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Santigie Bayo Dumbuya shared a post.

17 October at 23:25

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Sophie Radice

17 October at 16:09

ONE YEAR ON from starting to fundraise to build a secondary school in Freetown Sierra Leone. Please read below ( I know it is a long post) and see the email I wrote which inspired one brilliant person to give us a generous lump sum. We still have a long way to go to get it built by September 2020 but I'm going to give it a really, really good go! I know loads of you have contributed but have a read and tell me if you have suggestions as to how I might get it finished - grants? Philanthropic organisations? A daring physical challenge?

Dear .....
We Yone Child have built two primary schools in two of the most neglected communities ( one on a rubbish dump and one on a rocky, hard to reach hillside) in the capital of Freetown and are trying to build a secondary school so the kids there can continue their education beyond eleven.

I don't know how much you know about Sierra Leone. I didn't know anything until I first went there in February last year to work with a friend who had been made Executive Director of a health charity. It is in Western Africa and despite extraordinary natural resources which should make this small country extremely wealthy, it is the 14th poorest country in the world. This is due to the corruption of the political classes, Chinese exploitation which is stripping the country of minerals, gold, top-soil, timber and even the sand on the glorious beaches, Lebanese drug barons who bring in cocaine from Columbia through to Morocco and into Europe ( the cash proceeds of which are taken out of the country rather than flowing into the economy) and the ruthless British mining companies. Also because it had eleven years of horrific civil war and Ebola and the summer before last there was a horrific mud-slide. Sounds er, extremely challenging I know, but I fell in love with this complicated place as many people who come from outside do. The life expectancy there is a shocking 49, which makes it a country full of young people who have the potential to really change things there. But to do that they need good education.

I was approached to work with We Yone Child http://www.weyonechildfoundation.org/ (have a look at the website) the second time I was there, and met the founder and director Santigie Bayo Dumbuya. He was a child soldier in the civil war, but was able to get an education later on and became a social worker. He wanted to do something about the lack of education for the poorest slum communities and so built two free primary schools in these two areas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_pW1Eeukuc&t=2s ( sorry about the quality of this video).

We Yone Child is a registered charity and a dynamic organisation which runs important community projects around the schools - such as football for child development, family business grants to alleviate poverty and the promotion of female empowerment. We Yone Child has managed to buy the land next to one of the primary schools and once I had seen all the schools, looked at the annual report and finance report, interviewed everyone who works there as well as some of the volunteers from overseas who had worked at We Yone Child and stayed connected, I decided to launch a gofundme campaign https://www.gofundme.com/6a2kh8o… and raised £8000 pretty quickly from family and friends but we need to raise £44, 000 if we are to finish the project. We are a long way off and it is pretty daunting.

We Yone Child is funded in part by Street Child which is a large international NGO but they have to rise funds by applying for different grants from various funding streams and having volunteers who have to fund themselves. I am trying to think about ways to fundraise for them in the UK because I am determined that this school will get built so that these amazing children can carry on their schooling. The beauty of We Yone Child is you can see where every penny goes, and they will take their primary school model on into the secondary school. They have a tiny office with dedicated local staff, as well as international volunteers. We Yone Child's mission is to provide sustainable education and care to seriously underprivileged children and Santigie is determined to do that. I really can't bear that these bright children I came to know, should have to stop their education. Santigie is currently also applying for grants for the running costs of this new school as well as for the construction of the school.

We have the architectural plans Budget for a simple concrete structure.

1. Substructure - £8,600 ( this has been completed with the funds we have raised)

2. Concrete work - £15,835

3. Blockwork - £7,650

4. Roofing - £8,310

5.Woodwork - £3,730

6.Metalwork - £8530

7. Plumbing - £1,830

8. Electrical
Installation - £1710

9.Floor, walls - £5,770.21
Ceiling

10. Painting £2,820

£54,890

We Yone Child is a registered charity with policy of complete transparency and meticulous monitoring and evaluation. All funders are expected to demand a grant report throughout the funding period. If you are interested in seeing annual reports, annual finance reports, monitoring and evaluation these can all be sent to you. I can always have coffee and a chat. We Yone Child is on face book, instagram wycf_sl, Twitter @WYCF-SL. If you go on you-tube and look up We Yone Child you can watch the rather motley collection of videos about the foundation there. I have also sent you two very short films attached to this email.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if this sparks your interest. I have tons of photos and films of the existing primary schools and of the site and building progress.

Best wishes

Sophie Radice

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