Well Maricourt staff clearly like to start the day in differernt ways, toast for Mrs Pinnington, a cooked breakfast for Mr Varey and a cereal bar for Mr Naughton. A very different start to most of our colleagues and pupils at St Raphael’s who start the day with nothing, every day.
St Raphael’s pupils begin the day by lining up in their yard, which is a dust area outside their school building. Prefects line up the other pupils then a member of staff lead them in Hymns and prayers. Every day your St Raphael’s peers pray for you before they start lessons. This is followed by the singing of the national anthem. It is difficult to put into words the passion of the students.
The pupils had prepared a performance in honour of our visit. A moral tale about staying good, and following what God wants as this will bring success. For the pupils here that means graduating from each stage of their education, primary school, junior secondary and senior seconday. Education is the futire for them and the development of their country. The climax being the Maricourt House ‘Beauty Queens’ dancing accompanied by the school drums. Amazing!
At lunch we presented the staff with some of the gifts we had bought and the items you donated, including sports trophies, pens, pencils and colours. The staff were over the moon. Currently they have to rent sports trophies if they have an event. It was overwhelming to realise how lucky we are at Maricourt.
Imagine learning Food Tec by sitting in a classroom with 70 other pupils and Mrs Scholfield or Mrs Scott writing notes about preparing food on the board to copy, or learning Maths with Mrs Llewellyn with her copying notes onto the board but never getting to practice the rules you have learnt. That is the realitiy for your peers at St. Raphael’s. All their lessons are about copying and repeating what the teacher has said as there are almost no visual aids, no text books, no computers and no photocopying. The pupils however take enormous pride in their work and take great care with their books. Not one will forget their book for a lesson and not one student will be without a pen….
This evening Andrew Felton Deputy Director of Department for International Development (DFID) had dinner with us. He has been leaving here in Freetown for 18 months. It was fascinating to find out from him that Freetown has a great night life at the weekend, that there is a golf course, and that he believes that the Sierra Leone will develop to become a fully functional political and economic country, as the Government not only want the best for their people but listen to advise from DFID, the UN and other NGO’s so that they can turn their vision into reality.
The reality for the moment is that Sierra Leone remains one of the most impoverished countries in the world. 1 in 7 children born each year die before they are 1, and 1 in 10 mothers die during or soon after child birth. Providing free health care for this group of people is a priority and with DFID’s help should become a reality before the end of April this year. There has also been a history of corruption within the government so the president has employed people from outside the country to clean the government payroll. This means finding out if people have the qualifications they say they have and if they actually go to work to do the job they are being paid for.
St Raphael’s pupils begin the day by lining up in their yard, which is a dust area outside their school building. Prefects line up the other pupils then a member of staff lead them in Hymns and prayers. Every day your St Raphael’s peers pray for you before they start lessons. This is followed by the singing of the national anthem. It is difficult to put into words the passion of the students.
The pupils had prepared a performance in honour of our visit. A moral tale about staying good, and following what God wants as this will bring success. For the pupils here that means graduating from each stage of their education, primary school, junior secondary and senior seconday. Education is the futire for them and the development of their country. The climax being the Maricourt House ‘Beauty Queens’ dancing accompanied by the school drums. Amazing!
At lunch we presented the staff with some of the gifts we had bought and the items you donated, including sports trophies, pens, pencils and colours. The staff were over the moon. Currently they have to rent sports trophies if they have an event. It was overwhelming to realise how lucky we are at Maricourt.
Imagine learning Food Tec by sitting in a classroom with 70 other pupils and Mrs Scholfield or Mrs Scott writing notes about preparing food on the board to copy, or learning Maths with Mrs Llewellyn with her copying notes onto the board but never getting to practice the rules you have learnt. That is the realitiy for your peers at St. Raphael’s. All their lessons are about copying and repeating what the teacher has said as there are almost no visual aids, no text books, no computers and no photocopying. The pupils however take enormous pride in their work and take great care with their books. Not one will forget their book for a lesson and not one student will be without a pen….
This evening Andrew Felton Deputy Director of Department for International Development (DFID) had dinner with us. He has been leaving here in Freetown for 18 months. It was fascinating to find out from him that Freetown has a great night life at the weekend, that there is a golf course, and that he believes that the Sierra Leone will develop to become a fully functional political and economic country, as the Government not only want the best for their people but listen to advise from DFID, the UN and other NGO’s so that they can turn their vision into reality.
The reality for the moment is that Sierra Leone remains one of the most impoverished countries in the world. 1 in 7 children born each year die before they are 1, and 1 in 10 mothers die during or soon after child birth. Providing free health care for this group of people is a priority and with DFID’s help should become a reality before the end of April this year. There has also been a history of corruption within the government so the president has employed people from outside the country to clean the government payroll. This means finding out if people have the qualifications they say they have and if they actually go to work to do the job they are being paid for.
Thanks for this really lovely blog. I have just watched a programme about Zimbabwe's children and needed something more hopeful-this is it.
ReplyDeleteGangaur Realtech is a professionally managed organisation specializing in real estate services where integrated services are provided by professionals to its clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying or investing in real estate. Arrestato Cesarino Leone
ReplyDelete