5am start!!!! Interesting breakfast of cake and coffee, after dancing our way though the night to the disco over the road. Literally, no sleep for the Maricourt staff on night 1 in Sierra Leone.
All aboard the fun bus for the 15 minute ride to the ferry Mr Vary and Mr Naughton kindly standing to let Mrs Pinnington have a seat. Mr Varey was perched on the luggage that had entered the bus via the windows while Mr Naughton was jumpingin in time to the pot holes.
Negotiating the ferry terminal was a sight to be seen with Miss McLoughlin standing her ground with the ferry staff to make sure our bus was one of the first on, our priority to get to school.
Only the best for us first class lounge instead of having to stand around the cars on the lower open deck. During the 1 hour trip we were treated to a variety of African and 80’s music, and met some interesting people including a Doctor, born in Sierra Leone and now living in the USA. It was humbling when he thanked us for coming to help his country.
We made an interesting sight as we drove through the capital city Freetown in a convoy of 5 4x4’s. The streets were tarmaced but the city was dusty and full of litter. The shops were built of a variety of permanent concrete structures and temporary wood and plastic sheet kiosks. It was a colourful site.
Our arrival at St Raphaels was overwhelming with the pupils from the secondary and primary school coming out to greet us. We were surrounded by pupils shaking hands and touching us, they were truly amazed at the whiteness of our skin.
We were made to feel extremely welcome and were overwhelmed by our welcome. Today we were welcomed with an official speech by one of the girls, we extended our thanks and past on the best wishes sent by the pupils and staff at Maricourt. At lunch time we met with the 12 full time teaching staff, who told us passionately about the subjects they teach and the real needs they have for basic resources that we take for granted like laptops, dictionaries, footballs, and science apparatus.
We sat in 2 lessons an English lesson which was like a lecture, the pupils were taking notes about the structure and mechanics of writing letters. The pupils did not ask questions or speak during the lesson. The other lesson was Krio (The native language of Sierra Leone) the pupils joined in and asked us questions about pronunciation in English.
Negotiating the ferry terminal was a sight to be seen with Miss McLoughlin standing her ground with the ferry staff to make sure our bus was one of the first on, our priority to get to school.
Only the best for us first class lounge instead of having to stand around the cars on the lower open deck. During the 1 hour trip we were treated to a variety of African and 80’s music, and met some interesting people including a Doctor, born in Sierra Leone and now living in the USA. It was humbling when he thanked us for coming to help his country.
We made an interesting sight as we drove through the capital city Freetown in a convoy of 5 4x4’s. The streets were tarmaced but the city was dusty and full of litter. The shops were built of a variety of permanent concrete structures and temporary wood and plastic sheet kiosks. It was a colourful site.
Our arrival at St Raphaels was overwhelming with the pupils from the secondary and primary school coming out to greet us. We were surrounded by pupils shaking hands and touching us, they were truly amazed at the whiteness of our skin.
We were made to feel extremely welcome and were overwhelmed by our welcome. Today we were welcomed with an official speech by one of the girls, we extended our thanks and past on the best wishes sent by the pupils and staff at Maricourt. At lunch time we met with the 12 full time teaching staff, who told us passionately about the subjects they teach and the real needs they have for basic resources that we take for granted like laptops, dictionaries, footballs, and science apparatus.
We sat in 2 lessons an English lesson which was like a lecture, the pupils were taking notes about the structure and mechanics of writing letters. The pupils did not ask questions or speak during the lesson. The other lesson was Krio (The native language of Sierra Leone) the pupils joined in and asked us questions about pronunciation in English.
