eddie’s story became an interesting one. He started eating good nourishing meals daily. His academics began to improve as time went on. His personal health also improved, and he was healthier than the time he was in his village not attending school.

According to him, the BTA food is very useful for every school child that is attending school in Ngolala. They are very grateful for the BTA programme and hope that it will continue as it has a great impact in their learning at school.

• A nine-year-old girl in Class 4: She lives in Ngolala village with her widowed grandmother. Her father stays in another village called Jiminga, which is about eight miles from Mallory Jansen primary school.

She was admitted into Mallory Jansen, where she has done very well academically. She is currently in the primary school. When asked how she is coping with her schoolwork, she says one of the reasons she is able to learn and focus is because the help she is getting through the food that is provided each day in school.

She further went on to say that the BTA has nourished her body and makes her very strong and active in her class. In the morning, she walks for nearly half a mile to come to school with her friends. She is happy and says she wants to become a doctor after she completes Secondary School in the future.

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