Although the civil war that tore Sierra Leone apart ended in 2002 the country is still trying to recover from the devastation it caused with most of the country still extremely poor, and a basic education still denied to a lot of children whose parents cannot afford the fees for them to attend school. The schools themselves are desperately in need of funding, with some barely having adequate buildings, fresh drinking water or the simplest of learning materials.

 

The last time I returned to Sierra Leone I visited a school in Wellington, a suburb of Freetown, taking pens, paper and simple supplies for which they were very grateful. When I return to Sierra Leone later this year I would like to take even more supplies, this time to a school in Tombo, in the Western Area; The Wallai Tombo Honor Services Community Primary School is some thirty miles from the capital city of Freetown and is funded by the local community and is in need of learning materials, seating and other basic supplies.

 

This is what I hope will be the start of a long-term project and when I visit later this year to deliver the supplies I have gathered I will be meeting with the village council and head teacher with the aim of developing a relationship with the local community to find out what the most pressing needs for this and other schools in the area are and how I can best help to provide support for the children of Tombo.

 

If you would like to make a donation of money, or supplies in the form of pens, pencils, exercise and reading books or maybe a prize for the raffle, it would be greatly appreciated by me and the children of The Wallai Tombo Honor Services Community Primary School. However small the amount of the donation, to the people of Tombo, it will mean a great deal.

 

In early January 2012, Beejacks founder and proprietor of Beejacks Tombo Foundation (BTF), in his wisdom thought it fit that he should give back to his country Sierra Leone what is necessary to improve the lives of young children, whose parents are so poor and could not afford them the basics of life, He told me to scout around the Tombo communities to find any Primary School there that is struggling to improve. I took up the challenge and at Wallai community there was a school called Honor Services community Primary School which was the only school around the whole community. I immediately accepted that school as the most impoverished school and informed Beejacks. In the same year we held a meeting with the Wallai village community and decided that the schooling will be improved by building a new school with available school teachers and learning materials. A formal agreement was made with the community that they should provide the land and local materials including sand, sticks, stones, labour and even food for workers. The Beejacks Tombo Foundation to provide all other materials necessary for construction work. This agreement did not stand because the villagers are so poor and could not afford the money to buy the land and even pay for any work done.

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In 2013, Beejacks bought a piece of land and offered it to the Beejacks Tombo Foundation to build a new school to be called (BEEJACKS PRIMARY SCHOOL WALLAI) We started laying the foundation of a new school. The foundation was completed in 2014 with provisions for four classrooms at the initial stage. The same year the Beejacks Tombo Foundation took the whole mantle for building the school.

We started erecting the walls for the first two classrooms and in late September made the roofs for the two classrooms. We also put in the doors and windows, and henceforth all persons working on the school project were paid for any work done on working agreements by Beejacks Tombo Foundation.

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We planned the school to open in late September 2016 but we needed toilets for the children we received funds from Beejacks Tombo Foundation for the construction of the toilets. The toilets were constructed and the school opened in September 2016 with an initial enrollment of 45 children. We hired two teachers to teach from class one to class five. We decided to build our own class six with children from class one into class six for public exams. The teachers agreed that Fifteen Thousand Leones as fees per term but this was too small even to pay the teachers. The charity sends appreciation bonuses for the teachers to keep them going. The school is now called ( BEEJACKS  PRIMARY  SCHOOL )

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In late 2016 heavy rains fell and the rain water entered the toilet and damaged the toilet walls underneath. In 2017 repairs were made on the toilet walls and we decided to build a retaining wall to protect the school and toilet foundations from future damages.

In 2018 sponsorship was granted for 20 children to cover fees in support for the Beejacks Tombo Foundation which later increased the sponsorship to 40 children. In September 2018 funds were received for the plastering, smoothing and painting of the two classrooms.

I want to thank all those who have sponsored the children and everyone who has donated funds or helped in any way to make the dreams of Beejacks comes true.