Update: We are working towards expanding opportunities with a partner organization, Door of Hope.  Together we are constructing a new tailoring school building.  Construction is well under way and we have bought boards, sand and cement ready for the completion of the building. We hope to roof the building in the coming months.  A photo showing part of the building is below.

Develop Africa is delighted to be providing scholarships in rural Sierra Leone where its most needed.  The statistics clearly reveal that a higher percentage of children are unschooled in rural areas.  With this in mind, Develop Africa is extending our provision of scholarships to rural areas. 

Report Filed by Sylvester Renner:

I just returned from a field trip to Sierra Leone where I had the opportunity to visit with a number of families in the Wellington suburb of Freetown.  The community came out in full force to greet Phillip (my fellow traveler) and I.
 

Meet Catherine: Catherine is a hardworking mother of one child, who is now in the university. Apart from her only child Catherine also has other mouths to feed. She is responsible for the maintenance of her household.

We are delighted to share with you a brief thank you video clip from Kumba, one of the computer training beneficiaries.  Prior to the training, Kumba did not have the computer skills / proficiency required for getting her desired job. She had received the needed training for her field, but lacked the computer proficiency needed.

Through funds from Chase, Develop Africa assisted HALIBS with shipping 10 barrels of school supplies, textbooks, and other educational materials that supported over four hundred students at Victory Prep, located at Waterloo, Freetown Sierra Leone. HALIBS is a partner organization with Develop Africa. Develop Africa is delighted to partner with HALIBS.

Madam Mary R. is a single parent and she struggles to feed and educate her three children (2 boys, 1 girl),one in the university and two in high school. In addition to her three children Mary also has two wards. The responsibility of her family including school costs of books, school fees, uniforms, etc. rests squarely on Mary. She gets occasional assistance from her sister, but this is not enough to meet the daily needs of her family. Though a civil servant (a third grade clerk) Mary’s salary, which is less than $100 a month is pitifully insufficient to maintain her family.

Sierra Leone - One of our concerns is ensuring that our vocational / skills training trainees benefit the most from the training we provide.  Late last year, in partnership with AID-SL, we held a "training validation and assessment" at the training centre to ensure the trainees are retaining the knowledge and experience.  Materials for the production of both male and female dress, soap making etc were provided by Develop Africa.