News and Events Archive
1. November 2009 Trip – Dec 13
On 20-25 November, trustees Sebastian Wood and Mark Whitby travelled to Waterloo.
Thanks to the generosity of the Deputy Speaker, Victor Johnston, they were able to stay in the community. The prime purpose of their visit was to carry out a final review in order to establish which part of the project should commence first. Following consultations with the local committee, it was agreed that as a matter of priority, we should begin by constructing a book storage, sorting, cataloguing and distribution centre with a small children’s library to enable the people of Waterloo to ensure that local schools receive the most suitable books.
Mark commented: “You learn so much just by visiting the area and listening to what people really need. What became immediately clear to me was the importance of providing somewhere secure where people can take time to ensure that the right books end up in the right place, but also where the local children can borrow their own books outside of the school system.”
During their trip, the pair also met with June Rollason of the British Council to review the best strategy for achieving our ultimate aim, namely increased literacy. In confirming the importance of ensuring a proper strategy is in place of distributing the books that have been so generously donated, she reaffirmed the importance of proceding first with the storage and sorting centre.
Sebastian said: “The most exciting thing is that we have an agreed plan of action with the community and we are finally ready to go and get things started.”
Work is due to commence in December.
2. December 2009: At last! Work begins – Dec 14 We are pleased to confirm that work started has now started to clear the ground needed to build the first part of the Equiano Project. We are equally pleased that the first stage of the work is being undertaken by the local community themselves. It has always been particularly important to the CODEP team to work with the community in order to assist with the development of the Waterloo region. This may only be a small step, but it is a significant one and we will continue to update you on progress as construction continues.
Claire Curtis Thomas, Chair of CODEP commented that: “I am delighted that construction is underway. Many many people both in Sierra Leone and the UK have worked very hard to achieve where we are today and I know that we will all continue to work together to bring this project to completion.
3. January 2010: Demolition work progressing well – Jan 3 So why are we featuring a photo of a pile of rubble? The answer is a simple one, to demonstrate the excellent progress of the team from Waterloo who are carrying out the demolition and ground clearance works.
As you can see from the photo, CODEP are pleased to report that the team from Waterloo who are carrying out the initial demolition and ground works have now successfully taken down the existing old building and once the rubble has been cleared away, the grounds will soon be ready for the building works to begin.
A promising start indeed to 2010.
4. CODEP Newsletter - January 2010 – Jan 11 To find out more about what is going on in Sierra Leone, why not read our Latest Newsletter.
Our newsletter for January contains further information about why the fact we have been able to help 10,997 children over the past year is so important to us and also details how you can help us to increase that number during 2010.
The newsletter also provides further details about Mark and Seb’s visit to Sierra Leone at the end of last year.
5. 10,997 Children – Jan 11 Thanks to your generosity 10,997 Sierra Leonean children at more than 40 shcools in the Waterloo region now have books to read.
CODEP’s thanks in particular go to the Waterloo Partnership who did a fantastic job sorting and distributing the books, Greenworks for their assistance in ensuring that the books made it from the UK to Sierra Leone and to Lori Spragg and the Build on Books team for their efforts in collecting the books and raising funds to help with their transportation. As a consequence class libraries have been given to 10 Secondary Schools, 32 Primary Schools including one for disabled children and 2 preschools in the Waterloo district.
This is a tremendous acheivement, but it is also one we want to build on during 2010.
To find out more about how you can help, why not click here to visit the Build On Books website.
6. New recruit for CODEP – Feb 3
We are pleased to announce that Phil Dobson, formerly of Ramboll, flys out to Sierra Leone on Monday 8th February 2010. Phil will be working in Sierra Leone, as resident engineer for the Equiano Centre, for the next 12 months on a voluntary basis.
CODEP are particularly grateful to Kevin McPhillips and Richard Haddon who have made generous donations in respect of Phil’s airfare and other expenses.
As resident engineer, Phil will be responsible for dealing with queries and questions on site. This is a task he is well suited for, as Phil was employed at the Manchester office of Ramboll from May 2007. During that time he worked on a variety of projects including the Burnage, Manchester Building Schools for the Future where between July 2008 and December 2009, he was the lead engineer. Phil is a passionate football fan, supporting Oldham Athletic, but no doubt will find the time to follow the fortunes of the Waterloo Strikers over the next 12 months.
Seb Wood, the CODEP Trustee responsible for Project Delivery commented that: “We welcome the recruitment of Phil. The commitment he has shown to the project by being prepared to go out to Waterloo, Sierra Leone on a voluntary basis is a huge boost for our team and we look forward to working with Phil over the next few months, at this exciting time, as our first project gets underway.”
7. Say hello to BOB – Feb 16
At CODEP we are very proud of BOB. She is the symbol of the Build On Books operation in Sierra Leone. She is decked out in the Sierra Leone national colours, but if you look closely is she a girl or is she a book?
Lori Spragg and the Build on Books team have achieved a tremendous amount over the past 12 months. More than 56 schools have now received books and furniture. And it’s not just schools, the Freetown Teacher Training College and Police Training School have also been provided with books.
If you want to find out more about the work of Lori, Fannyann, Rosetta and the Waterloo Reading Culture Committee why not read their
Latest Newsletter.
Alternatively, why not click on the CODEP Build On Books Appeal button on the left of this site or visit the BOB website.
8. President Ernest Koroma blesses the Equiano Project – Feb 16 We are honoured to annouce that President Ernest Bai Koroma has kindly agreed to attend the the ground breaking ceremony for the Equiano Centre on 19 February 2010.
The support of the President and government of Sierra Leone is tremendously important to CODEP and we hope that we can continue to work with them to achieve CODEP’s goals.
The Equiano Project is a genuine community project and although we will only be marking the start of the building, the ceremony will also be a celebration of the achievements of the Build On Books programme in delivering over 200,000 books to more than 50 schools and colleges.
9. "The diamonds of our country are our children" – Feb 25 With these words, the Minister for Education, Youth and Sport, Dr Bah welcomed the first steps of the Equiano Centre at a ceremony on Friday 19 February 2010. Although President Koroma was unable to attend, due to the sudden death of an aide, a crowd of some 5000 people flocked to the ceremony. Dr Bah was joined by the Hon. Victor Chukuma Johnson, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, her Hon. Haja Afsatu Kabba, the Minster for Fisheries and Mining Resources, the Hon. Joseph Koroma, the Minister for Presidential Affairs, Claude Kamanda the MP in whose constituency, Number 95, the Equiano Centre is based and many many local leaders and dignitaries, community group, and representatives of all the schools who have benefitted from the Build On Books programme.
Joe Kosonca, read out the speech the President had intended to deliver. Education is a key pillar of President Koroma’s Agenda for Change and his speech stressed the importance of taking steps to improve literacy. The President declared that: “Today, our freedom is threatened by ignorance, illiteracy, the scarcity of books and libraries, and the reluctance to build a reading culture. We should confront head-on this challenge to our freedom. Let us continue to draw inspiration from Equiano and free ourselves from the chains of ignorance.” The President also highlighted the benefits we hope the project will bring, in particular the apprenticeship programmes and the opportunity to improve technical capacity.
He continued: “That is why I salute CODEP and the people of Waterloo for this wonderful effort.”
However it was not just a day for the politicians. Perhaps the stars of the show were the children of the REC school, one of the beneficiaries of the Build on Books programme. They entranced the crowd with a short sketch demonstrating just what the delivery of their books had meant to them. Their assured performance and deft comic timing brought tears of laughter laced with real emotion at what has already been achieved by the people of Waterloo.
We were all deeply honoured by the support shown to CODEP by the local community. Claire Curtis Thomas who had expressed the hope that we were working amongst friends, was told she was wrong: “You are not our friends, you are our brothers and sisters.” As the President concluded: “The community of Waterloo have come together with a renewed purpose and clear focus to improve the lives of its people. We have great hope that this project will succeed, and help provide a better future for the people of Sierra Leone. It is now down to CODEP and our friends and supporters to help the community of Waterloo deliver.
10. "A new chapter of hope" - the CODEP Build on Books Appeal – Feb 27 In November 2008, Joan Smith, the novelist, essayist, columnist and campaigner for human rights, published a short article in the Times. With that article, as part of CODEP’s literacy campaign, we launched the Build on Books appeal – an initiative to collect unwanted books from across the UK and donate them to schools and educational establishments in the Western Rural district of Sierra Leone, which covers Waterloo. Joan was also part of the CODEP team that recently visited Waterloo for the ground-breaking ceremony.
Joan has written another article, published today – 27 February 2010 – in The Times. In that article she has, amongst many stories, written about her visit to the Bread of Life school, where the children crowded round her in their excitement to show her the books that had been donated to their school.
She also spoke with their headmaster, John Kamara, who told Joan that:“We distribute the books everyday. The children love them. It makes a huge difference -it makes them eager to come to school.
To read Joan’s article in full, why not buy the Times today or go to the Times website.
We hope that this article will serve to relaunch the CODEP Build On Books Appeal so that we can send at least a further 500,000 books to Sierra Leone this year.
There is also a slide show of some of the photos taken by Felicity “Fidd” Thompson. Please click here to look at the photos.
If you want further information about the BOB Appeal, please click here or email Claire and her team at [email protected] .
11. Photos from Ground-breaking Ceremony, Waterloo 19 February 2010 – Mar 8
If you would like to sample some of the flavour, excitement and personalities from the recent ground-breaking ceremony for the Equiano Cente in Waterloo, why not click here and view our photo montage.
12. March newsletter now available on-line – Mar 14 To find out more about what is going on in Sierra Leone, why not read our
Latest Newsletter.
Our newsletter for March contains details of the CODEP Build on Books Appeal, news from the ground-breaking ceremony as well as exciting news about how we are looking to use Equiano project to promote on-site training. 13. "The diamonds of our country are our children" - Part 2 – Mar 17 As we explained in our earlier news item, when the education minister, Dr Bah spoke at the ground- breaking ceremony for the Equiano Centre, he described the children of Sierra Leone as being the true diamonds of his country.
Just before he spoke, the children of the REC school provided a vibrant yet moving example of what the books donated by the friends of CODEP mean to them. To see the highlight from that presentation, if not the highlight from the entire ceremony, please click here.
14. How UK recycling brings hope to one post-conflict African community – Mar 22 Rebecca Turner, who works for the Guardian newspaper, and does voluntary work with one of CODEP’s supporters Greenworks, was one of the team who recently visited Sierra Leone. Rebecca has now written a piece for the Guardian website detailing some of her experiences.
By way of example, Rebecca describes her visit to the Kulafai Rashideen Islamic Primary School where she met 10 year old Fatmata A Kanu:
“Student Fatmata A Kanu, aged 10, said her favourite subject was business studies and she wants to become a bank manager. She said that before the new school building, it was uncomfortable sitting on the wooden benches and that her back would ache. Also it was hard in the rainy season as everything would be wet due to the leaky roof. However now that they have the new building, books and furniture, coming to school is much better. Seeing the contrast between a school benefiting from simple resources like books and furniture was humbling.”
Click here to read Rebecca’s column in full. https://www.theguardian.com/sustainability/blog/community-sierra-leone-sustainability-cr
15. Equiano Centre - Progress Update – Mar 29 Phil Dobson and Sallieu Kamara, two of the team working on the Equiano Centre have prepared a short report detailing progress to date.
Following site clearance for the ground breaking ceremony, the site has been levelled and the building column foundations have been cast. The foundations are one of the key elements to any building, providing both strength and stability. If work goes to plan, the foundations will be ready by the end of April.
Sebastian Wood, Chair of the Project Delivery Committee commented that: “This is an extremely exciting new phase of CODEP’s work in Waterloo. The construction of a literacy and resource centre is key to ensuring that the significant steps the Waterloo community have been able to take, made possible by the generosity of our donors, are cemented permenantly in the area.”
Click here to read more, including details of keenly fought football game between “Labour” and “Trades”.
Also, included in the first phase of the works is the installation of the drainage system for the next phase of the Equiano Centre, this will allow the learning barns to be constructed quickly as soon as the capital is raised to develop them. Help us to build the next phase by making your donation here.
16. CODEP Build On Books Appeal - Update for UK Schools – Apr 8 CODEP have prepared a short newsletter updating schools who kindly donated books to the first Times Appeal. We thought you might like to see a copy.
The newsletter includes a note from Fannyann Doherty, chairperson of the Reading Culture Committee in Waterloo in which she explains the impact of the books delivered to date:
“On behalf of the teachers and students of Sierra Leone I would like to thank you for giving us so many wonderful books for our schools and libraries. We have very few books in our country so we are working earnestly in order to see these books reach the beneficiaries schools as quickly as possible…
Both teachers and children can now read, make references and summarise books on their own. This makes them practise the culture of reading. They can now sit in their quiet corners during or out of school hours reading library books or their notes.”
If you would like to read more, please download the newsletter here.
17. April Newsletter – Apr 14
To find out more about what is going on in Sierra Leone, why not read our latest newsletter. April’s Issue contains details about the appointment of new trustees as well as providing the latest update on progress with both the Equiano Centre and the most recent container of books.
Click here to download your copy.
18. Literacy campaigning mum's African television experience – Apr 27 https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/8120795.Literacy_campaigning_mum_s_African_televisi on_experience/
James Nadal has written an account of Lori Spragg’s visit to Sierra Leone in February, where she was part of the CODEP team who visited Waterloo for the inauguration of the Equiano Centre. His article, which can be found on the This Is Local London website here is set out in full below:
A MOTHER catapulted to the heart of a literacy project aimed at reviving war-ravaged Sierra Leone has told how it has changed her life.
Lori Spragg, 48, of Oak Tree Road, Marlow, has gone from book collector to television star in 18 months.
Initially, she helped collect literature with parents and schools for the Build on Books project run by charity CODEP.
But the campaign snowballed and, driven by her visit to Sierra Leone, Mrs Spragg dedicated her time to expanding the project.
“It’s taken over pretty much 100 per cent of my life and my family has been involved as well,” she said.
“Marlow is really a big part of it and can really take credit for the amazing results we have achieved – that includes the schools.”
Of about 140,000 books shipped out to Africa, approximately 9,000 have come from Marlow.
In February Mrs Spragg gave a speech to 10,000 Sierra Leone residents – which was broadcast live on national television.
She spoke at the turning of the soil ceremony for the Equiano centre – a huge new library.
Mrs Spragg, whose work is purely voluntary, said: “I felt overwhelmed. I just felt really honoured that community had allowed me the opportunity to work with them and help them, with people who are completely dedicated to the writing culture.”
An interview on Sierra Leone radio station followed.
The country was affluent before being destroyed by a brutally violent civil war, which ended about nine years ago.
Now, it is one of the world’s poorest nations.
After hearing how it had been plunged into a “medieval version of hell” she was determined to help.
The story of a boy, who was told not to take a book home because it was too difficult to read, show the project’s potential, she said.
“The boy insisted on taking the book and when he came back his reading age had gone up several years. The teachers said ‘how was this possible?’ and he said ‘my brother taught me’.”
She said the results of spreading literacy through families “could be exponential.”
“All of those families whose lives were devastated by war, they are relying on the children. One educated child will support the whole family,” Mrs Spragg said.
She thanked Ali Liebowitz, who runs Marlow Parents, for helping to galvanise the collections, Bourne End-based Saroptomists International and everyone connected with Marlow schools.
Now, she hopes Marlow can a fill a container of books to ship out this year.
£400 can buy 2,000 books which would help 1,000 children have an education.
19. – "We should also commit ourselves to sustaining our heritage of great scholarship" – Apr 28
The 27th April is a holiday in Sierra Leone, to celebrate their independence. We set out below a speech given by President Koroma. The speech is typically vibrant, passionate and sincere.
We highlight here the committment to literacy and scholarship, where the President says: “It is not enough for us to say our country has the oldest Western-style University in Africa; we should also commit ourselves to sustaining our heritage of great scholarship.”
These aims strike a true chord with everyone here at CODEP.
But the speech as a whole, which we set out in full below, contains many other inspriational passages and is well worth reading. Happy 49th Birthday Sierra Leone.
His Excellency President Ernest Bai Koroma’s Independence Day Message to the Nation: 27th April 2010:
Fellow Sierra Leoneans: On this very day, forty nine years ago, we asserted our rights to shape our own destiny. We asserted those rights because we believed we would build upon the great traditions of scholarship, freedom and entrepreneurship for which our forbearers were renowned all over West Africa. We have sometimes fallen short of those great traditions. But this nation has over and over again risen up to face the challenge with resolute action.
We have been able to do this because the bonds that unite us are stronger than the issues that divide us. We all have relatives, friends, schoolmates and good neighbours in the other political parties, or the other religion and ethnic group. These deep ties that we share with people who may belong to another political party or ethnic group or religion are the sources of our unity, the mainstay of our nation; and a cause for celebration.
Let us on this forty ninth anniversary of independence celebrate these unifying bonds of our country. Let us congratulate ourselves for the moments we asserted the great values that have held this country together. Let us give praise for the beauty of our country, the friendliness of our people and the actions we have taken towards building a peaceful, democratic and caring society.
Fellow Sierra Leoneans, let us celebrate the tolerance and respect Muslims and Christians show for each other in this land. Let us celebrate our achievements. Every morning, say to yourself – I am proud to be a Sierra Leonean.
Being a proud Sierra Leonean warrants practical commitment to building upon the achievements we have made as a nation. It is not enough for us to say our country has the oldest Western-style University in Africa; we should also commit ourselves to sustaining our heritage of great scholarship. We should not stop at saying that our country is one of the most religiously tolerant in the world; we should also continue to assert the bonds of friendship between Muslims and Christians. Let it not suffice to say our country has fertile soils and great mineral resources; we should commit ourselves to acquiring the skills and discipline required to pick up the blessing God has bestowed upon our country.
My dear compatriots, I have an abiding faith in the desire of every Sierra Leonean to see our country progress. I believe that we all collectively aspire to improved agricultural productivity, increased electricity generation, and the completion of our road building programmes.
Progress on all these fronts is a national necessity. Let no one suspend his contribution to the well being of this nation because his party is not in power. Let no one refuse to contribute to our development because she does not have a big post. The progress of this nation is not about political parties or big posts; it is about dedicated service to the cause of Sierra Leone. It is about respect for the common man and woman; it is about delivering health care services in every district, building roads and bridges to every town, improving electricity generation and ensuring that agricultural productivity is increased.
Fellow Sierra Leoneans, let us be reminded of that fact that it is Sierra Leone that wins when all these programmes are successfully implemented. I want Sierra Leone to win; and the time is now.
Today we will launch the free health care programme for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under five. Every Sierra Leonean should be proud of this initiative. It is an initiative fashioned from our strong belief that a country can only secure its future when it secures the lives of its children; that a nation cannot guarantee the joys of family life until it secures the life and health of its pregnant women and mothers. Because we want happy families; because we aspire to a secure future, we are today abolishing user fees for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under five.
Next year, we shall be commemorating our fiftieth anniversary of independence. We look forward to our celebrating the victory of Sierra Leone; we aspire to a celebration of our achievements as a nation; we shall celebrate our common bonds of family, friendship, and good neighbourliness. Sierra Leone is a greater nation when we assert these divine values.
On this special day, let me end by wishing you all truly memorable 49th anniversary celebrations.
God Bless Sierra Leone
20. Can you help Rosetta? May 17 As you probably know Rosetta Kargbo is the key CODEP figure in Sierra Leone. The title of Logistics Manager barely tells half the story of what she does for us.
Now that books have been delivered, Rosetta’s role has increased as we want to montior the schools to ensure that the books and furniture are being used and kept safely. She also needs to travel regularly between Waterloo and Freetown. The local form of transport – the poda poda – is crowded and slow. What she really needs is a motorbike or some other form of transport to help her carry out her job. In the long run this would lead to a saving in costs – as well as Rosetta’s time – as she would not need to hire vehicles.
So this may be where you come in. If there was anyone who may be able to supply a bike, (or even 2 or 3) we would be able to transport it to Sierra Leone. Please let us know – please email [email protected]. We and Roseta would be very grateful.
21. May newsletter now available on-line May 20 To find out more about what is going on in Sierra Leone, why not read our
Latest Newsletter.
Our newsletter for April contains details of the latest consignment of books together with details of the ways in which we have been able to use Equiano project to promote on-site training.
22. Equiano Centre - Progress Update May 2010 JUN 1
Phil Dobson and Six Six, two of the team working on the Equiano Centre have prepared the latest short report detailing progress to date.
The key to progress over the last month has been the need to pour the ground slab. As can be seen from the photos supplied with the report, this is complete. The reason this is so important is that we need to get as much complete as possible on the first building before the rainy season starts at the end of June.
The Report also confirms that the apprentices will be on site from the begining of June. CODEP are grateful to the GTZ College in Waterloo and Sierra Construction Systems Ltd for their support with this project.
Click here to read more, including information about the first female member of the construction team.
23. Waterloo Library Management Committee news Jun 11
Everyone here at CODEP and in Waterloo are tremendously grateful for your support and the many donations of books.
However, we are here for the long term. It’s not just about delivering your books. And what is particularly important to us is to work with the people of Waterloo to ensure that moving forward in the long term they don’t need our support. This is why the Waterloo Library Management Committee is so important to us. Its all about the people of Waterloo working together to put in place a team and structure to mange their books and stimulate the growth of a literary culture.
Friday 11 June 2010 marked a major step forward in that process with the formation of a new executive committee. The Hon Claud Kananda, who is the MP where the Equiano Centre will be based chaired the meeting and Alusine H Sesay was elected as Chairman, local councillor Sarah Sankoh will be the vice chair, the Unisa one of the Youth Representatives is the financial secretary, Victor Kamara, the SLTU Rep is in charge of public relations, and Rosetta Kargbo, our Codep Rep will be the secretary.
They are already making plans. Whilst the Equiano Centre is being built, a temporary library will be set up, under the leadership of the Youth leader. This is wonderful news as it means that the temporary library will be open during the rainy season so that the children of Waterloo will have access to books when the schools are closed. The books and equipment were provided by CODEP, Green-works and also donations from the Henry Box School in Oxford.
CODEP are also particularly grateful to the Hon Claud Kananda who has pledged to give three hundred thousand leones to the volunteer to run the Temporary Library for the next three months.
This is a fantastic start and CODEP look forward to working with the Committee over the next few months to ensure that progress continues to be made.
24. Happy Birthday Green-works! Jun 13 One of CODEP’s major friends and supporters Green-works celebrates its 10th Birthday on 17 June 2010.
Founded by Colin Crooks, who recently became a CODEP trustee, Green-works is an award-winning registered charity and social enterprise which is dedicated to radically changing the way society thinks about waste.
They do this by turning redundant office furniture into an asset and a resource. Using a strategy known as the 4 R’s – Reduce, Re-use Remanufacture or Recycle – they divert office furniture from landfill and then work out how best to put that furniture and other goods to its best use whether that is in the UK or abroad.
In Sierra Leone, Green-works have supplied furniture – desks and shelves – for the schools in Sierra Leone, so that they have somewhere to store and use the books you have kindly donated.
To find out more about the work Green-works does just click here
25. Three Peaks Challenge 18-19 July 2010 Jun 19
On 17-19 July, a team from CODEP are attempting the Three Peaks Challenge.
For those of you who do not know, the aim is to climb the three tallest peaks in the UK: Ben Nevis in Scotland, the notorious Scarfel Pike in Englands Peak District and Snowdon in Wales. But more than that, not only will we climb all three peaks, the real challenge is to complete climbing all three peaks in just 24 hours covering the distance between each by car. A piece of cake – well we’ve been promised cake if we finish…..
The CODEP team is Rebecca Turner, Philip Dobson, Claire Curtis-Thomas, Sebastian Wood, Jen Wood, Michelle Maloney, Jeremy Glover, Richard Miller, Nick Willson, Leanne Stewart and Jeremy Ney. We are all grateful to Rebecca who has taken on the hard task of sorting out the logitstics and the even harder task of trying to organise all of us.
We are of course all committed to raising funds for CODEP to help continue the fantastic progress we have made to date.
If you would like to help and donate funds, please click here 26. Thank you - Harper Collins Jun 29 Everyone here at CODEP are grateful to Harper Collins who, following discussions with Lori Spragg, have kindly offered us 1,300 boxed up & palleted new books each month through The Returns Company in Swindon.
In other words, depending on the nature of the books, that is at least one new school library a month.
All of which means is that thanks to Harper Collins, we have been able to take a significant step forward in our Summer Book Appeal.
27. June Newsletter available on-line – Jun 29 Our latest newsletter is now available.
Our newsletter for June contains details of the opening of a new temporary library in Waterloo – something which marks a major step forward for our project and the development of literacy in Waterloo.
We also outline some of the steps we have been taking to ensure that the project is a sustainable one and we also discuss a dilemma that arose when safety equipment that would be normal on any UK -based site was handed out to the workers in Waterloo.
Finally, the newsletter outlines details of our latest fund raising initiative.
To find out more about what is going on in Sierra Leone, why not read our
Latest Newsletter.
28. The Race is On - help us establish 50 school libraries before Christmas CODEP Build on Books Summer Appeal
Spurred on by the impact the books you have donated on the children of Waterloo, this summer, we have set ourselves a new goal – to help establish 50 school libraries in Sierra Leone before Christmas.
To achieve this, we have set up two separate campaigns – one in based in Liverpool and one based in Marlow.
Up in Liverpool, Claire Curtis-Thomas and CODEP Patron Frank Cottrell Boyce are heading an appeal centred around schools in the Liverpool area. In Marlow, Build On Books Co-ordinator, Lori Spragg and her team based around the fabulous Marlow Mums can look after you
Details for both collections are slightly different, but what you need to know is this:
Liverpool
The Liverpool Campaign runs from 8-17 July 2010. The team there can arrange to pick up your books on a daily basis from the 5th to the 17th of July, or books can be dropped off at St Marys Church, St Mary’s Road, Waterloo L22 3XZ every school day from 4-6pm.
Please download this form or email [email protected] for further details.
Marlow
If you live in the Marlow region, and that includes Reading, High Wycombe and Windsor and want to donate books, either email [email protected] or follow the link and fill out all your details on the spreadsheet, Lori can then arrange to ship your books to Sierra Leone this summer.
You can also drop books off at 38 Oak Tree Road, Marlow SL7 3EE or in Reading at the HQ of BMG – the Business Moves Group. Their address is 4 Acre Road, Reading, RG2 0SX: or telephone them on 018 933 6600
Ideally, we are looking for the following:
• Children’s books, every age, every subject
• Novels
• Reference books, dictionaries, atlases, child health
• Language guides
• Text books, particularly reading schemes and GCSE subject books
• Professional literature – standard books on accountancy, engineering, business marketing, nursing, government administration
• Leisure books – arts and crafts, cookery (every type of cook book possible)knitting, sewing, carpentry, do-it –yourself books.
Remember, if you would like to help and live in Liverpool, please contact Claire, if you live in the Marlow region, please email Lori.
29. Pupils at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic College in Halton are Grrrrrreat! Jul 13 The Race Is On Campaign in Liverpool has got off to a fantastic start.
CODEP would like to thank the staff and pupils at Saints Peter and Paul College at Halton, Widnes who have done a magnificent job and pulled together thousands of books – every sort of book you could possibly imagine – for the Sierra Leone school libraries in just a matter of weeks.
A big thank you to the Headteacher and his fantastic pupils and staff from us all.
If you are based in the Liverpool area and would like to donate books please email CODEP Chair Claire Curtis-Thomas at [email protected] .
30. BMG - one of CODEP's greatest friends and supporters – Jul 15
You may have seen on our website, frequent references to the support given by BMG to CODEP. We thought it only right to share with you just how significant that support has been.
Simon Darvall (chairman) and Rachel Houghton (CEO) of Business Moves Group Ltd have provided CODEP with an extraordinary amount of support over the last three years, funding the cost of transporting a number of containers to Sierra Leone along with collecting books and furniture from around the country free of charge – an amazing act of generosity.
Simon and Rachel went out to Sierra Leone in 2008 to see for themselves the enormous challenges faced by the people of the worlds poorest country , and when they returned to the UK, they made good all their promises to help educate the children in every way possible. Not ones for the lime- light, neither of these two great people have sought any praise or recognition for their contribution and support – but through their actions what they have done is brought great joy to over 50,000 children, who now have access to books for the first time in their lives.
The CODEP team in the UK and Sierra Leone and very grateful for everything BMG Ltd have done on our behalf – its been an extraordinary act of generosity.
To find out more about BMG please click here
31. Three Cheers from CODEP for the Three Peaks Team and their supporters Jul 19 It was cold, it was wet, (or more accurately very very very wet), and at times rather dark and seriously windy, but the CODEP team attempting the 3 Peaks Challenge persevered on through the challenges posed by Ben Nevis, Scarfell Pike and Snowden and are well on the way to reaching their goal of raising £5,500.
That the team is so close to its goal is down to the generosity of the donations made by our many friends and supporters. Everyone is tremendously grateful for that support. Stuck on the top of Scarfell in the dark or trying to ignore the heavy winds and the rain on Snowden which at times reduced visibility to next to nothing, that generosity provided that extra bit of encouragement everyone needs.
The Three Peaks Team’s special thanks go to our drivers Claire and Mike, for their support and patience. Until you actually attempt the Three Peaks Challenge, it is impossible to appreciate the vital role the drivers play. The drive from Ben Nevis to Scarfell alone takes 6 hours – six hours made considerably longer in our case by the fact that the cars were doubling up as a mobile laundry as everyone’s clothes had to be dried out.
The team also owe a huge debt of thanks to Rebecca Turner for all tireless work she put into the organisation and finally to our mountain guide Phil Dobson.
There is still time for you to donate funds to help us reach our ultimate goal. If you do, please click here.
CODEP thanks everyone involved in making this event such a success.
32. 1000 Boxes of Books Jul 20 Over the past few weeks, the CODEP Build On Books Teams have collected over 1000 boxes of books. We’ll say that again over 1,000 boxes of books.
A staggering achievement, which means that we are well on the way to reaching our target of supplying 50 more schools with their own school library before Christmas.
CODEP’s thanks go to everyone who has donated books and also to Lori Spragg and Claire Curtis Thomas for their tremendous efforts in leading the teams in Marlow and Liverpool.
In Liverpool, “The Race Is On” collection has brought in 30,000 books in one week. Over 650 boxes were picked up on Friday by CODEP’s good friends in the Business Moves Group.
In Marlow, BMG picked up 255 boxes of books from Lori’s garage and another 100 from Ryeish Green school. That’s at least a further 18,000 books for Build in Books to send to Sierra Leone.
The good news is that both the Liverpool and Marlow collections are continuing for a few more days. If you want to know more about how you can help please click here.
Thank you again from everyone at CODEP.
33. Summer newsletter now available Aug 7 Our newsletter for July & August 2010 contains details of the incredible success of our Summer Book Collection, where we have collected enough books for another 50 schools in Sierra Leone. You will also find details of and photos from the CODEP team’s Three Peaks Challenge. The good news is we raised enough money to send the newly collected books to Sierra Leone.
Finally the newsletter highlights the important role played by a number of CODEP’s friends. Without the support of companies in the UKI organisations such as BMG or Green-Works or individuals as dedicated as Olive Musa in Sierra Leone, none of what we do would be possible.
So to find out more about what is going on in Sierra Leone, simply click here.
34. Literacy Training: a great success Aug 8
On 27 and 28 July 2010, the first ever literacy training took place in Waterloo.
Organised by the Reading and Culture Committee, almost 80 teachers from the Waterloo region attended. They came from every type of school, big and small, primary and secondary. Their goal was to learn how to make effective use of the books that you have kindly donated.
CODEP are grateful to the support provided by everyone – in particular Maude Hancils and Muctarr Sowa who provided the training. It was clear from the comments of those who attended, that everyone gained a lot from the training. Indeed, the overwhelming sentiment was that everyone who attended wanted to learn more.
The Hon. Claude Kamanda, MP for the area where the Equiano Centre is based, gave the opening address. He called on the teachers to make use of their opportunity: “Remember, thousands are out there yearning for such opportunity. Please make sure and make it a duty, to implement the skills and knowledge you would be acquiring or gaining here to the best advantage of the children you represent.” To read his opening address in full, please click here.
Claire Curtis Thomas, chair of CODEP said that she was inspired by the efforts of the teachers of Waterloo. One of CODEP’s core aims and values is sustainable development. The literacy training, organised by the people of Waterloo for the people of Waterloo, is a fantastic exmaple of sustainable development in action.
We also understand part of the training was featured on the SLBC – the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation. We look forward to seeing the tapes!
35. Guardian recognises Green-works as one of the UK's top green pioneers Sep 10
As you may know, one of CODEP’s major friends and supporters are Green-works.
Founded by Colin Crooks, who is one of the CODEP trustees, Green-works is an award-winning registered charity and social enterprise which is dedicated to radically changing the way society thinks about waste. In Sierra Leone, Green-works have supplied furniture – desks and shelves – for the schools so that they have somewhere to store and use the books you have kindly donated.
Today, 10 September 2010, the Guardian website ran a feature on the top 50 “Green Pioneers” in the UK. We were pleased to see that Colin was – most deservedly – part of that list.
To find out more about the work Green-works does just click here.
Or to read the Guardian article in full click here.
36. New container of books arrives in Waterloo Sep 27
At 3pm on Friday 24 September 2010, the latest container of books and furniture arrived in Waterloo.
Our photos show the container arriving at the school where Fannyann Doherty – the chairwoman of the Reading Culture Committee – works. You can also see just how tightly packed with boxes each container is.
There is always great excitement when a container arrives and many people came out to help unload the books.
On this occasion, a camera crew from the SLBC – the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Company, was also present and Rosetta Kargbo, the CODEP Logistics Manager was able to explain to the reporters what was going on.
Now the books are safely unloaded, the Reading Culture Committee will begin to sort the books so they can be distributed to the next group of schools. The safe arrival of the latest container also means that we can now make arrangements to ship a further container of books out to Sierra Leone. For so successful was our latest book collection, that they would not all fit into one!
As always, thank you all for your support
37. September newsletter now available Oct 1 Our newsletter for September contains news of the progress of the books collected during our Summer Book Collection.
We also discuss some of the highlights from our recent Trustee trip to Waterloo, where we were able to meet Fatmata who is running the temporary library. We were also able to review with some of the literacy co-ordinators the value of their recent training.
Finally, we express our thanks to Michelle Maloney for all her efforts and she moves away to pastures new and highlight the recognition given by the Guardian to Colin Crooks and by Building Design to Nick Willson, the architect of the Equiano Centre.
So to find out more about what is going on in Sierra Leone, simply click here.
38. Why not try the BOB Sponsored Read? Oct 6
As part of our CODEP Build On Books project, we have developed a Sponsored Read programme for schools.
The Build on Books Sponsored Read pack consists of the following documents all of which can be downloaded here:
(i) Letter to School from BOB;
(ii)Letter from School to parent;
(iii) BOB cover sheet;
(iv) BOB book review form;
(v) BOB bookmark; (vi) BOB reading log;
(vii) BOB sponsorship form;
(viii) BOB certificate.
If you would like to know more, please email [email protected] .
39. Literacy co-ordinator training in Lunsar Oct 21
On 18 and 19 October 2010, the first round of literacy co-ordinator training in Lunsar took place.
Some 63 Teachers from 33 Schools within the Lunsar and Port Loko region attended the training at the St. Peters Parish Hall in Lunsar Town. They were welcomed by conference chair, the Rev. Pat Abdulai. CODEP are grateful to the generous support from London Mining who made this training possible.
The teachers are being given training now, before the books you have donated are distributed. We wanted to do this to try and ensure that the books had the biggest and most positive impact, when they are sent to the schools. And we are still on target to deliver them before Christmas.
Our thanks go again to Rosetta Kargbo for her tireless efforts in organising the training. She is pictured here with some of the newly-trained literacy co-ordinators.
40. October newsletter now on-line Oct 29 We thought you would like to know a little more about what is happening to the books you donated over the summer. So this month’s newsletter sets out what Rosetta Kargbo and the Reading Culture Committee have been up to in Waterloo
The newsletter also provides details of one of the (completely unexpected) highlights of Trustee, Jeremy Glover’s, recent trip to Sierra Leone. You can also read about some of our thoughts on the benefits of publicity.
Finally, our newsletter sets out some ideas as to how you can help us promote CODEP’s activities.
To read this month’s newsletter, just click here.
As always, if you want to know more, just contact us by emailing [email protected].
The CODEP team.
41. Last Call for Books Nov 12 Thanks primarily to the hard work of Lori, our CODEP Build on Books Co-ordinator, the next container of books is due to leave the Business Moves Group in Reading to start on its journey to Sierra Leone during the week commencing 22 November 2010.
However there is just time to catch the container before it goes. So if you still have books they can go to any BMG location before that date. BMG have bases in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Reading.
Please click here to go to the BMG website to find the exact location.
Don’t worry if you miss this shipment, books arriving after that date will be stored ready for the next shipment.
If you want to help with the costs of shipment, please just click on the red box at the side of our website.
Thank you as always for your generous support. We cannot do any of this without your help.
The CODEP Build On Bokos Team
42. And the winners of the CODEP cup are.....? Nov 12
And the winners of the CODEP Cup are Brookfield FC, who defeated Obi One Kinobi Nil, a team from BW Interiors in a closely contested final.
And the winners of the CODEP Cup are Brookfield FC, who defeated Obi One Kinobi Nil, a team from BW Interiors in a closely contested final.
Brookfield captain Paul Rosser is pictured here accepting the Winner’s Trophy from trustee Jeremy Glover.
A key moment in the final came when Brookfield ‘keeper James Manley saved a penalty, one of many such saves which lead him to be awarded the player of the tournament award.
Held to raise arareness and funds, our thanks go to the generous hosts, Fenwick Elliott for their support and all the other teams, from Coutts, Manhattan Loft Corporation, Atkin Chambers, RLF, Cyril Sweett and Modus Workspace.
Oh and yes, there was a team from CODEP too, named the All Stars after Sierra Leone’s national team. Sadly they could not quite follow the recent feats of the real All Stars with their excellent results against Egypt and South Africa, and failed to climb out of the group stages. However, there’s always next time.
43. Thank you - Liverpool Schools Nov 21 Our next container of books and furniture for the schools in Lunsar is due to leave the UK this week.
The success of our recent book collection is down to many many of you, but in particular up in Liverpool, CODEP would like to thank the staff and pupils of the following schools for their help:
• Lister Drive School, Liverpool;
• Maricourt Catholic High School, Sefton;
• Rice Lane Junior School, Liverpool;
• St Anne’s School, Old Swan;
• English Martyrs Primary School, Bootle;
• St John’s CE Primary School, Waterloo;
• Merchant Taylors’ Girl’s School, Crosby;
• Merchant Taylors’ Boy’s School, Crosby;
• Waterloo Primary School;
• Ursuline Catholic Primary School, Crosby;
• Trinity St Peter’s Primary School, Formby ; and
• Great Crosby Catholic Primary School, Crosby
As you may know the link with Waterloo in Sierra Leone, began in the Waterloo area of Liverpool and currently there are a number of twinning schemes in place between schools in Liverpool and Sierra Leone.
CODEP are delighted that this link is being maintained.
44. November Newsletter Nov 23
This month’s newsletter contains exciting news about our latest partner – London Mining plc.
It is thanks to the generous support of London Mining that we have been able to expand our field of operations into the Lunsar Region. Everyone at CODEP are tremendously grateful for and excited by their assistance.
At the same time, in our newsletter this month, we are able to thank a number of schools in Liverpool who provided valuable assistance during the recent book collection.
CODEP recognise that we are very fortunate indeed to have such enthusiastic support from such widespread groups of people.
So to find out more about what is going on within CODEP and in Sierra Leone, simply click here.
45. Our latest container has now left the UK Nov 28
The next container for Waterloo left BMG’s warehouse in Reading on Wednesday 24 November 2010.
The container was loaded with close to 40 pallets or 1,600 boxes of books, containing well over 35,000 books for the schools in Lunsar. We were also able to fit in some proper library shelving. Our best estimate as to when the container will arrive in Waterloo is just before Christmas.
CODEP, as always, have many people to thank for their help. Simon Darvall, Rachel Houghton and all their team at BMG – the Business Moves Group Ltd, have provided invaluable assistance, moving books and furniture around the country, storing it and then, as you can see from the photos, helping load the container as well.
Then, there is Tony Buzan, pictured here with Lori Spragg who has been another prime mover in sorting out everything to do with the container. Tony is a leading educationalist who has written over 120 books on effective study skills and ‘using your head’. He has given over 100 boxes of new books to Build on Books providing study skill techniques that are desperately needed in Sierra Leone. CODEP are tremendously grateful for his support.
And, of course there’s everyone who has donated either money or even just a handful of books. We say it often, but for very good reason, without your support, we would simply not be able to achieve everything we have to date.
Thank you
The CODEP team
46. First books arrive in Lunsar Dec 3
Just a quick note to say that the first of the books sent for the Lunsar schools have now been distributed. In order to be fair, we decided to commence the distribution by providing each of the 53 schools with an initial batch of 350 books. Our photo shows children at the SLC Primary School.
Our thanks go to London Mining for their help with not just the funding of the shipment but also with the distribution and other logistics in Sierra Leone.
Our thanks also go to Rosetta Kargbo, Fannyann Doherty and everyone involved with the Reading Culture Committee in Waterloo for their continued help and assistance in sorting the books to ensure that each school receives books suitable for the children who attend.
47. More literacy co-ordinator training Dec 14 The final part of the first stage of our literacy co-ordinator training took place on 8 and 9 December 2010 in Waterloo.
This now means that all the literacy co-ordinators at the schools in Waterloo and Lunsar which have received the books you donated have now received their initial training. This training which focuses on librarianship is an essential first step our drive to promote literacy in Sierra Leone. But it is, as we say, a first step. We are now making arrangements for further training in the New Year.
Watch this space!
Our thanks go to the members of the Equiano Library Board in Waterloo who once again helped organise the training.
The CODEP Team
48. Happy Christmas from everyone at CODEP Dec 21 Happy Christmas from everyone involved in CODEP, both in the UK and Sierra Leone.
We would like to thank everyone your generous support over the past 12 months. The festive pictures are cards made by some of the pupils of St Raphael’s school in Waterloo, Sierra Leone.
As set out in our December Newsletter, it has certainly been a busy and exciting time for us., which gives but a flavour of some of the things we have been up to. In short, we will, by the end of the year have delivered over 250,000 books to Sierra Leone and established libraries in over 150 schools in Waterloo and Lunsar. Thanks to the efforts of the Reading Culture Committee in Waterloo, we have also been able to arrange the first stage of training for our literacy co-ordinators, who are teachers in the schools who have volunteered to oversee and look after the books and ensure that they are enjoyed by all the pupils. This is a task that is not as easy as you might think, if you have never had access to books before.
Construction work is also well under way on the first stage – a book sorting facility and children’s library – of the Equiano Centre in Waterloo. We are particularly pleased that we have been able to establish on the job skills training for many of the labourers.
Your generous support means so much to the schools, teachers and pupils in Sierra as until now they have simply not had such a resource. We know we cannot do any of this without you. I was lucky enough to be in Waterloo, Sierra Leone, when one of our containers arrived in September and the excitement of everyone who was present was contagious. I was also able to visit some of the schools in Waterloo which had previously been provided with books and could see that they were being put to good use.
If you would like to follow our projects into 2011, please go to our website www.codep.co.uk or why not join our Facebook page and help up spread the word.
With best wishes for 2011
The CODEP Team
49. First round of literacy training is now complete Jan 5
Just before Christmas, the final stage of the first part of the literacy co-ordinator training took place in Waterloo. This means that all of the literacy co-ordinators in the schools in both Waterloo and Lunsar, where your books have been donated, have now received training in librarianship.
As before, The Hon. Claude Kamanda, MP for the area where the Equiano Centre is based, gave the opening address. He called on the teachers to make use of their opportunitythat has been offered to them: “…we expect you to execute your responsibility, make use of the books, initiate ideas to properly maintain and secure the books, use your skills to encourage and instil in the pupils the culture of reading. You as librarians should be the pointer, the role model and the example.Remember, thousands are out there yearning for such opportunity. Please make sure and make it a duty, to implement the skills and knowledge you will be acquiring or gaining here to the best advantage of the children you represent.”
To read his opening address in full, please click here.
So with the basic training complete, what happens now? Well more training! CODEP are now working with other groups to establish a firm platform for continuing professional development. The first stage of this comes as part of the Literacy Festival, which as set out in our December Newsletter, takes place between 10-12 February 2011 in Waterloo. A number of teachers from schools in Liverpool will be going out to Waterloo at that tijme and they are looking forward to passing on some of their knowledge to our literacy co-ordinators in Waterloo and Lunsar.
Busy but exciting times.
50. CODEP thanks Evesham Library for their generous donation Jan 9 When Evesham Library found that they had some spare shelving that neither they nor local libraries required, it could quite easily have been throw away. However fortunately the staff there did not take that option and CODEP are particularly pleased that the 30 units of shelving are now on a container bound for Waterloo.
Lesley O’Connell Edwards of Evesham Library, who is pictured here with some of the shelves said that:
“We were very pleased to support this exciting initiative to ensure that children in Sierra Leone have access to books and libraries, by donating our surplus library shelving not required by local libraries and other community services in our area. It is good to know that it will continue to have a useful life.”
The shelves will certainly continue to have a useful life as it is likely that the shelving will be used in the Children’s Library which makes up part of the first phase of the Equiano Centre.
Everyone here at CODEP are very grateful to the library staff at Evesham for thinking of us.
51. January Newsletter Jan Welcome to our first newsletter of the year.
This month’s newsletter contains exciting news about some of the preparations for the forthcoming Literacy Festival in Waterloo, Sierra Leone.
Due to take place between 10-12 February 2011, we are honoured by the presence of the Minister of Education Dr Bah, who will be giving the key note address.
ONe of the UK’s leading educationalists, Tony Buzan, will also be attending. Tony has written over 120 books on effective study skills and ‘using your head’.
Another key part of the Festival is the presence of a number of teachers from schools on Liverpool who will be providing further training for our literacy co-ordinators. As we have said before CODEP are very fortunate indeed to have such enthusiastic support from such widespread groups of people.
So to find out more about what is going on within CODEP and in Sierra Leone, simply click here.
52. What's that? Good news from the first phase of the Equiano Centre.
As these photos show, construction is just beginning on the roof.
All rather handy, as we need a roof in place before the rains come again to protect the books and those working hard to sort them!
53. National Festival of Literacy & Culture, 10th-12th February 2011 As you may know, final preparations are underway for the National Festival of Literacy & Culture which takes place in Waterloo from 10th to 12th February 2011.
If you would like to know a little more about what is going on why not read the Festival programme here.
As part of the Festival the CODEP Literacy Co-ordinators will be able to benefit from a number of workshops run by a number of volunteer teachers from Liverpool. If you’d like to see what they will be up to click here.
A lot of hard work has gone into the preparations and we salute the efforts of Rosetta Kargbo and her team in Sierra Leone, Pat O’Brien and the Liverpool teachers and Lori Spragg and Claire Curtis- Thomas in the UK for making everything happen.
We also thank our generous sponsors, London Mining plc.
Good luck to everyone involved on Thursday!
54. More from the Literacy Festival Feb 23 One of the key drivers for everyone at CODEP for the Literacy Festival was the need to continue with the training programme we commenced last year for the Literacy Co-Ordinators. As you may recall, there are two literacy co-ordinators in every school where we have delivered the books you kindly donated. Last year, thanks to the generosity of London Mining, we were able to hold training sessions about librarianship both in Waterloo and Lunsar.
As part of our Literacy Festival, there were two days of further training. That we were able to do this, was down to the sterling efforts of a group of teachers from schools in Liverpool lead by Pat O’Brien from the English Martyrs Catholic Primary School. They put together a fantastic programme, which you can read here.
The aim of the teachers was to share experiences and learn together from each other. Some of the topics under discussion included:
• Working with parent’s to develop their children’s literacy;
• Learning to read – how it works;
• creating an engaging, productive and creative learning environment;
• An understanding of the importance of response to text; and
• Exploring how to develop enquiry skills to support literacy.
The teachers want to provide the opportunity to experience the theory in practice. And of course, as you can see from the pictures, the workshops were meant to be fun as well.
Pat O’Brien and her colleagues from English Martyrs school were not content with simply attending and participating in the Festival, every evening they went back and created their own blog of events. We really do recommend that you have a look – just click here.
Their blog comments that:
“Another inspirational day! It has been a privilege to share our knowledge with the teachers from Waterloo, Sierra Leone.”
Everyone at CODEP, and we know all the literacy co-ordinators in Waterloo and Lunsar, are tremendously grateful for all the efforts of all the Liverpool teachers. It wasn’t just the Liverpool teachers who were inspired and privileged.
55. Dr Bah, the Minister of Education, opens the National Festival of Literacy and Culture Feb 24
Everyone at CODEP was delighted that Dr Bah, the Minister for Education, Science and Technology accepted our invitation to open the Literacy Festival.
His powerful words ensured that the Festival began on a positive yet thought-provoking note. In particular he recalled the words of His Excellency the President, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma who said that the children of Sierra Leone are our diamonds and it is with quality education that we polish and give them value.
Dr Bah continued that:
“The government and the people of Sierra Leone are determined to build an enduring, meaningful, and functional educational system. A strong and functional educational system will promote citizenship, ensure democratic gains, and enhance socio-economic stability.”
Everyone at CODEP hopes that in our small way we can work with our friends in Sierra Leone to assist in this process.
f you would like to read a full version of Dr Bah’s address, please go to our Sierra Leone blog
Dr Bah also commented that the success of the festival was based on people working in partnership with the Waterloo community: “I am pleased to witness this new trend of co-operation between companies, NGO’s and communities and would like to thank London Mining and CODEP UK very sincerely for this laudable initiative of funding the building of libraries in our community.”
Everyone at CODEP thanks Dr Bah both for taking the time to come to Waterloo to open the Festival and also for the generous support he and his colleagues at the Ministry of Education have provided to us over the past year. We very much look forward to continuing that partnership.
56. Festival Newsletter Mar 4
Our February Newsletter naturally enough contains just a little bit more information about the Literacy Festival!
Please click here to read more.
57. Water at the Equiano Centre Mar 20
Something which is of the utmost importance everywhere in Sierra Leone is water.
At the Equiano Centre, our aim is for self sufficiency so that we do not take water away from anywhere else. To achieve that, we needed a bore hole. The first stage of this is now complete and one of our pictures below shows Phil Dobson drawing water.
We hit water at 38 feet, but to be sure, we needed to go deeper, at least another 10 foot.
The work was carried out by an American group from the Willamette Medical Team group – www.willamettemedicalteams.org .
For the technically minded amongst you, the system is a plunger pump that uses a nylon bushing in place of an o-ring on the sliding seal. And perhaps the best thing about the whole process is that every part that was and may in the future be needed is available locally.
58. Sierra Leone 50th Anniversary Apr 26 27th April 2011 marks the 50th Anniversary of the day Sierra Leone gained independence.
CODEP sends best wishes all our friends in Sierra Leone at this happy time.
From CODEP’s point of view, one of the more interesting parts of the celebrations can be seen in the official name of the festivities – 50th Years Forward. Not just celebrating the past, but at the same time looking purposively forward towards improving the future. A sentiment everyone at CODEP would agree with.
Happy Independence and Golden Jubilee celebrations!!
59. And the winners of the CODEP Cup II are..... May 17 And the winners of the CODEP Cup are FE Fusion, who defeated Brookfield FC, the winners from last year, 1-0 in a closely contested final.
FE Fusion captain Chris Farrell is pictured here accepting the Winner’s Trophy from Simon Tolson, senior partner at Fenwick Elliott, the generous hosts of the tournament.
Held to raise awareness and funds for CODEP, our thanks go to the hosts, Fenwick Elliott for their support and all the teams, from Balfour Beatty, Brookfield, BWI Interiors, Cameron Black, Franklin & Andrews, UBM plc and Modus Workspace.
60. News of the Equiano Centre Jun 13
Despite the onset of the rainy season, the latest progress photos taken by Rosetta Kargbo show that parts of the roof are now in place.
So slowly but surely we are getting there and the new books storage and sorting centre and children’s library are getting ever closer to opening.
61. CODEP's new secretary Jun 24
CODEP is pleased to introduce our new secretary, Edward Phillips.
Edward is eminently well qualified for the role. He graduated last year from the University of Southampton in June last year, having obtained an honours degree in Accounting and Finance. Whilst there, he was part of a society called SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise), which operates to:
(i) establish commercial entities to raise funds; and (ii) develop social projects to spend the money.
SIFE Southampton is one of 43 teams in the UK and has social projects running in Southampton, Madagascar and Sierra Leone, amongst other areas. As can be seen from the photo below, SIFE Southampton recently won an Excellence in Volunteering Award. Edward is third from the left!
The SIFE Southampton Sierra Leone project aims to promote self-sustainability within communities in the country, and our team recently committed nearly £9,000 to purchase machinery to aid a community to become profitable through rice production. The profits will be divided amongst; the farmers, to enable them to set up their own farms; the community, to invest in education, healthcare and infrastructure; SIFE, to enable us to expand the model into other communities; and the charity we work with, to enable them to fund their other charitable activities.
62. Forgotten Diamonds Jun 30 CODEP are not alone in working with the people of Sierra Leone to improve literacy. We have recently been talking with others with the same goals. We all recognise that everyone can learn from each other’s experiences.
We thought it would be interesting to introduce you to some of our kindred spirits.
The first is Melonie Kastman. Melonie is a commercial film maker from Texas who travelled to Sierra Leone for the first time in September, 2006. Melonie’s mission is to: “To improve the landscape of literacy in Sierra Leone by providing access to educational resources to the most people in the shortest period of time, and to use the power of film to illustrate the need and then share the results of donations with the donor.”
That certainly strikes a powerful chord with us. Melonie heads the Forgotten Diamonds project – who on February 18, 2009 opened the Ruby Rose Educational Resource Center and Library officially opened its doors in Mogbwemo, in the Bonthe mining district in the South of Sierra Leone.
The Ruby Rose Center operates on a slightly different basis offering children from outlying areas the chance to come in to the center for a day of lessons and also to receive a free hot meal at lunchtime.
To find out more just follow the link here
63. Literacy Development Learning Network Jul 1
You may remember that one of the great successes of the recent Literacy Festival were the workshops run by the Liverpool teachers. All the teachers who attended came back to the UK full of enthusiasm for everything they had seen and wanting to do more.
And now CODEP is pleased to say that those teachers have taken things further and formed the Literacy Development Learning Network (“LDLN”). Each member of the LDLN team is a highly qualified teacher with specific literacy competencies, many of these teachers have participated in school twinning programmes between the UK and SL funded by the British Council.
Headed by Pat O’Brien of English Martyrs Primary School in Bootle and Anne Bentley, the LDLN we hope that the LDLN will be able to pass on its knowledge and experience to the CODEP literacy auditors who can then pass on what they have learnt to their colleagues, the literacy co-ordinators, at the schools in Sierra Leone.
Currently as part of the twinning scheme operated in conjunction with the British Council, a number of teachers from Waterloo are visiting Liverpool both to gain an idea of the UK way of approaching literacy and to share their experiences of the Sierra Leonean way.
The LDLN hope to build on this scheme and to invite to the UK on an annual basis and for a two week period, a small number of Sierra Leone teachers for intensive school based training to learn through taking part in UK teaching sessions which focus on the development of literacy standards. Members of the LDLN intend to travel to Sierra Leone 4 times a year to organise training sessions for the Literacy Auditors. This training will be carried out as a series of small group training sessions. If all goes to plan, CODEP hope that those who benefit from the sessions with the LDLN can then spread the benefits of what they have learnt to their fellow teachers for a wider benefit.
This is exciting news and we will be keeping you fully informed of developments over the next few months.
64. Sierra Leone teachers in Liverpool Jul 8
For the past couple of weeks, thanks to a twinning initiative supported by the British Council, a number of teachers from Waterloo have been able to come over to the UK and spend some time with their English colleagues.
Pictured here are Mrs Cole and Mr Vincent from Bassa Town Infants School. They spent time with Pat O’Brien at English Martyrs Primary School in Bootle. Pat, of course, is one of the inspirations behind CODEP’s Literacy Development Learning Network.
We are particularly pleased that Fannyann Doherty who is the chairwoman of the Reading Culture Committee in Waterloo was one of the teachers who made the trip. She is pictured here with Claire Jasper a colleague of Pat O’Brien.
And yes, there has, of course, been time for a little extra-curricular activity. Anyone who has been to Waterloo will fully appreciate that a trip to Anfield and Liverpool FC would be a real highlight.
We hope that we will be able to assist in organising regular trips too for members of the LDLN to visit Waterloo.
If you woud like to learn more about the LDLN, please click here.
65. Latest images of the Equiano Centre Jul 29 Architect Nick Willson, of who was behind the design of the Equiano Centre, has produced a short note containing both recent photos of the first part of the centre together with images of what the entire centre will look like.
To see these images just click here.
In his note, Nick describes the centre thus: “The concept for the centre, which evolved through research, is ‘a journey to literacy’ that leads to the precious jewel box of knowledge. The four steps to literacy are expressed within a village-like campus, which is made up of small-scale buildings, outdoor spaces, reading areas, as well as venues to show films and hold book readings. The buildings are constructed from local timber, metal roofs and bricks.”
66. International Development Select Committee Aug 9 Given her extensive experience and knowledge of Sierra Leone, it is not surprising that our Chair, Dr Claire Curtis-Thomas should have supplied detailed written evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee on International Development.
The Select Committee is undertaking an inquiry into infrastructure development. As Claire notes in her written evidence, this development is central to efforts to reduce poverty. What is needed is business, engineering and industry experience which focuses on the imperative of development to address the economic crisis facing the country. Importantly that experience should be shared and locals should be part of the team involved, at every level, in the execution of the project.
At CODEP we have seen for ourselves that many of the practical courses are delivered on a blackboard, simply because there is no money for equipment or materials. What we are trying to do, albeit in a small way, is provide practical experience whether it is for those building or those teaching wherever we can. As Claire concluded in her comments to the Committee:
“The emphasis placed on investment must be matched by a commitment to extract the maximum training opportunities which can be derived from that investment.”
If you want to read Claire’s written evidence to the Infrastructure and Development in full, please click here.
Alternatively, if you want to explore further what the Select Committee has been upn to, click here to access the Select Committee site.
67. Thanks to BMG another container will shortly be on its way! Nov 6
We may have said before how grateful we are for the support everyone at Business Moves Group give to CODEP. Well let us say it again!
BMG have provided CODEP with an extraordinary amount of support over the last three years, collecting the books and furniture you have donated from around the country free of charge – an amazing act of generosity.
Now, BMG have generously agreed to fund the shipping of the next container. That container will be leaving shortly, packed with books, shelves and other library equipment.
So thank you Simon Darvall (chairman) and Rachel Houghton (CEO) and everyone else at Business Moves Group.
To find out more about BMG please
68. Global development voices: Africa's teachers Nov 10
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/oct/31/voices-of-african- teachers-mdg2
Last week, the Guardian newspaper ran an article in which eight teachers from the Ivory Coast, South Sudan, Ghana, Uganda and Angola set out details of the progress of education in their country, including explaining what they saw as the biggest challenges for African teachers and students – as well as their hopes for the future.
We thought it would be interesting to see how the teachers of Waterloo would answer the same questions. John Mami, one of the CODEP team, went and asked Michael Bockarie Kondoma and Hannah Sannoh of St. Rachael’s Primary School. This is what they had to say:
Michael Bockarie Kondoma Age: 52
St. Rachael’s Primary School, Waterloo
Q1. What steps are being taken to achieve universal primary eduaction in Sierra Leone?
Education should be a continuous process throughout an individual’s life and achieving this involves a lot of patient dedication and self devotion. The provision of free primary school education for all children attending government assisted schools is a vital step in the process of achieveing universal primary school education in Sierra Leone. Whilst primary education is currently being provided freely, the cost of school uniforms is not covered.
Another step taken by the Sierra Leone goverment to achieve universal primary eduaction is the payment of all National Primary School Education (NPSC) candidates fees to the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC). These measures aim to encourage parents to allow their children to go to school, particularly young girls.
Q2.What is your personal daily teaching challenge?
Having been a school teacher for some considerable time, my personal daily teaching challenge is seeing that children are educated well enough to become self-reliant having gone through a Tech-Voc institution, and instilling in them a lasting sense of moral and civic duty.
Q3. What should the international community do to help improve education in Sierra Leone?
The international community can support the Sierra Leone government by providing assistance that would enable schools to employ qualified and specialist teachers that are properly paid. Assistance is also required for the provision of necessary learning and teaching materials and to ensure continuance of the feeding programme. The feeding programme is crucial as it provides underprivileged children with adequate sustenance during school hours and therefore, for many, enables regular access to education which they would not otherwise have.
Q4. What are your hopes for improving education in Sierra Leone?
I hope to see every child at the age of 6 years (the minimum age at which children can enroll in school in Sierra Leone), regardless of any disability, attending school from 2015. All twelve districts in the Republic should have appropriately equipped schools, with suitably qualified, trained and properly paid teachers. Such provision is especially important in remote areas.
Hannah F. Sannoh Age: 37
St. Rachael’s Primary School
Q1. What steps are being taken to achieve universal primary education in Sierra Leone?
The aim of current government efforts is to expand educational facilities all over the country, with a special focus on remote areas, and raise awareness to help encourage parents to send their children to school, in particular, young girls.
Q2. What is your personal daily teaching challenge?
To impart knowledge and to instil in children a good sense of civic and moral duty. To enable pupils to eventually become self reliant and productive members of their communities.
Q3. What should the international community do to help improve education in Sierra Leone?
The international community could support Sierra Leone by helping to provide food for school children as part of the food programme, thereby alleviating hunger and allowing the most vulnerable children access to education. Schools in Sierra Leone are in desperate need of basic equipment and teaching materials. Further provision of adequate healthcare for children, especially those from the poorest families, would be of immense benefit and would help ensure regular attendance. Further measures to assist parents by providing microcredit loans with small amounts of interest would help to provide a better home life for children generally.
Q4. What are your hopes for improving education in Sierra Leone?
Teachers need to be provided with adequate training so that schools can recruit and retain appropriately qualified staff. Part of the problem in recruiting and retaining teachers are low salaries that deter people from taking up the profession. In order to develop and improve Sierra Leone’s education system, it is vital that wages for teachers increase. As mentioned above, there is also a desperate need for appropriate teaching materials in schools. Additionally, I hope to see the construction of more school buildings and provision of further space in class rooms as many are currently severely overcrowded.
To read the Guardian article, please click here
69. Morgan Sindall stroll to success in the latest CODEP cup Dec 2 The Morgan Sindall Strollers came out on top at the latest CODEP cup held on Friday 25 November 2011. The winning captain, Ray Mcauley is pictured here receiving the trophy from Simon Tolson, senior partner of the generous hosts Fenwick Elliott.
In another hard-fought tournament the Strollers triumphed over a determined Clancy Dowcra team in the final.
Held to raise awareness and funds for CODEP, our thanks again go to the hosts, Fenwick Elliott for their support and all the teams, from Morgan Sindall, Clancy Dowcra, Bam Nuttall, BWI Interiors and Cameron Black.
70. Happy Christmas from everyone here at CODEP Dec 23 Happy Christmas from everyone involved in CODEP, both in the UK and Sierra Leone.
We would like to thank everyone your generous support over the past 12 months.
As set out in our December Newsletter, it has certainly been another busy and exciting year for us.
We are particularly looking forward to building on the work started by the Literacy Development and Learning Network, headed by Ed Varey up in Liverpool. Working with the Reading Culture Committee in Waterloo, we hope that they will be able to maintain the training for our literacy co-ordinators, who are teachers in the schools who have volunteered to oversee and look after the books and ensure that they continue to be enjoyed by all the pupils.
Construction work is also well under way on the first stage – a book sorting facility and children’s library – of the Equiano Centre in Waterloo. We are particularly pleased that we have been able to establish on the job skills training for many of the labourers.
Your generous support means so much to the schools, teachers and pupils in Sierra and we are all too aware that we cannot do any of this without you.
If you would like to follow our projects into 2012, please go to our website www.codep.co.uk or why not join our Facebook page and help up spread the word.
With best wishes for 2012
The CODEP Team
71. Excellent news! The latest container has just arrived in Waterloo Feb 22
With massive thanks to our friends at Business Moves Group (BMG) for their generous support in meeting all the transportation costs, we are pleased to report that the container which left the UK in November has now finally arrvied in Waterloo.
As you can see from the pictures, within the container were both books and furniture for the schools
As you can also see from the photos, the task of unloading the container went deep into the night! Thank you to Rosetta and her team for all their hard work.
There’s no rest though for Rosetta and co, as their next task is to sort the books and decide where they can best be used.
72. World Book Day 2012 Feb 29
1st March 2012, marks World Book Day.
We thought this was the perfect excuse to thank you once again for all your kind donations to date. The latest books which have just arrived in Waterloo will soon be sorted and ready for distribution.
Pictured above is the library at St Raphael’s, a school in Waterloo. You can see the books are ready for use.
Pictured below are some children from Our Lady of Kwama Community School in Kwama, near Waterloo.
And of course, it is not just the children who use the books. Many of the teachers, and not just our literacy co-ordinators, make full use of the books. Pictured below are teachers from St Raphael’s and St Clement Junior Catholic Secondary schools.
The support of the teachers and their willingness to keep on learning is a powerful driver in our work.
Thank you again for all your generous assistance.
Look out soon for further details of how you can help us by collecting more books.
The CODEP team
73. Teachers' Workshops, Waterloo, Sierra Leone, February 2012 Mar 7
Last month, CODEP together with a group of teachers and students from Liverpool, worked together to put on a training workshop for the teachers in Waterloo.
The teachers and 6th Form students were from Liverpool, UK who were visiting Waterloo, SL as part of DFID’s Global School Partnership program.
With the organisational support from Rosetta Kargbo and her literacy team in SL the teachers and students delivered a teaching workshop at the end of the school day. Fano, Bassa Town, Benguima, Kankaylay, Bread of Life and St. Raphael’s primary schools hosted ‘Big Book’ training while St. Raphael’s and Nelson Mandela Junior Secondary schools hosted ‘Questioning’ training.
In total approximately 200 SL teachers attended the workshops. Some of the delegates were the staff from the Waterloo schools and many were the CODEP Literacy Coordinators who are based in a number of schools in Waterloo.
Although the above photo may be a little hard to see, the words the teachers are holding up make up, when un-scrambled, “we are going on a lion hunt” which provides an interesting discussion point.
The instant feedback received was very positive with the teachers willingly and enthusiastically joining in with the strategies delivered during the workshops. Equally importantly, the UK teachers and students reported that they had enjoyed delivering the workshops.
The following day Edward Phillips and Helen Pinnington, who is pictured in our first photo, met with the CODEP’s Lead Learners, Frank, Isatu and Victor together with Rosetta and John to discuss next steps.
The first challenge will be for Frank, Victor and Isatu to monitor if the teachers who attended the training are using the strategies they learnt in their classrooms, thereby improving their own teaching skills as well as the independent literacy skills of their pupils.
CODEP have every confidence in our SL based literacy team, as the Lead Learners are developing strong relationships with their Literacy Coordinators and are sure that as the SL teachers begin to use the strategies they have learnt, they will be able to pass them on to their colleagues and as importantly work together and perhaps develop their own strategies themselves.
We already know that the group of staff who attended the workshop at Kanakylay school have already arranged to meet together at the end of February with their schemes of work which inform their lesson planning to see where they can incorporate the strategies with the curriculum set by the SL Government.
These workshops mark a small but important step in the process of equipping the teachers in Waterloo and Lunsar with a set of teaching strategies to help use the books that have been so kindly donated in an interactive way to improve the literacy skills of the children they teach. At CODEP we hope that we will be able to continue working with teachers in this way.
CODEP are incredibly grateful both to the teachers and students from Liverpool for so generously giving up their time and to the teachers who so willingly participated in the workshops.
74. Congratulations Rosetta Mar 25 Just a quick note from everyone here at CODEP to congratulate Rosetta, who as you probably know, looks after everything for us in SL.
Rosetta recently completed her Bsc Hon. in Business Administration at the University of Sierra Leone.
You can see a picture here of Rosetta at her recent convocation ceremony. Excellent.
Rosetta – we are all very proud of you.
The CODEP team.
75. Teachers' workshops, Lunsar and Port Loko - April 2012 We recently wrote about the workshops run in Waterloo in February of this year.
One of the principles behind those workshops was that, through an umbrella or cascade system, teachers who attended the Waterloo workshops could then host their own workshops for colleagues and/or teachers from schools who had not been able to attend the first sessions.
We are pleased to say that the cascade has now spread to Lunsar and Port Loko, where on 19 and 20 April, workshops were held for the CODEP literacy co-ordinators from the schools where the books donated by you have been distributed.
The workshops were organised by Rosetta and lead by teachers from Waterloo, namely:
Harry E. Vincent – from R. E. C. Infant Bassa Town Waterloo;
Mrs. Massah M. Zoker – from Peninsula Secondary School Waterloo; Victor A Kamara a CODEP Lead Learner;
Isatu B. Kamara a CODEP Lead Learner.
In Lunsar we were very fortunate that the the Hon. Daramy attended whilst Chief Administrator of Port Loko District Council, Alfred Samura attended the Port Loko workshops. Habib Sesay, from London Mining was also present. Their support is much appreciated by us all and is it particularly important for CODEP that we are able to work with the local community leaders so that we can ensure that we are able to provide services that are needed and wanted.
We always like it when a plan comes together!!!
76. FE Fusion regain the Codep Cup
The FE Fusion regained the CODEP Cup following a hard fought 4-3 win in the final against a determined Obi One Kenobi Nil from BWI Interiors.
Both teams are pictured below with their trophies.
Full details of the event can be found by opening the programme here.
The winning captain, Adam Whitton is pictured here receiving the trophy from Simon Tolson, senior partner of the generous hosts Fenwick Elliott.
Held to raise awareness and funds for CODEP, our thanks again go to the hosts, Fenwick Elliott for their support and all the teams, from Morgan Sindall, BWI Interiors, Ramboll, Legal 500, Davies Maguire + Whitby and 39 Essex Street.
77. Victor Chukuma Johnson Jul 28
Everyone here was deeply saddened to learn of the sudden death of The Honourable Victor Chukuma Johnson.
Victor was the MP for Constituency 94, Western Rural, one of the constituencies in Waterloo. He was also Deputy Speaker of the Sierra Leone Parliament and Vice Chairman of the APC party.
In May of this year, Victor was presented with the Medal of Commander of the Order of the Republic of Sierra Leone by President Koroma.
Victor was a true friend of CODEP. He gave us sound advice, which we try to follow. He gave us generous support, letting us stay in his house, which we were tremendously grateful for. We owe him a great debt and would not have been able to achieve half us much as we have, without him.
I met with Victor at the beginning of June. He bought me lunch at the Sierra Leone Parliament. Prior to that lunch I was fortunate to see him in action as Deputy Speaker. As with everything he did, he brought a quiet authority to the role. Yes, you could see the often-present twinkle in his eye, but you sensed that, if need be, behind that there was steel.
Over lunch, he told me about the recent steps he had taken to provide medical equipment for some of the outlying regions of his constituency. We also discussed CODEP’s future plans. As always, he gave us some wise advice, which we shall follow.
He told me he was going to do more to help his people. He said we should do more. He was right – he always was. We should. We will.
I shall remember Victor with great fondness. I shall miss his infectious sense of fun and discussing the up and downs of Liverpool FC. Most of all I shall miss his kindness and wisdom.
Our sympathies go to his family and friends.
Jeremy and everyone at CODEP.
78. Teachers' workshops, Tombo – July 2012 We have previously written about our workshops for teachers run in Waterloo and Lunsar earlier in the year. The latest training session took place in Tombo, the fishing port near to Waterloo.
We were delighted that the Deputy Chair of the Western Area Rural District Council was able to attend.
Once again, one of the principles behind those workshops was that, through an umbrella or cascade system, teachers who attended the Waterloo workshops could then host their own workshops for colleagues and/or teachers from schools who had not been able to attend the first sessions.
Teachers from 21 schools in Tombo, primarily schools, where the books donated by you have been distributed. able to attend the workshops, were able to attend.
The workshops were, as usual, impeccably organised by Rosetta and lead by teachers from Waterloo, namely:
Harry E. Vincent – from R. E. C. Infant Bassa Town Waterloo;
Mrs. Massah M. Zoker – from Peninsula Secondary School Waterloo;
Victor A Kamara a CODEP Lead Learner;
Isatu B. Kamara a CODEP Lead Learner.
Everyone is looking forward to the next round of training, which we hope will take place early next year.
79. Working with the Sierra Leone Library Board
As the opening of the Children’s Library draws closer, CODEP are keen to take advice from every source. This is one of the reasons why Rosetta and Trustee Jeremy Glover met with representatives from the Sierra Leone Library Board in June 2012.
Rosetta met with the Library Board again at then end of 2012 when Mr Salieu Curay the head of the library board, Muriel Hurtis came down to Waterloo. They have kindly volunteered to help Rosetta and her team when it comes to recruiting staff to run the children’s library and also setting up the books.
We value their support and assistance.
80. Date for your diary Just to let you know that the CODEP AGM will be held on Monday 14 January 2012 at 6.30pm.
The venue for the AGM is 60 Newman Street, London W1T 3DA, the offices of Ramboll.
Thank you
The CODEP team
81. Ramboll win the Codep Cup
The Ramboll Fury captured the CODEP Cup following a hard fought win in the final against the holders FE Fusion.
Fenwick Elliott partner Jeremy Glover and FE Fusion team member is pictured below presenting the trophy to Ramboll captain Kalil Kane.
The win was doubly deserved as Ramboll are another of CODEP’s partners, and Kalil himself has assisted with the design of the first phase of the Equiano Centre, the charity’s learning and literacy resource centre in Sierra Leone.
Held to raise awareness and funds for CODEP, our thanks again go to the hosts, Fenwick Elliott for their support and all the teams, from Morgan Sindall, BWI Interiors, Ramboll, Legal 500, RLF, The Breyer Group and OD Projects.
82. The CODEP team hard at work. Whatever the weather, whatever the time of day, Rosetta and her team in Waterloo will be hard at work.
They are pictured here, at midnight, unloading the latest container from our great friends at Business Moves Group.
Next stop the Teachers Workshops and Literacy Festival in February 2013!
83. Preparations for the Literacy Festival Preparations are now underway for the forthcoming Literacy Festival which incorporates a number of teacher training workshops.
One of the key features of the Festival is the Children’s Quiz. Yes its fun, but its also keenly contested. It is just as well that Lead Learner Victor Kamara is on hand to maintain good order.
In Tombo, pupils from Jui Primary School made the final.
While the photo below shows the crowds who gathered in Lunsar. This was the first time we had been able to run the quiz up in Lunsar and it certainly created some interest.
The finals will be held as part of the Festival on 21 February 2011.
As always our thanks go to Rosetta and her team for organizing everything.
84. The Chukuma Johnson Children's Library We are deeply honoured to be able to name our children’s library after the late Victor Chukuma Johnson.
As many of you may know, Victor was the MP for Constituency 94, Western Rural, one of the constituencies in Waterloo. He was also Deputy Speaker of the Sierra Leone Parliament and Vice Chairman of the APC party.
Victor was a true friend of CODEP. He gave us sound advice, which we try to follow. He gave us generous support, which we are tremendously grateful for. We owe him a great debt and would not have been able to achieve half us much as we have, without him.
It was also clear to us and Victor loved children and as importantly he recognised the value of literacy and reading. At the initial ground-breaking ceremony, Dr. Minkailu Bah, the Minister of Education memorably described children as the being the true diamonds of Sierra Leone, a sentiment Victor shared.
We hope that our children’s library can play a small role in helping and inspiring those who are taking the first steps in learning to read. Who knows, maybe some will be inspired to follow in Victor’s worthy footsteps.
We are, of course, very grateful to Victor’s family, for allowing us to name the library in his honour.
The CODEP team.
85. Literacy Festival Newsletter Our February Newsletter naturally enough contains just a little bit more information about the opening of the Chukuma Johnson Memorial Library!
Please click here to read more.
86. World Book Day 2013
7th March 2012, marks World Book Day.
We thought this was the perfect excuse to thank you once again for all your kind donations to date, many of which now sit in our children’s library.
It is early days but it is rather interesting to see what type of books are creating the most interest. Now, this may come as a surprise, but the books which are most frequently taken down from the shelves are the three text books which provide details and illustrations showing how the human body works. Everyone is fascinated by the drawings and descriptions.
We also knew from speaking with teachers, that the dictionaries would be a valuable resource and so it has proved. And we know it is not just the teachers who are using them.
Amongst younger children, the story of Gerald the Giraffe who can’t dance has proved a hit, which is rather apt as this is one of the eight £1 World Book Day books in the UK. Eyes are also drawn to classics such as the Hungry Caterpillar and Monkey Puzzle.
It’s early days of course, but it will be fascinating to learn what books are really appreciated and what type of books we will need to find more of, as more people come and use the library.
Thank you again for all your generous assistance.
The CODEP Library team
87. Meet our lead learners
As well as running our library, our team in Waterloo and Port Loko work with teachers in the schools where we have set up libraries. This is where our Lead Learners or Literacy Auditors come in.
Here are – from left to right – Frank, Isatu and Victor.
Frank is based in Lunsar and Port Loko, whilst Isatu and Victor look after the schools in Waterloo. As we have said before, we do not think it is enough simply to deliver the books to the schools of Waterloo and Lunsar, we want to help the teachers deliver a culture of literacy. Frank, Isatu and Victor play a valuable role in this. They are our link with the schools and teachers.
They visit every one of the schools where we have established mini-libraries on a regular basis, check the books and being used and find out from the teachers what more we can do to help.
In part they are there to audit the books you have donated in the strict sense of the word, but much more importantly are also there to provide support to the teachers and to work with them to make the most out of the books.
They also have another important role. They provide us with regular reports which are an invaluable aid to everyone here in the UK in helping us understand how things are going and what else needs to be done.
88. FE Fusion regain the Codep Cup The FE Fusion regained the CODEP Cup following a hard fought 4-3 win in the final against a determined Obi One Kenobi Nil from BWI Interiors.
Both teams are pictured below with their trophies.
Full details of the event can be found by opening the programme here.
The winning captain, Adam Whitton is pictured here receiving the trophy from Simon Tolson, senior partner of the generous hosts Fenwick Elliott.
Held to raise awareness and funds for CODEP, our thanks again go to the hosts, Fenwick Elliott for their support and all the teams, from Morgan Sindall, BWI Interiors, Ramboll, Legal 500, Davies Maguire + Whitby and 39 Essex Street.
89. The Library in May
We like it when a plan comes together.
The latest news from Rosetta is that following consultation with local schools a rota has been drawn up and in May, pupils from 20 schools in the Waterloo District will be visiting the Library, where they will gain extra tuition in learning to read and other key literacy skills.
This should mean that we will be able to help over 600 children this month alone.
However that is not all, we are aware of the need to try and broaden the appeal of the library to those who do not go to school, young and old.
We will therefore be running Saturday Story Telling sessions. The stories will be traditional ones and one of the aims of Rosetta and her colleagues is to try and help to over come the children’s natural shyness as well as improve their fluency.
You can also see from the photos that we have also been able to distribute some more books to the schools.
It’s good to see the library being put to such good use.
90. Distributing Books to the Waterloo School More great news from Rosetta and her team in Waterloo.
In the last few weeks, as well as running the library and organising lessons for the local schools, they have also been busy distributing books to schools in Waterloo. At the last count, 53 schools have received 16,295 books between them.
On top of this, each has school has received on average 5 dictionaries and thesaurus’s. Dictionaries are like gold dust. Every time we go out to Sierra Leone, teachers and as well as children always put dictionaries at the top of their wish list. So we are really pleased to have been able to provide the schools with a small number of these, being careful always to keep a proper stock and supply.
We are really grateful to all the support and generous donations we have received around the UK, including from BMG who are always willing to help transport books around the UK and as well libraries such as those in Bracknell Foerest as well as the many individual donations we have received.
Thanks again to Rosetta and everyone at the library.
91. What the Waterloo Teachers think of the new library Rosetta has been asking some of the local teachers for their views on the new library. As you’ll see their comments are very encouraging.
Headteacher: Nafisatu A. Thollie, headteacher at Rural Education Committee Primary School Waterloo said:
The library is very important and timely. It responds to a need of the community of Waterloo and Sierra Leone. The culture of reading was lost long ago, but with the establishment of the school libraries and the construction of the Chukuma Johnson Children’s Library, it has waken up the culture of reading and this will benefit generations yet unborn.
It beautifies the village and even adults are motivated to read. A big thank you to CODEP U.K. I pray that you get more funds to extend the Library.
The classes that are held in the Library are just wonderful. I welcome the idea. I want more than one class to attend the library everyday. The children were so happy when they came back from the library. All of them had a book each to read and there were enough chairs for them to sit. It is conducive for learning and there was classroom control.
Recommendation:
I am asking that the Library be also equipped with our school curriculum books. If possible, let the number of staff be increased so that the library will be used at night.
Sulaiman B. Conteh, Deputy Headmaster at Kulafai Islamic Primary School , York Road , Waterloo said:
The Library structure is timely. When we look from Masiaka in the northern province to Tombo which is part of the Western Area, there is no library. It has improved the culture of reading. Our children can read and comprehend. They can now boast of books they have read. Classes held in the Library are very necessary. The children are really making use of the library. I want those classes to continue. All the children in the school are eager to go to the library. I am asking for more space to be provided so that more classes will be held in a day.
I want to commend the staff especially Rosetta Kargbo. She has been working very hard in the library. The librarians are always encouraging the children to use the books and all facilities in the library. The big thank you goes to CODEP U.K. for this wonderful gift. God bless you.
Fatmata C. Davies, head teacher at Mount Mizar Primary School Lumpa said:
The library is timely. The books have helped to improve the standard of education of our children. The library classes were so wonderful that the children want to attend everyday. To CODEP UK, I say a big thank you. I pray that you continue your good work in Sierra Leone. A special thanks goes to Rosetta and her team for the hard work tolerance and patience!
We have noted with pride the comments about the hard work of Rosetta and her team. Without them, none of this would be possible. It is just so good to see firm evidence of the value of the library now that it is finally in operation.
As Trustee Sebastian Wood commented on reading the comments, they provide just the inspiration we need to try and do more, whether that is raise funds, collect books or maybe even build further facilities!!
92. What the children of Waterloo think about the new library When Rosetta asked the teachers what they thought about the library, she didn’t forget to ask the most important people of all, the children! Here’s what two of them had to say! Their words speak for themselves about the benefits your generosity and donations are bringing to the people of Waterloo.
Thank you!
Adama Sesey from Class Six at the Kulafai Islamic Primary School said:
I went to the Chukuma Johnson Library for classes. I have never enjoyed any class like that class. All of us had a book each and one seat to one person, which has never been in my school. The book I read was “ Aaarrghh Spider”. I want my friends to visit the library. If I can get such lessons everyday, my standard of education will be like pupils in the U.K. Thank you very much CODEP.
Ibrahim Sesay from class six at the Mount Mizar Primary School Lumpa said:
The Library class was good. I enjoyed reading two books. “Owl Babies and Spider”. I enjoyed that class more than my classes at school. Thank you very much CODEP UK and Sierra Leone.
93. The CODEP Team: Library Management Board
The CODEP Team in Sierra Leone, as you all know is headed by the indefatigable Rosetta Kargbo. See here with her colleagues who work at the library.
She works with a number of groups, many of them voluntary ones. Of these, one of the most important is the Library Management Board. They provide us with invaluable advice and guidance based on their not inconsiderable expertise.
Their skills and knowledge can be gauged from their roles within the Waterloo community. The members of the Board are:
Alusine H. Sesay: Chairman
Hon. Claude D. M. Kamanda: Member of Parliament
Fatmata B. Kamara: Chairman Education Committee District Council
Umar S. Sesay: Councillor
Mr. Denis O Browne: Headman Waterloo Community
Mrs Sarah Umu Sankoh: Member – Community women
Miss Fanny Doherty: Member – Reading Culture
Mr Unisa Kamara: Member – Youth Mr. Julius Fisher: Member – Community
Mr Abdul Kanu: Member – Small traders
Mrs. Rosetta N. Kargbo: CODEP
We are tremendously grateful that so many people are prepared to give up so much of their valuable time to help us.
The CODEP Team in the UK
94. Books for Sierra Leone's children written by Sierra Leone's authors One of the recent editions to the Library is rather special.
Rosetta went to meet with Alieu Kamara of PEN SL who with help from CODE, a Canadian NGO who have been supporting Development through Education for over 50 years have been able to publish and print eight children’s books written by local authors.
Alieu explained that having moved from their starting base in Kenema, PEN SL help to train writers. They also usually have annual writers workshop called Talabi A. C. Lucan writers workshop.
We were delighted that PEN SL were generous enough to donate one set of the eight books that have been published for the library and Rosetta has invited Alieu to come and visit the library and we look forward to seeing him, or one of the new authors very soon.
The pictures in this article are covers of some of the books.
95. Autumn Term at the Chukuma Johnson Library
As we have said before, we like it when a plan comes together – especially when that plan is a simple one!
Following the rainy season, Rosetta and the team at the library have once again, following consultation with local schools, drawn up a rota to enable the youngest children from local schools in the Waterloo District to keep on visiting the Library, where they will gain extra tuition in learning to read and other key literacy skills.
This means that we will continue to be able to help well over 600 young children every month.
Our lead learners, Victor and Isatu are able to lead sessions designed to do more than just help children learn to read. One of their aims is to try and help to over come the children’s natural shyness as well as improve their fluency and literacy skills.
Rosetta tells us that the sessions are so popular that often the children stay all day – with the permission of their teachers of course!
Of course, as you can see from the photos, the classes only take up a small space. The rest of the library is there for the use of everyone and Rosetta and everyone at the library continue to do all they can to encourage everyone who does not go to school, whether they be young or old.
Ps – Is it really called Autumn Term in Waterloo? If anyone can find out, please let us know!
96. Nelson Mandela RIP
97. December Reading Competition We are always looking for ways to support and improve literacy and the Library Management Committee in Waterloo proposed that we should hold a reading competition. 40 schools were invited, 33 took part and following fierce competition, the finals were held on 12 December 2013.
We were delighted that Mrs Momoh Mrs. who represented the Deputy Director of Education of the Western Area Rural District and Councillor Fatmata Bowara Kamara who is the chairperson of the Education Committee of the Council, were amongst those who attended the finals.
It is important to us that we always work with the local authorities as much as possible to support and where possible provide assistance to their ongoing efforts to improve education in the Waterloo area and we were pleased to learn from comments made by Mrs Momoh in her address before the finals commenced that the external examination results for both Primary and Junior Secondary Schools were encouraging.
Mrs Momoh also, as can be seen from the photo, helped to present the prizes.
We are most grateful to the Council for their support and we look forward to continuing to work with them.
98. Happy Anniversary - the library one year on! February 20th 2014 marks the first birthday of our library!
Our thanks go to Rosetta and her team for all their hard work over the past year.
We know that the classes they run for the 4-5 year olds have proven to be a great success! Headteacher: Nafisatu A. Thollie, headteacher at Rural Education Committee Primary School Waterloo told us that: “The classes that are held in the Library are just wonderful. I welcome the idea. I want more than one class to attend the library everyday. The children were so happy when they came back from the library. All of them had a book each to read and there were enough chairs for them to sit. It is conducive for learning and there was classroom control.”
Our task now, is to keep up the good work!
Here’s to the library’s second birthday!
CODEP
99. Further Teacher Training From Our Friends in Liverpool
We are pleased to be able to report that during their annual visit to Waterloo, the teachers from Liverpool, once again took time out to provide training for some of the teachers from the Waterloo and Lunsar/Port Loko regions. They have done this now for the past four years and we know that their efforts are greatly appreciated by all the teachers in Waterloo.
Before the Liverpool teachers came, Rosetta held a series of meetings with teachers at the local school all of whom requested the inclusion of mathematics and science in the programme of teaching activities. The teachers from Liverpool were more than willing to help.
Our plan, as before is that the teachers who were trained will act as facilitators to train the other teachers in workshops over the next few months.
We were also really pleased to learn that our Library staff members were trained in story-telling. We hope that they will be able to encourage non-school going children to be coming to the Library. As you can see from the pictures, pre-school children and their parents were invited to the Library and story telling classes were held. We hope to continue to try and encourage parents to bring their children to the Library for story telling classes.
Indeed, our librarians have now been given the task of providing story telling to non-school going children, nursery school children, and adults. They will be able to use some of the teaching aids were left in the library for them to use by the Liverpool teachers in their teaching.
Everyone at CODEP in the UK and Sierra Leone would like to express their sincere thanks to all the teachers from Liverpool who provided the training. They have many other commitments of their own in Waterloo, and the fact that they are able to devote some of their valued time to helping us is much appreciated and valued.
So thank you all, especially to the teachers from All Saints Primary, English Martyrs Primary, Maricourt High School, Rimrose Hope Primary School and Winnick Primary School.
The CODEP Team
100. Ebola: how we can help - advice from UNICEF
We are working together with our friends and partners at Build on Books and the Waterloo Partnership, to try and co-ordinate our response to the Ebola crisis.
Lori Spragg who runs Build on Books has contacted UNICEF who are coordinating the response to ebola in Sierra Leone and spoke to Mr Roland Monash who is charge of all ebola logistics. Lori obtained some useful advice about what we can do to help.
The way the treatment of ebola is supposed to work is that only special ebola response teams are allowed to treat or move ebola positive patients and they must move them in special ambulance to Kenema and Kalihun, the only two Ebola Treatment Centres in Sierra Leone. The ebola response teams visit quarantined people daily, the quarantined are not yet Ebola positive. They test them and send anyone who tests positive to the centres.
Local health workers and anyone else are not supposed to touch or treat anyone with ebola symptoms. People without symptoms are not infectious. However Rosetta has told us that the extent of the tragedy in Sierra Leone is so great that there are simply insufficient resources. The local health team in Waterloo, led by Mr Jajua are having to test the suspected cases themselves. They are also the only ones visiting and monitoring the quarantined people in their homes. For this they need protective gear. This cannot be washed with chlorine and has to be burnt. The ebola response ambulance can take a long time by which time contamination can occur.
Lori asked how we can best help the situation in Waterloo. Mr Monarsh advised that we concentrate on the following:
(i) Prevention and sensitivation training. This is to get the “no touching” message across;
(ii) Supplies to the health centre including gloves, protective and sanitisation equipment, chlorine drums, hand sanitisers, liquid soap, floor brushes. All the SL health clinics are running low on equipment and supplies of every kind.
(iii) Food Aid for the quarantined (and health workers as needed);
(iv) Increasing food supplies.
This is and will be the focus of all our collective efforts in the UK and SL. If you would like to help, please go to our Just Giving Page
The CODEP Team
101. Ebola awareness and prevention training Both the CODEP teams in Sierra Leone and the UK have taken advice on how we can best help the community in Waterloo. That advice, from UNICEF and the local CHO has stressed two things:
(i) Education; and
(ii) Providing aid both in humanitarian terms as well as medical, preventative and sanitation equipment.
We have already made one donation to provide aid, more with your help will follow shortly, and we are pleased to be able to report that the CODEP team in SL, led by Rosetta, have now been able to organise training on ebola awareness and prevention. One of the priority needs across the country is information. Most people, even now, know very little about ebola in terms of its nature, effects, symptoms and means of prevention.
Thanks to the generosity of your donations, Rosetta and her colleagues arranged training at our library and also out in the Waterloo markets. They were assisted by the Hon, Claude Kamanda, the MP for the district where the library is sited. The Community Health Officer, Mr James Jajua, helped to provide the ebola prevention advice and we were pleased to be joined by Alieu Badara from the Waterloo Partnership.
The markets are a key feature of life in SL and this means that the market women play a major role in SL society. They sell food stuff and other goods to everyone regardless of their status. They are therefore very well placed to pass on what they have learnt to others. The CODEP team went out to the market places of Waterloo, distributing buckets and other sanitisation and preventative materials as well as explaining how everyone can help stop the spread of this disease.
Some of the market women then joined everyone else at a further session at the library. The preventative message can be spread in many ways, speeches, posters, comedy sketches or standing in a market place with buckets and soaps. The CODEP team will continue with our friends at the Waterloo Partnership and Build on Books to do what we can to help prevent the spread of this terrifying disease.
If you want to find out more, click here or here or if you want to make a donation click here to make a donation.
Thank you
The CODEP team in SL and the UK
102. Ebola Appeal Update - 14 September 2014
Everyone at CODEP is very grateful for the generous response to our Appeal.
We have now sent across to Sierra Leone a second donation of funds. Rosetta spoke with the Hon. Claude Kamanda, pictured below at one of our training sessions, the MP for the constituency where our library is situated.
He has expressed his thanks for your generous assistance to date and specifically requested that Rosetta and her team in Waterloo carry out further preventative training and also purchase buckets, soap and other urgently needed sanitation products which again are crucial in the fight against infection. Further funds will be used to purchase food for the CHO and those in quarantine.
The situation in Waterloo continues to worsen. Waterloo has been officially listed as one of the Ebola hot spots in the Western Area. Badara Mansaray, the Chair of our friends at the Waterloo Partnership, Sierra Leone reported on 11 September that there have been 36 new Ebola cases in the Waterloo area during the past few days and 35% of these have died. At least two of the health workers in the quarantined hospital have also died.
As many of you will know, the 3-day lock-down will shortly start. It is expected to last from 19 to 21 September and in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease people will not be allowed to leave their homes. It remains to be seen how effective this will prove. Rosetta and her team will be running as many education sessions as they can before the lockdown starts and will ensure that provisions are provided to the CHO and those in quarantine before next Friday.
As you can see, we do however still need your support and if you would like to donate, please go to our Just Giving Page.
Thank you
The CODEP team
103. Ebola Appeal Update - 20 September 2014 Everyone at CODEP continues to be very grateful for the generous response to our Appeal.
Rosetta and her team have now carried out further ebola preventative training sessions and have made further donations of relief to the quarantined and those in need.
Waterloo Chairman Alhassan Cole was present at the most recent session and has sent a letter of his and the Council’s appreciation of the support the community has been receiving.
Waterloo, like the whole of Sierra Leone is currently nearing the end of the “Ose to Ose Ebola Tok” lock-down – where volunteeer health workers are intending to go house-to-house identifying cases and raising awareness of Ebola. We have learnt from Rosetta that during the lockdown, 7 dead bodies were discovered at Monkey Bush at the outskirts of waterloo.
Rosetta has also written to us expressing her thanks for your support. Please find a few minutes to read her message here, which provides a powerful insight into what it is like living in Sierra Leone in the current troubled time.
Rosetta has said that she and her colleagues intend to go out and do more sensitization training and provide buckets and disinfectant as preventive measures for the outskirts of Waterloo. They are also planning to being relief and aid to the outlying communities. You can see from the photo, some of the supplies your assistance has help has helped purchase.
In the UK we are going to continue to work to try and do what we can to support Rosetta and everyone in Waterloo. The funds we raise will continue to be used o provide further training and purchase relief and food for those who need it and for those who need it and supplies for the for the CHO and those in quarantine.
If you would like to donate, please go to our Just Giving Page.
Thank you
The CODEP team
104. A message from Rosetta: living under the shadow of Ebola It is difficult for us in the UK to understand what living in Sierra Leone at the moment is like. Today we received a note from Rosetta which graphically brings home the hardships. We set out her words in full below:
Waterloo: Saturday 20 September 2014
Thank you very much for your support at a time the country needed you most. We have started the three day lockdown. It is really not easy for one to be kept in one place as a prisoner. If that is the price we have to pay for our lives to be saved am happy for that. Because of the lockdown, 7 dead bodies were discovered at Monkey Bush at the outskirts of waterloo . That area was quaranteed.
My only worry is that there are more quarantined homes that need food. Because of the percentage of illiteracy of some of our people, especially in the remote villages. they accept false rumors and keep infecting people.
We need to do more sensitization and provide buckets and disinfectant as preventive measures for the outskirts of waterloo. It is going to be education and food.
We were out with Hon Claude yesterday taking food to the quarantined homes. It is really terrible. The message I gave to those people was to be of good courage and that there are humanitarians out there like you people that care for them. To be honest with you I found out that these people needed good care and good nutrition. that will even build up their immunity to resist the virus. Even at the treatment centers where the confirmed cases are taken to, this is the challenge they are facing.
There was a confirmed case on a lady working at the central bank. The bank gave her full support, provided her beddings, food and all that she needed when she was taken to the eastern part of the country to be treated. Thank God it was detected early, she survived it. Now she is back to work. She also confirmed that patients needed good care for them to survive the virus. Now if one has a little temperature, it becomes a nightmare. Last week I had slight temperature. I had to tell everyone at home not to come close to me.
When my husband wanted to feel my temperature I told him not to touch me.When I called the C.H.O. he told me to get malaria drugs. When I took them I was O. K.. People are afraid of reporting to the health workers when they are sick. That is what I have been preaching during our sensitization sessions. It is not every rise in temperature or vomiting that is Ebola. Some people die of other diseases just because of fear.
God bless you
Rosetta
If you would like to donate, to our emergency appeal, please go to our Just Giving Page.
105. Ebola Appeal Update - Working Together - 28 September 2014 Thank you again from everyone at CODEP both in Sierra Leone and the UK for your continued support and generous response to our Appeal.
Rosetta and her team are continuing with their tireless efforts to carry out further ebola preventative training sessions and looking to see where relief to the quarantined and those in need is most required
The “Ose to Ose Ebola Tok” lock-down – where volunteeer health workers are intending to go house-to-house identifying cases and raising awareness of Ebola – has come to an end. Further bodies and ebola cases were found in Waterloo. 11 houses in Kwama have been quarantined and Rosetta has reported that areas around Anifa Drive, New London at Lumpa, Morabi, Mapari, Monkey Bush and the other outskirts of Waterloo need to be quarantined. You can see from the photo of some of our aid, just what being in quarantine is like.
On Friday 26 September 2014, CODEP, along with our friends from the Waterloo Partnership and Build on Books were invited by the Hon. Claude Kamara to a meeting with the District Health Management Team and Stakeholders of the Western Area Rural District.
The Health Team appealed to all NGOs to continue their support with food to quarantined homes, education and preventive measures. There is concern that the number of cases are increasing every day. Rosetta is trying to obtain statistics of the quarantined homes so that we can target the money that has been generously donated to provide food items, maybe some clothing and buckets and soap for those areas.
Where we can we are pooling resources whether funds, people or supplies with the Waterloo Partnership and Build on Books to try and ensure that the aid we are able to provide is as widely spread as possible.
Our Chukuma Johnson Children’s Library is now being used to provide a base for the secure storing and distribution of food supplies and aid.
The evidence from Sierra Leone is that the number of ebola cases is continuing to increase, so we are all well aware that there is certainly no end in sight. We will therefore continue, where we can to provide further aid and assistance.
Howver to do that, we do rely on your continued support.
If you would like to donate, please go to our Just Giving Page.
Thank you as always
The CODEP team
106. Ebola Appeal Update - 5 October 2014
Rosetta and her team have had another busy week.
First and foremost, they have made a further delivery of aid to those who remain in quarantine. The photos set out below give perhaps just an idea of what it must be like for those cut off from everyone else in their community.
The Hon. Claude Kamanda has again thanked everyone at CODEP, the Waterloo Partnership and Build on Books for their support. He has stressed that we are the only NGO’s active in the area supporting the relief effort. We cannot thank you all enough for your continued support and generous response to our Appeal. Without that, we could not do anything at all.
Rosetta and her team, together with the local chiefs, councillors and ward committee members held a further preventative training session on Thursday at the Chukuma Johnson library, where more relief and sanitation materials were distributed. It really is at times as simple as buckets and chlorine or soap.
The schools may still be shut, but it is good to see that the library is able to play a valuable role in storing aid and becoming a centre for the sensitivisation training efforts.
Rosetta and her team are currently the arranging further training which is going to be focused on the traditional healers. They are trying to invite all the healers in Waterloo. The idea of Lori Spragg from Build on Books, this is potentially a valuable opportunity to further spread the ebola-preventative message and we are hopeful that the training will take place as soon as possible.
The overall news on the fight against ebola is mixed. On a positive note, McKenzie Phillips have announced that flights to Sierra Leone from London will resume on 19 October. On a negative note, at the Defeating Ebola conference in London, Save the Children said that there were 5 new cases in Sierra Leone every hour. For every 10 people currently effected, at least another 17 will catch the disease. Clearly, there is not going to be a quick solution.
Education and the provision of aid therefore remains a priority, but we remain dependent on your continued support. If you would like to donate, please go to our Just Giving Page.
Thank you as always
The CODEP team
107. Ebola Appeal Update - 12 October 2014
This week, there has been a further distribution of food and aid to the quarantined, whilst Rosetta and her team have been busy organising the first of our healer’s forums, which took place in Kwama, on 9 October 2014.
The traditional healers are often the front line carers. They are the first point of contact for most people. The aim is by engaging with them, we can enlist their help to guide people to the clinics. They need to know what to do – from the first phone call or point of contact with the patient through to getting them to the clinic. They need to know the symptoms and they immediately call for help and isolate the family. At the same time, the forum is intended to be an opportunity to discuss and explore roles and exchange ideas.
The forum was a success, we think. Everyone understood the dangers of treating sick people, washing of dead bodies, accepting strangers and above all else, the denial of ebola. The first reaction of the healers when shown thermometers was to think that they were guns. When they understood what they were for, they were no longer afraid.
Rosetta and her team are now turning their attention to a second, larger forum in Waterloo itself.
As importantly, Rosetta has identified a new group of people who are in urgent need of care and support, the Ebola orphans. Some of the quarantined parents, who we providing food for, have now died leaving many orphans quarantined in their homes and at the holding centre. We will provide aid for them, but also our literacy co-ordinators are going to try and carry out a survey to find out just how many there are and where they are, so that the aid effort can be as focussed as possible.
If you would like to donate, please go to our Just Giving Page.
Thank you as always
The CODEP team
108. A message from Mabinty: living under the shadow of Ebola
As we have noted before, it is difficult for us in the UK to understand what living in Sierra Leone at the moment is like.
Claire Curtis Thomas, one of our trustees has very close links with a family in Sierra Leone. In Claire’s words: “we adopted each other 11 years ago”.
Claire recently posted on facebook, one of the mesages she had recently received from Mabinty, part of that adopted family. Her words say all that needs to be said:
“Good Morning my darling, Today is Claire’s birthday. The children whom I am caring for are orphans. They dont have any Mother and Father. They are doing very well in school; that is why I am assisting them. There is only one ebola hospital opened locally at Hastings. Right now Freetown is terrible; if someone died, the ebola respond team will not come in time to take the dead body.
Presently we are living under God’s protection because what we are hearing in our local news is different from what we hear on international news. Every day there are new cases of effect ebola persons.
We will surely wash our hands regularly. We dont go to funeral or sick persons. God bless you xxxx
Mabinty”
If you would like to donate, to our emergency appeal, please go to our Just Giving Page.
109. Ebola Appeal Update - 19 October 2014
This has been a busy busy week for Rosetta and her team in Waterloo. They have been collecting food, then making up food deliveries and distributing aid to the ebola orphans and others who were in quarantine.
You can see below photos of some of the children they delivered aid to. If you can make out a yellow line in the third photo, that is tape marking a quarantine line.
The tragedy of the ebola orphans was identifed by Rosetta over the past few days. She and others in Waterloo are carrying out surveys to try and find out just how many there are. Rosetta has explained that many of the children have not been tested to know whether they are positive or not. When their parents die, there is no procedure in place for the children to be collected and tested for the disease.
This a situation that is made worse by the community and their extended family ‘rejecting’ them out of fear and superstition. For example, two little boys were found, who had been given the all-clear yet they were being shunned by their community. Rosetta explained the position to the Hon. Claude Kamanda MP, and after words with the headman, the situation is now resolved. Another six year old girl has been found left alone in the holding centre. The priest in Kwama has now taken her in. these are the children Rosetta and her friends are actively looking to identify and support.
One very positive note is the fact that so many people are coming together and working together. In the UK, we continue to work with the Waterloo Partnership and Build On Books. In Waterloo, a stakeholder group has been established including NGO’s, local leaders and others to try and co- ordinate activities.
Further, this week, Shepherd Hospice very kindly provided two vehicles for ambulances and they have also been used to help in the distribution of food aid.
110. Ebola Appeal Update - Healer's Forum - 21 October 2014 One of the many problems that the Ebola outbreak has brought to the surface in Sierra Leone is the lack of trust between service users and health service providers. People in many areas turned to traditional healers. This was a reaction which was perhaps encouraged by the number of health workers who caught the virus. In Waterloo, the Western Area Rural District Emergency Operations Committee has been established to co-ordinate efforts to stop the spread of Ebola. One of the driving forces behind the EOC is the Hon. Claude Kamanda, representative for constituency 95 where the library is situated.
Rosetta and her team have been working with the EOC to set up an orientation forum for the traditional healers, village-head and tribal heads. This took place on Saturday 19 October 2014. As you can see from the photos, the event was very well attended, with 108 healers.
The primary purpose of the forum was to ensure that the healers understood the threat posed by Ebola and understood that it was a real threat and to help them learn to identify the symptoms and infection control techniques. This way they can help by referring patients rather than potentially spreading the disease. However it was equally important to embrace the healers and bring them within the umbrella of the overall efforts in the fight against Ebola.
Speakers included representatives from the Emergency Operations Committee, Rosetta and Badara from the Waterloo Partnership as well as Jean a representative from UNICEF.
Jean, who is from the DRC shared his experience about the spread of the virus and the dangers of traditional beliefs and superstitions and slow community mobilization. He expressed appreciation for the opportunity to meet with everyone and explained to the forum how Ebola could be spread through the tradition of washing or re-using mattresses. Jean reminded everyone that Ebola is non- partisan. It affects everyone whatever their religion or tribe.
One of the most interesting parts of the forum was the responses from the traditional healers. They raised concerns that the Imams, Traditional Healers and Tribal Authorities had been neglected in the fight against Ebola. That was the first forum that they have been invited to and they gave their appreciation to CODEP for that.
More importantly, those present stressed that they would spread the news to all the communities. Now that they have been involved, they will help to fight the virus by enforcing the bye- laws in their communities. They understood that they had no cure for Ebola and would not try and treat it any longer but refer patients to the hospital.
The positive reactions of those present highlight the importance of the forum and suggest that achieved its object of bringing another part of the Waterloo community into the collective fight against Ebola.
We will continue working with the Emergency Operations Committee has been established to co- ordinate efforts to stop the spread of Ebola.
111. 22 October 2014 - CODEP Trains Religious Leaders and Traditional Healers on Ebola in Waterloo
We set out below the text from an article from Awareness Times which is all about the recent healer’s forum. The article itself can be found here.
“CODEP Trains Religious Leaders and Traditional Healers on Ebola in Waterloo
In helping the Government of Sierra Leone contain and stop the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in the country, a UK based organization called Construction and Development Partnership (CODEP), has on Saturday the 18th October 2014 ended a one day training workshop on Ebola sensitization for Religious Leaders and Traditional Healers in Waterloo.
The training targeted all the religious leaders and traditional healers within the Western Area Rural District. Speaking at the workshop, the Logistics Manager of CODEP who also doubles as a trustee for Build on Books (BOB), Mrs. Rosetta Nancy Kargbo said that, Build on Books (BOB) has done a mini training of a workshop of such nature in early October this year at Kwama community as a test case to see the outcome and concerns of those they targeted.
She continued by saying that due to its success, Build on Books (BOB) brought the initiative to CODEP for funding and it was done, which was the reason why they decided to target the whole Western Area Rural District. Mrs. Rosetta Nancy Kargbo encouraged the participants to obey the public emergency rules in the fight against this scourge.
Rev. Father Francis Parkinson of Christ the Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Kwama community, on behalf of other religious leaders, commended Build on Books (BOB) for such an initiative and CODEP for providing funding to complement the efforts of Government in the fight against the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). He said that as religious leaders, they have to contribute immensely in sensitizing their congregation on Ebola or else, God will hold them responsible.
For her part, Chief Ya Alimamy of Waterloo said it is now incumbent on the traditional healers union to ensure all members adhere to the Government’s laws to stop giving traditional treatment to patients whose illness cannot be ascertained.
“Avoid treating patients to prevent yourself from contracting the deadly Ebola disease and to stop the spread of the Ebola Virus” She lamented.
Mohamed Gaddafi, President of the Western Area Indigenous Traditional Healers Union said as a union, from what they have learned, they have decided to educate and warn their members across the country about the dangers of the Ebola disease so that they would abstain from treating sick people.
He added that he will emphasize that juju cannot heal Ebola. He expressed appreciation on behalf of his executive to CODEP for the training workshop, adding that they had felt left alone or seen as bad people spreading the pandemic.
In her closing remarks, Mrs. Rosetta Nancy Kargbo said that traditional healers should stop giving treatment to sick people to avoid contracting the virus because the symptoms of the Ebola Virus is similar to other local diseases that traditional healers in the country have been curing over the years. She pledged that Build on Books (BOB) with support from CODEP have been helping the Government of Sierra Leone to educate and sensitize people across the country.
The training workshop also attracted Chiefs and other local authorities to know their roles in combating this dreadful killer Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).”
112. James Jajua: 1964 - 11 October 2014 According to Channel 4 news, Sierra Leone had 170 doctors for 6m people before the Ebola epidemic. Now 60 of them have died.
It is not just the doctors. We are saddened to report that James Jajua, the Community Health Officer for Waterloo has tragically died from Ebola. If you have been reading our weekly updates, you will have seen that James Jajua placed himself right at the forefront of the efforts to combat the spread of Ebola. Yet at the same time as acting as an Ebola Surveillance Officer he continued to act as a doctor caring for the sick at the Health Centre and out in the community.
David Lloyd, Chair of the Waterloo Partnership has prepared a moving tribute to James Jajua, and we would urge you to click here, to read his words in full.
Our thoughts are very much with James’ wife Fatima and their four children, and to the unborn child that Fatima is carrying.
Everyone at CODEP
113. A message from Rosetta - iPM 25 October 2014 Our own Rosetta Kargbo and Lori Spragg from Build on Books were featured in the latest edition of iPM which was broadcast on 25 Ocotber 2014.
iPM is described on the BBC website as “the news programme that starts with its listeners. A weekly companion to the nightly PM, the expertise of the Radio 4 audience shapes the programme.”
More specifically, it provides an opportunity for listeners to provide short personal interviews and updates on current news issues.
The BBC website introduced Rosetta’s interview in this way:
“ ‘They call her the Hero of Ebola.’ An iPM listener introduces us to a woman who volunteers to deliver food to houses where people with Ebola are quarantined.”
The interview describes in a frank, honest and inevitably emotional and harrowing way just what it is like delivering food to those in quarantine.
It’s not often you get the chance to hear from Rosetta, so please take a few minutes to click on the link here.
If you want to help us to provide Rosetta and her team with further supplies of aid to deliver to the quarantined, please visit our Just Giving Page.
Thank you
The CODEP team
114. Ebola Appeal Update - 3 November 2014
Over the past few days our focus has remained on two key issues:
(i) Providing relief to the quarantined and in particular the Ebola Orphans; and
(ii) Continuing to run education forums to help spread the word about the best ways to try and prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.
As we have indicated before, Rosetta and her team have all been out delivering aid, assessing needs, counting those in quarantine. They estimate that there are over 150 Ebola orphans: orphans we have made a commitment to support.
Our colleagues in Waterloo make regular trips to the market to buy food and then bring it to the library and make up food parcels, to ensure that the young and sick do not have to prepare the food themselves. They then go out and deliver the aid themselves. Many are housed in remote areas and as you can see Rosetta has had to learn how to drive a tractor to ensure that every area can be reached.
We are of course trying to work with other groups to try and find an at least semi-permanent solution to the problem of the Ebola orphans. Clearly they cannot stay home alone, but currently there is nowhere for them to go. Even if there was, then there is the question of ensuring safe transport, as no-one knows for sure, if they have the virus or not. We will let you know how we get on in finding a solution. But for the time being, our work goes on to provide food and basic relief.
Providing aid and relief is pretty much a full time occupation, but Rosetta and he colleagues have also found the time to continue with their education forums. On Friday they were out in rural Buya Romende, which is part of the Port Loko district.
We were pleased to be joined by Jean Louison Miango from UNICEF and we will continue to collaborate with them.
We have identified five other remote areas where education forums for the traditional healers and chief are needed. Rosetta has set herself a tight timetable and we will work with her to ensure that it is achieved.
As you may know, we have prepared a newsletter highlighting what we have been able to achieve over the past few weeks. In particular we wanted to highlight and pay tribute to the tremendous efforts of our team in Sierra Leone who have been at the forefront of the efforts in Waterloo to try and prevent the spread of Ebola.
You can find our newsletter here. Please feel free the pass the newsletter on.
If you have any comments, or ideas please let us know. And as always, if you would like to donate, please go to our Just Giving Page.
Thank you as always
The CODEP team
115. 3 November 2014 - CODEP & Build on Books Donate to 160 Orphans We set out below the text from an article from Awareness Times which is all about the regular donations of food and aid that are being made to the Ebola orphans. The article itself can be found here.
At least one hundred and sixty orphans on Thursday 29th October 2014 received their weekly food and non food items from Construction and Development Partnership (CODEP) in collaboration with Build on Books in the Western Rural District. The beneficiaries are orphan children left behind by their Sierra Leonean compatriots who lost their lives to the deadly Ebola disease in various communities in the Western Rural District.
The Logistics Manager of CODEP who also doubles as a Trustee for Build on Books Mrs. Rosetta N. Kargbo said the donation was part of their effort to eradicate the Deadly Ebola virus from Waterloo, its environs and Sierra Leone as a whole.
“We have again provided food and non food items worth millions of Leones to 160 Ebola orphans in Mabureh, Mango Farm, Lumpa, Monkey Bush, Campbell Town, Newton and Mano Koya communities”.
Madam Rosetta Kargbo disclosed adding that the weekly food and non food items were improving the lives of the orphans although they still have the trauma of the untimely deaths that met their parents.
She said that the gesture is being provided every week adding that for over a month now they have provided food items to community residents that are suffering from the Ebola disease since the outbreak started in the Western Rural District.
“We will not relent by giving support to the orphans on a weekly basis”, she maintained. The food and non food items include: tinned fish, powdered milk, biscuits, gari, sugar, sweets, fruit juices, bread, drinking water, tooth paste, tooth brush, laundry and bath soap. CODEP and Build on Books intervened and started giving assistance to Ebola affected homes in Waterloo as soon as the outbreak started ravaging the Western Rural District.
Mrs. Rosetta N. Kargbo goes out with her team every week to make these donations. She always gives counselling to orphans and encourages them to stay at home.
She has always told the beneficiaries that though they have lost their parents, but certain humanitarians living in the UK […] having been working very hard to provide the food and non food items just like their biological parents would have done for them.”
116. 5 November 2014 - CODEP & Build on Books Conclude Ebola Sensitization with Community Leaders
We set out below the text from an article from Awareness Times which is all about the Ebola education session run by Rosetta and her team in rural Buya Romende. Contrary to the impression given by the title, we have identified four more areas where similar training is still required and the next forum will be in Fogbo on Friday.
The article itself can be found here.
“In the effort to fight the deadly Ebola Nationwide, CODEP in collaboration with Build on Books has held a Forum for 150 people among which are Traditional Healers, Shieks, Imams, and Sowies with five villages in the Buya Romende Chiefdom. These villages include ROGBANEH, ROKALANGBA, MARENKA, ROBOMBEH and MAGBANA.
In his statement, Rev Fr. Verey (S. M. A), said that there is no prescribed medication for the Deadly Ebola virus but if we go by the rules of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and ready to pass on the correct information to one another, we will save our lives and the lives of our brothers and sisters. Even the children can tell their parents to wash their hands regularly.
Mrs. Rosetta N. Kargbo, in her remarks said they have met before and agreed to prevent themselves from contracting the disease.
“The disease is more dangerous than the rebel war as it is invisible. Until we accept that the virus exists and follow the rules and regulations of the Government and the Ministry of Health, it will be difficult to eradicate it”, she said.
“Now that the virus has not entered into these villages, we must ensure that we prevent ourselves. Traditional Healers must avoid healing the sick, visitors must not be tolerated, should not touch or wash dead bodies and Sowies must stop F G M and other traditional practices for now”, she emphasized.
She admonished the gathering that all movements from one place to the other should stop for now and extended warm felicitations from [supporters in the UK] and Sebastian and who prayed for the virus is completely eradicated.
Mr. Alphonsus Kargbo in his remarks gave his experience on how he fought the virus with the help of Build on books and CODEP in Kwama. He noted that he doesn’t want that to happen with his people in Buya. He reproved the people to avoid washing dead bodies.
“Washing doesn’t take one to hell or heaven. Stop hiding sick people. Send them to hospital early so that they can be cured”, he said.
The Headman, Pa Amadu Bangura thanked CODEP and Build on Books for this wonderful assistance. He confessed that it was only those two charities that have ever been to their villages to educate them on the virus and also provided food to sustain their lives.
He promised that they will do all in their powers to ensure that the virus doesn’t enter their villages.
Santigie Kabie, Head of Traditional Healers thanked the charity for their support to them. He promised that he would make sure that no traditional healer administers any treatment to the sick as they can’t tell who is positive or negative.
Nandewa Fallah, Head of Sowies promised that they will cooperate with the Government and ministry of health to fight this disease. It was unanimously agreed that a fine of Le500,000 be levied on defaulters.”
117. Ebola Appeal Update - 10 November 2014 As with last week, over the past few days our focus has remained on two key issues:
(i) Providing relief to the quarantined and in particular the Ebola Orphans; and
(ii) Continuing to run education forums to help spread the word about the best ways to try and prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.
Rosetta and her team continue to go out delivering aid, assessing needs, counting those in quarantine. This week, we were able to provide blankets and some books as well as food.
New orphans are being identified every time they go out. This week, they came across two babies.
All the children are visited at least once a week. As well as providing aid, our team will take temperatures. If they are high, they call for help. It does not always come. They also try and provide emotional support. Many of these children are infants who having lost their parents, are traumatised. Some of the older ones knowing they might die soon are running away and hiding in the market, sleeping under stalls and potentially spreading the disease.
Everyone at Build on Books and CODEP, both in the UK and Sierra Leone are of course continuing to try and work with other groups to try and find an at least semi-permanent solution to the problem of the Ebola orphans. We are contacting every organisation we can and will continue to do so.
We will let you know how we get on in finding a solution. But we have all made a commitment to do what we can for as long as we can and our work goes on to provide food and basic relief.
Again, as we have said before, providing aid and relief would be a full time occupation in itself, but Rosetta and he colleagues have also found the time to continue with their education forums. This Friday they went out to Fogbo and next week, they are going to Tombo, a fishing village.
If you have not yet seen it, please take a few minutes to read out newsletter which highlights and pays tribute to the tremendous efforts of our team in Sierra Leone who have been at the forefront of the efforts in Waterloo to try and prevent the spread of Ebola. You can find our newsletter here.
Please feel free the pass the newsletter on.
If you have any comments, or ideas please let us know. And as always, if you would like to donate, please go to our Just Giving Page.
Thank you as always
The CODEP team
118. Latest Healer Forum at Fogbo
The latest round of the Ebola awareness training that CODEP and Build on Books are organising took place in Fogbo on Friday 7 November 2014. Fogbo is a coastal fishing village in the Western Area Rural District
Alison Sutherland from the UK kindly joined the Traditional Healers Forum at Fogbo as an observer. Alison is the Commonwealth Advisor to The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for the Commonwealth Secretariat.
She ended up joining in and very kindly ended up by giving a bar of soap to each the participants. Alison reported afterwards:
“Fogbo is a coastal (fishing) village, about 10 km down a rough road from Four Mile (Newton), passing through lots of villages and farmlands. Apart from a regular stream of okada bikes plying the route there were few vehicles. Four Mile is where the 1st major checkpoint after Freetown is located – everyone comes down from their vehicle and queues to have temperature taken; its quite a bustling but orderly set-up, with soldiers, police, healthworkers etc., and the ubiquitous snack and soft drink sellers have set up little stalls near by.
Over 130 people attended the training session – the community hall was full but not overcrowded. The ward councillors, ward committee members, at least 24 village heads, and traditional healers and youth leaders attended. The RSLAF (armed forces) had 2 representatives – including the marine officer responsible for patrolling the coast in that area – you know that clandestine travel by boat is quite a problem in transmitting Ebola, SL Police, district council (through its PRO) were there throughout, and of course the representatives of Waterloo Partnership and other district community leaders – incl. Mr Mansaray, Mr Sesay who are also on the district committees. The MP, Hon Claude Kamanda gave an opening address including big thanks to yourselves.
The high table contributors ‘opening remarks’ were all educational speeches, which was really good as each speaker focused on different aspects, but putting the same messages across in different ways is essential if they are to sink in —— wash your hands with soap and water; ‘ABC’ – Avoid Body Contact (and there’s also ‘APC’ ref to the ruling party – Avoid Peoples’ Compounds) ; call 117 (the health hotline) if someone showing symptoms; don’t touch dead bodies or attempt to wash / bury; don’t allow strangers / visitors into your home / village; have daily friendly checks on all houses in the village to ensure no strangers and no sick persons; and so on.
Pa Alieu Badara Mansaray impressed on them that survivors retain the virus in semen for 90 days, so unprotected sexual contact must be avoided – this gave rise to some interesting observations! – but other than that, communities should not fear survivors. The plight of children was highlighted too. Of course the role of CODEP / BOB was explained, and thanked sincerely for all you are doing. Rosetta gave a really good talk.
There has been no Ebola in that immediate area, and a lot of the people I spoke to believe that the salt water protects people. Luckily when he spoke, Hon Claude talked of washing with HOT salted water, and I reinforced the need for soap with the hot water too. I’d taken enough soap for every participant to go home with one bar of soap as a prompt to follow that message, and that turned out to be a good idea (last minute!). I was honoured that I was asked to give a brief statement, as well as the general message of support I gave examples from the Ministry of how local leaders in parts of the country have helped keep Ebola out by instituting daily household visits to every home, and by being strict on the ‘stranger reporting’ and also enforcing the byelaws against senior community members (including suspending chiefs) to show that no one is above the law.
Yemma Conteh from Waterloo then gave a talk on Ebola’s history, how it spreads, symptoms, and why proper isolated medical care is needed to give chance of survival. This issue of giving hope that there is a fair chance of survival IF you seek professional care early is really important when encouraging people to report symptoms. The SL Police Inspector did a session on the Byelaws – read them out and explained them; the district council has adopted the same byelaws as elsewhere in the country – and the PRO translated into Temne language for greater impact.
Rosetta and team are great organizers. Hot food (rice and chicken) was distributed in takeaway packs while people were seated, with water and a soft drink; all done in a way that ensures no jostling, queuing or body contact.
The local radio was there and interviewed Rosetta, a few of us and also recorded several of the sessions so the programme will be aired to a wider audience too.
I do hope I can attend future sessions, and will keep in touch with Rosetta on this. I think your funding to bring these people together is really valuable – everyone learns something new, and the realization that Ebola is serious and it’ll only go if everyone plays by the rules is spread. Most people have heard some key messages, but they have not been accepting / adopting them.
It is also very cost effective – a meal, small transport allowance and a bar of soap is a token appreciation that they have given up a day – and are then expected to do a lot more as volunteers / good citizens in their communities – but it is appreciated. That all the speakers were very local – that helps too (apart from me who kept it short and was referred to as ‘our guest’)! I doubt if UNICEF and the like could run an event like this themselves with 3x the amount you are spending.”
Our kind thanks to Alison for taking the time to provide such interesting and valuable feed-back. You can certainly see from the photos that the audience took a very keen attention in the words of the speakers.
The next forum takes place at Tombo on 14 November 2014.
Our thanks as always to Rosetta and her team for their hard work organising the forum and to the generous donations that made the forum possible.
119. 11 November 2014 - CODEP & Build on Books Donate to Ebola Orphans
We set out below the text from an article from Awareness Times which is all about the further donations that Rosetta and her team in Waterloo have been able to make to the Ebola orphans who remain in quarantine.
The article itself can be found here.
This is the article in full:
A Community Based organization, CODEP in collaboration with Build on Books has on Wednesday 5th November, 2014 supplied food and non food items to Ebola orphans in the Waterloo and nearby communities in the Western Rural District.
Executive Director for Build on Books, Rosetta Kargbo who doubles as CODEP logistic officer said the donation is a weekly process for orphans since the outbreak and that the gesture was creating positive impact in their lives. She said with their intervention many children have survived as according to her since their parents succumbed to the Ebola disease nobody dared to go closer or interact with them. “Even we the aid workers are doing our best but we also do not have the gut to have contact with some orphans who are still at quarantined homes,” she confessed.
She said the funds for the donation were directly coming from the meagre allowances of some philanthropists in England who have opted to just help the kids just like their deceased parents.
The items included tinned fish, Butter, Bread, Milk, Biscuits, Gari, Sugar, and toiletries. She said they also got items from Pee Cee and Sons which include school bags, blankets, pastes, tooth brushes, books and pencils, plates spoons and cups.
As the distribution was going on two cases were spotted of two weeks old and eight months’ old babies very sick and malnourished. Madam said as matter of urgency, she bought all the necessary baby food and some vitamins and milk for them.
“This is not the first time CODEP and Build on Books are taking care of children. We have been doing this since the outbreak of Ebola in the Waterloo and communities,” she said, adding that they get the support from CODEP and Build on Books UK and local businesses.”
120. Ebola Appeal Update - 17 November 2014 Our focus remains on two key issues:
(i) Providing relief to the quarantined and in particular the Ebola Orphans; and
(ii) Continuing to run education forums to help spread the word about the best ways to try and prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.
Whilst we apologise if our update simply sounds like more of the same, it sadly remains the case that unless Rosetta and her team continue to make their regular trips to deliver aid we are not quite sure at the moment who would do this. So our grateful thanks go as always to Rosetta, Isatu, Victor and Mabinty and their colleagues for their tireless efforts as well as to all of you who have kindly made donations.
As always, when they go out to deliver the aid, our team assess needs, check for signs of illness and count those in quarantine.
This week however there was a new development, as Rosetta was out of the blue asked to help a young boy who had been released from quarantine but who had nowhere to go. there remains considerable mistrust of and stigma against Ebola survivors and those who have been in quarantine.
This is why we have added a section to our Ebola education forums about living with, and safely living with survivors. This week our forum was in another fishing village close to Waterloo, Tombo. It is a sobering reminder of the continued spread of the Ebola virus that, until recently there had not been any deaths in Tombo. That is no longer the case.
We were pleased to be joined again by Jean Louison Miango from UNICEF and Alison Sutherland, the Commonwealth Advisor to The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Alison provided some useful feed back from the Fogbo seminar noting that:
“I think your funding to bring these people together is really valuable – everyone learns something new, and the realization that Ebola is serious and it’ll only go if everyone plays by the rules is spread. Most people have heard some key messages, but they have not been accepting / adopting them.
It is also very cost effective – [and attendees] are then expected to do a lot more as volunteers / good citizens in their communities – but it is appreciated. That all the speakers were very local – that helps too… I doubt if UNICEF and the like could run an event like this themselves with 3x the amount you are spending”
You can read her report in full here.
Next week we are in Grafton where St George’s orphanage is and we are hoping that one of their representatives can speak on ‘The Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Ebola Recovered Orphans’.
Finally, we are well aware that we cannot do this alone. We are already working closely in tandem with Build on Books and the Waterloo Partnership. Rosetta is also speaking with UNICEF. Further the World Food Programme have made a donation of food and supplies which we have put towards the next round of deliveries. Usefully the WFP’s donation included mosquito nets which can be taken round to the Ebola orphans. We have also recived some useful advice from Plan UK.
We are hopeful that through further and closer collaboration we can both reduce the burden on Rosetta and her team and also at the same time enhance and increase the support and assistance we are able to provide.
Thank you as always
The CODEP team
121. Ebola Appeal Update - 29 November 2014 Over the past two weeks we have continued to prioritize two key issues:
(i) Providing relief to the quarantined and in particular the Ebola Orphans; and
(ii) Continuing to run education forums to help spread the word about the best ways to try and prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.
As long as the current situation lasts, and we have funds, and as long as this is how we can best work to help the people of Waterloo then this is what we will try and do.
We have also continued in our efforts to link up with and collaborate with all the other organisations providing aid and relief. Registering with the Ministry of Social Welfare is but a part of becoming part of the coordinated response.
Jean Miango who works with UNICEF has been coming to the Ebola education forums and we and Build on Books are currently talking with him to see whether we can arrange further joint forums further afield.
We are also grateful to the World Food Programme (“WFP”) who donated food, blankets and mosquito nets which we were able to deliver this week.
As we have said before, Alison Sutherland, the Commonwealth Advisor to The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for the Commonwealth Secretariat has also provided us with much needed knowledge and support.
Although our efforts at collaboration continue, it sadly remains the case that unless Rosetta and her team continue to make their regular trips to deliver aid we are not quite sure at the moment who would do this. Instead of going out and working with schools to assist with literacy, our co-ordinators Victor and Isatu are regularly going out see if there are others who need assistance. We are keeping a careful list of the orphans and those we provide aid to.
It is not just the aid and food itself, but our team assess needs, check for signs of illness and count those in quarantine. They also provide much needed emotional support
Over the past two weeks we have held two more forums in Grafton and Goderich. These forums are always well attended and as well as providing much needed advice – and we find that it is still much needed – about how to try and prevent the spread of the Ebola virus, we now also focus on living with Ebola survivors and the need to provide support and care for those left orphaned many of whom may not actually have caught the virus itself.
We are always being told by our team and friends in Sierra Leone that they are so grateful for the generous response and messages of support that they have received from everyone in the UK. We can only echo that sentiment. The Ebola virus first hit Waterloo in August, we have since that time, thanks to your help been able to provide continuous support to our team in Waterloo and we hope that this can continue.
Thank you as always
The CODEP team
122. Ebola Appeal Update - 5 December 2014
It is nearly one year since the first Ebola case was recorded in Guinea. However things are not getting any easier in Sierra Leone and the figures, especially for Freetown show that the number of cases continues to steeply rise.
Whilst the main focus for the current international relief effort understandably continues to be with the medical side – providing treatment centres with the aim of brining the spread of the virus under control – on the ground in Waterloo we continue to provide relief to the quarantined and in particular the Ebola Orphans. We now have a list of over 200 orphans.
The three orphans pictured below are the chldren of a nurse.
As long as the current situation lasts, and we have funds, we will continue to support these children. We are also working with other organisations to see how we can best collaborate to provide not only food and relief but some form of long term support and care network.
Our next forums are going to be held in the areas where there are the most orphans as we want to stress to the local communities that it is safe to embrace these children (and other Ebola survivors) back into that community. We continue to work with the local council and UNICEF in deciding where these forums should take place.
We also attended a meeting at the Sierra Leone High Commission on Thursday 2 December 2014. It is good to meet up with a number of people who are working in other areas to support the Sierra Leone community and we think that we have made some useful contacts for future collaboration. We are grateful to the High Commission for taking the time and trouble to organise the meeting.
We are also grateful for the continued support that we have received from CODEP’s friends. As we have said before, without your assistance we would not be able to provide the resource to enable Rosetta and her team to go out and provide the aid and relief that they have done to date.
Thank you as always
The CODEP team
123. Ebola Appeal Update - 14 December 2014
As Christmas approaches, it is clear that the situation in the West of Sierra Leone is not improving. While infection rates appear to be stabilizing or declining in Guinea and Liberia, Sierra Leone is still seeing a surge of cases, especially the Western Area, which includes Freetown and on its edge, Waterloo. As a consequence there is talk that there might be another lock down, which would include Waterloo.
In Waterloo itself, we continue to provide we continue to provide relief to the quarantined and in particular the Ebola Orphans. We now have a list of over 200 orphans.
We are also, looking to work with other organisations, for example, Street Child who have considerable expertise in providing care for orphans and SLWT, formerly Sierra Leone War Trust for Children.
Rosetta also attends the regular District Council Ebola Response Committee Meetings (DERC). These minutes provide a focus for the co-ordination of the local efforts to combat the spread of the Ebola virus and to educate the local people about how best they can protect themselves and their families
In part as a result of the DERC meetings our next forum is going to be held in Kissi, ( the site of the former Waterloo refugee camp). This is a local area where there are a number of Ebola orphans. Rosetta wants to stress to the local communities that it is safe to embrace these children (and other Ebola survivors) back into that community. We will continue to work with the local council, UNICEF and DERC in deciding where these forums should take place.
We remain extraordinarily grateful for the continued support of everyone in the UK. This has not been a short lived crisis, and no-one knows how long it is going to last, but thanks to everyone’s assistance in the UK, we have been able to help Rosetta and her team, make a difference in the community in which they live.
Thank you as always
The CODEP team
124. Ebola Appeal Update - 21 December 2014 - December newsletter A short update this week as we attach our December newsletter.
If you would like to know a little more about whatwe have been doing, you can find that newsletter here.
We would however like to send a short message of thanks to everyone for their support and assistance. We know , in particular, that Rosetta and everyone in Waterloo, Sierra Leone are tremendously grateful and comforted to know that so many people are thinking of them.
Thank you again and best wishes for 2015
Thank you as always
The CODEP team
125. Kissi Town Ebola Forum We held our latest forum on 21 December in Kissi Town.
We thought that the best way to try and explain what our forums are about would be to set out some set out some extracts from notes made during the forum itself. This means more text than usual – but we think its worth it as it gives a valuable insight into what goes on and just how important these sessions are:
Opening prayers: Both Muslim and Christian. This is a common feature of any meeting in Sierra Leone.
Mr. Abu Bakarr Kanu, the PRO of the Western Area Rural Council: thanked CODEP and Build on Books for their contribution in the fight against Ebola.
Rosetta Kargbo thanked all participant for turning up for the forum. She spoke about breaking the chain of transmission which is paramount in the eradication of Ebola. That we must join hands together to eradicate this dreadful disease. We must note that we are all quarantined as a nation, so we are here to discuss as a family for the breaking of the chain of transmission. Our concern is highly on the children and those affected by Ebola. Let us look into our beliefs which contribute to the spread of the virus. We are therefore here to speak plainly and ensure that we stop some of these beliefs to ensure that the transmission chain is broken.
Library committee chairman—Mr. A.H Sesay said it is the aim of the two organizations to ensure that the children have regard for their teachers. As library chairman, the Ebola message is widespread but the problem is that we have denial. The advice is that we should abide by the medical preventive methods or practices. The greatest problem is washing dead bodies. The chairman spoke about the importance of the library which develops the reading and knowledge of leaners.
WARDC Chairman Representative, the PRO Mr. Abu Bakarr Kanu spoke about the work of the Council. Too many people have spoken against the ills of Ebola, but we have refused to change our attitude. People have become adamant in taking heed against the chain of transmission. Council have embarked on a door-to-door search to remove the sick from their homes. We should ensure that we turn up for early treatment. Ebola has eaten up the fabric of our society and we therefore have to take up drastic measures to eradicate the disease. If we comply to the rules and regulations set, we will indeed succeed in eradicating Ebola.
Stigmatization of survivors—Alie Sesay on behalf of the organization ‘Street Child ‘ extended his gratitude to CODEP and Build on Books. They target the removal of children from the street, which they had succeeded in doing before the Ebola outbreak. Now that there is no schooling, they have embarked on providing water for the orphans. Stigmatization he said is provocation where in people don’t come close to you and even call you names. How do we feel when we start to provoke people that have been affected by the virus which is not their wish. Let us note that there is no child that will wish to be a failure in future. Let us fear that these children we are stigmatizing might end up being successful men and women after Ebola. We should know how it feels to lose a parent at a youthful age. Let us imagine that our own children are faced with such a situation. How do we feel? We have to embrace all Ebola survivors.
Presentation—Ebola is real. It is a viral haemorrhagic fever caused by virus through bleeding and fever. It initially started from animals. It is found in body fluids. When animals that have been infected by ebola are eaten or their body fluids are contacted, the Ebola virus is transferred to humans. The Ebola virus started in Congo in 1976. The signs and symptoms —- terrible headache and fever, red eyes, chest pains, nausea and sore throat. It is advisable that anyone that has been infected should not join public transport in order not to transmit the virus to others. With time, vomiting takes place, damage takes place to the internal organs and thereby causing internal bleeding. Those family members that have been suspected of having Ebola should be isolated. Preferably, one family member takes care of the sick using preventive gargets. There is difficulty in breathing for those that are extremely sick. The chances of survival are the early stages when the organs are still workable eg. the kidney. On the death of any Ebola patients, we should avoid them because the virus becomes aggressive. Advise—avoid body contact, wash your hands regularly, don’t touch the dead or wash their bodies. Let us also avoid denial.
Hon. Claude Kamanda thanked the councilors and headmen for what they had done. Also sympathizes with families who have lost their loved ones. We need to encourage the survivors of the Ebola and out of twelve doctors that have been infected, only one has survived. In fact the government is planning to use the survivors to help fight the Ebola disease. As chairman of the DERC, we are ready to attack the common enemy from all fronts. The surge campaign declared by the president is to remove all sick people from their homes to care centres.
In his remarks, Alhaji Sheik Mustapha Jalloh said according to the Quran, it is not the washing of dead bodies that will lead one to heaven. People should go according to medical advice. If anyone washes the corpse of one that dies of Ebola, gets infected, infect others and all of them die, God will hold that person responsible. People have to forget about all traditional practices to break the chain of transmission. He asked that he is invited at any time and anywhere such forums are held he was ready to attend
Mrs. Nafisatu Tholly, Headteacher said she was very grateful to the organizations that had such a forum and that she learnt a lot from the discussions. She said the biggest challenge they were going to have was that of stigmatization among children when schools would reopen. She was happy that the message has started going round. She believed that if the chain of transmission is broken, then Ebola would soon be over and the country would be normal.
As we said, food for thought.
The CODEP Team
126. Special Christmas Delivery for the Ebola Orphans We all know that Christmas is a special time of year, especially for children and Rosetta and her team in Waterloo, were determined to make sure that the Ebola orphans who we have been helping over the past few weeks received a special visit on Christmas Day.
We are sure that the visit brought a special smile to their faces just as we know that all the organising certainly brought a smile to Rosetta and everyone else!!!!
Happy Christmas to everyone!!!
The CODEP Team
127. Ebola Appeal New Year Update 2015 A Happy New Year from everyone at CODEP both in Sierra Leone and the UK.
You can guess what our most fervent wish for 2015 is. The sad case of the Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey has brought home just how dangerous this virus is. We all hope that she pulls through.
We do not know how she caught the virus, but the fact that a trained nurse who will have been all too aware of the dangers still caught the virus made us realise just how important our ebola education forums are. We held another in Campbell town between Christmas and the New Year. There was no hall available so it was held outside in the shade of the trees. The forum was again attended by a representative for UNICEF and there was a focus on how to avoid catching and spreading the virus.
This forum was a little different as one of the speakers was Hamid, whose family have all died of the Ebola virus, leaving him alone. He explained about the double hardship he has faced, not only losing his family, but then facing hostility from the community who feared his presence. Hamid was blacklisted by his own aunts and uncles who feared he could pass the virus on to them, even though he had been cleared. We hope that our forums by giving voices to survivors such as Hamid can help end the Stigmatization faced by survivors.
This was the primary reason Campbell Town had been chosen as a venue for the forum; it had previously been an Ebola hot-spot and we know there are many Ebola orphans in the area who will all face the same problems as Hamid. As you may have seen here, the Ebola orphans received a special visit on Christmas day and we are continuing to provide them with aid and support. Whilst we may have been recovering from our New Years’ Eve celebrations, Rosetta and her team were out making their deliveries.
The future in Sierra Leone remains uncertain, we can only hope that the situation will improve as it has done in Guinea and Liberia, until that time we will continue to do our best to provide further aid and support.
Here’s hoping 2015 will become Ebola-free everywhere.
The CODEP Team.
128. Ebola Appeal Update - 11 January 2015 In Sierra Leone, the Ebola epidemic remains most concentrated in three districts: Bombali, Port Loko and the Western Area, which includes Freetown and Waterloo.
As many of you will know. CODEP does not solely operate in Waterloo. we also have links in Port Loko where we have provided books for 53 school libraries. We have all been acutely aware of this over the past few months, but we have had to focus our efforts on Waterloo. However on 5 January 2015, Rosetta was able to organise an Ebola Education Forum in Masiaka, which is part of the Port Loko district.
This was important to us for two reasons. As well as meaning we could reestablish links with Port Loko, we had been told that Masiaka was part what has been termed the “porous border” through which people have been passing to travel to Waterloo and Freetown.
The forum took the usual form of both reminding people how best they can help stop the spread of the Ebola virus as well as stressing the importance of welcoming survivors back into the community.
And of course, we have not forgotten the Ebola orphans. We continue to provide regular support and aid, and will continue to do so for as long as we can. You can see here, how happy there are to see the tractor!
Finally, this week we note some good news. In the Observer on 11 January 2015, it was reported that the Pujehun district in Sierra Leone has been declared Ebola-free, the first to be given the all- clear after 42 days with zero recorded cases of the virus. Pujehun, in the south-east of the country, was hit by Ebola in August and suffered 24 deaths from 31 cases – but it has not had a recorded case since 26 November. This means it has achieved the World Health Organisation’s benchmark for Ebola-free status.
Whilst the same articles notes that Freetown and other parts of the west and north, including Port Loko and Bombali, are still seeing relatively large infection numbers, perhaps, just perhaps, there is now a light at the end of a particularly grim tunnel.
The CODEP Team
129. Ebola Appeal Update - 18 January 2015 There continue to be signs that the Ebola crisis is beginning to become under control. The latest available data from the World Health Authority (14 January 2015) shows that Sierra Leone has now reported a decline in case incidence for two weeks in a row. However the west of the country remains the area of most intense transmission. The capital, Freetown, reported 59 new confirmed cases, and the neighbouring districts of Port Loko and Western Rural (where Waterloo is situated) reported 41 and 31 new confirmed cases.
Perhaps there is room for cautious optimism. However, you never know when the Ebola virus might strike. This week it was very close to home. One of the Equiano Board members, Abdul Victor Kanu, were placed in quarantine when a relative fell sick. We have, of course, as with other quarantined families, ensured that food is made available.
This week too, we have continued to provide food and aid to the Ebola orphans who have been identified by Rosetta and her team. This week, we are pleased to report that they were joined by Marion Morgan from SLWT.
SLWT (formally known as Sierra Leone War Trust for Children), was formed in April 1999, by seven Sierra Leoneans, living and working in the UK. SLWT was a direct response to the suffering of children in Sierra Leone, during the civil war. Today they work to identify and fund projects in Sierra Leone that improve the welfare of disadvantage children and youth.
Currently we were liaising with Rosetta to consider whether or not further Education forums are needed. We suspect that they are. In particular, we are considering the possibility of bringing together all the head teachers, deputies and perhaps the literacy coordinators from the local schools in a forum at the Equiano Centre. One of the primary purposes would be to assist in giving schools a chance to prepare for dealing with stigmatisation: when that is the schools finally re-open.
We will keep you updated.
130. Ebola Appeal Update - 27 January 2015
It seems that there remains cause for cautious optimism that the spread of the Ebola virus is at last declining. The latest figures from the WHO seem to confirm that there has been a sharp reduction in reported cases since the beginning of the New Year. There were 117 new confirmed cases reported in the week to 18 January 2015, compared with 184 the previous week and 248 the week before that.
That good news has been reinforced by the announcement by the Government that it is looking to open schools again in March. We know that that will be greeted with some relief by our team in Waterloo. Rosetta has described the teachers as “chomping at the bit” to get back and re-open their schools.
However, there was an interesting debate at our most recent Ebola education forum in Bangura Community Centre. Joseph Mboka from the WHO warned against complacency. Ebola had not yet been eradicated. Deaths have still occurred in the various communities. It was therefore important to continue with the good practises that have been learnt over the past few weeks and months. There was still a concern that people continued to hide the sick. Perhaps it was too early to re-open the schools.
Augusta Foday representing the Red Cross Society stressed the importance of continuing to take heed to medical advice. She also talked about stigmatization. It was important to embrace orphans and other survivors: “Let us accept them so that they can feel at home and do not feel rejected.”
Rosetta and her team have decided that the time is now right to hold a larger forum, with a focus on education, children and stigmatization, and what to do when the schools re-open. Currently the forum is planned for 14 February 2015.
And finally, of course, we are continuing, as you can see from the photos, to ensure that the orphans we have ben provided for are not forgotten!
The CODEP team
131. Ebola Appeal Update - 2 February 2015 Just a quick update this week. The reason for that is things are broadly unchanged.
It still seems to be the case, although there have been no new figures from the WHO since last week that the spread of the Ebola virus is at last declining. This is really encouraging. However, it is not over; and until then there is a need for care. This is why our Ebola Education Forums have continued. This week, our team were in Ngarahun which is about 23 miles outside of Freetown.
Work is also afoot, planning the bigger forum to coincide with the plans to re-open the schools. This is still likely to take place on 14 February 2015.
Finally, of course, we are continuing to help provide aid for the Ebola orphans. Thoughts must now turn to more long term considerations. How we can help provide for the future and ensure that they ae embraced back into the community. Rosetta and her team are looking to work closely with other groups to see what can be done. And we have learnt this week that one of the orphans suffers from sickle-cell anaemia -a reminder that there remains a lot to do, regardless of the gradual decline in the spread of the Ebola virus.
So cautious optimism remains the watchword!
The CODEP team
132. Ebola Appeal Update - 9 February 2015 The gradual decline in Ebola cases seems to be continuing, if you take a relatively long term view. The latest statistics from the World Health Organisation are still showing a decline – which is good. There were just 80 new cases for the w/e 4 Feb (albeit is was 65 the week before, the previous week was 117). The Western Rural District, where Waterloo is situated, saw a reduction in new cases, with 7 confirmed cases reported compared with 16 the previous week.
However the WHO website also shows the need for care. In Guinea, an unsafe burial took place in early January in the eastern prefecture of Lola, on the border with Côte d’Ivoire. That one burial has so far resulted in an outbreak of 11 confirmed cases.
This is one reason why we have held so many Ebola education forums. As you may recall, preparations are in full sway for the forum, especially for teachers on 14 February 2014.
You may also recall that last week we mentioned the young Ebola orphan with sickle-cell anaemia. We are pleased to report that our friends at SLWT have taken over care for the child. We are equally pleased that the SLWT have indicated that they will do their best to take over care of the youngest orphans, under the age of 5. Rosetta has said that there are approximately 50 such children. We are very grateful for the support from SLWT.
Of course, there remain many more Ebola orphans in Waterloo, and we are working with Rosetta and our friends at Build on Books to ensure that proper long term care is put in place for these children.
The CODEP team.
133. Diaspora Focus honour Rosetta Kargbo Over the past few weeks, Diaspora Focus, an international humanitarian organization in Sierra Leone, has awarded a number of individuals who they had identified as having done “meritorious humanitarian work” in the fight against Ebola.
We were very pleased to learn that one of the individuals they had chosen to honour was our very own Rosetta Kargbo.
She, and her team, have worked tirelessly over the past few months to provide what aid and relief they could to those in quarantine or who had been orphaned by the virus. So this recognition is rather pleasing and in our view, very well deserved.
Of course, the fight against the Ebola virus is far from over and Rosetta and her team ran another education forum in Waterloo on 14 February 2015. Cases may be down, but it is important to keep up the vigilance.
That said, unexpected awards such as these, give everyone a small boost and we are very very pleased for Rosetta.
The Diaspora Focus is an organisation which was formed in the UK to advance the cause and welfare of Africans living abroad and returning home to better integrate and contribute meaningfully to their communities and societies as a whole. It has branches in Australia, America many countries in Africa including, The Gambia, South Africa, as well as Sierra Leone.
They like many organisations have spent they past few months helping the fight against Ebola, and we hope that there may be scope to share our respective experiences with them in the future.
CODEP
134. 15 February 2015: CODEP Wages War on Ebola Stigmatization in Schools We set out below the text from an article from Awareness Times which is all about the most recent of our Ebola education forums, which was held in Waterloo. The focus was on the important role that teachers will play in ensuring that those who have come into contact with the Eboloa virus, are embraced back into the community once they have recovered or once the quarantine period has come to an end.
Or to cut to the chase, as Awareness Times did, “CODEP Wages War on Ebola Stigmatization in Schools”.
The article itself can be found here.
This is the article in full:
A one-day forum on Ebola Stigmatization has ended on Saturday 14th February 2014 at the Chukuma Johnson Memorial Field at Waterloo in Western Rural District.
This event was organized by a non-governmental charitable organization, Construction and Development Partnerships (CODEP) in collaboration with Build on Books on the Theme “the Negative Impact of Stigmatization on Ebola Survivors”.
The ceremony attracted several important personalities including the Chief Whip of Parliament, Hon. Claude Kamanda, the Chairman Western Rural District Council, Mr. Alhassan Cole, Hon. Amani Sannoh of the Parliamentary Education Committee, traditional healers, and rulers, MDAs, teachers, parents, pupils, youths and women’s representatives as well as other NGOs.
In her welcome address, the Logistics Manager of CODEP, Mrs. Rosetta Kargbo said they were hopeful that schools are going to reopen soonest and as partners in educational development, they want to encourage all parents, pupils and the Western Rural community to kick against Ebola stigmatization especially in learning institutions.
“Discriminating our compatriots who are Ebola survivors or affected by the disease directly or indirectly will be disastrous” she echoed.
She went on, “at CODEP and its partner organization, Build on Books our mandate is to improve or develop education but when the Ebola outbreak hit Sierra Leone we diverted our course by organizing sensitization forum, supply anti-Ebola items to communities, feeding quarantined homes and giving care to children orphaned by Ebola.”
She informed that as an organization they are still providing support for 172 Ebola orphans on weekly basis but they are expected other big stakeholders to come and rescue them in the future.
In his statement the Chief Whip of Parliament commended CODEP and Build on Books for their immense contribution towards the fight against Ebola.
“CODEP and Build on Books were very instrumental in the fight against Ebola when Waterloo became a hotspot in Sierra Leone” he stated.
He said the forum on the condemnation of stigmatization against Ebola survivors was very vital to the Waterloo Community because the disease left many untold stories and almost everybody is affected.
“Ebola forced us to avoid our culture, tradition and norms across Sierra Leone with a heart rendering” he said in sad mood.
He commended President Koroma for the social community mobilization which he said yield dividend in the fight against Ebola in that part of the country. He thanked all other stakeholders including international partners, NGOs and lauded CODEP for completing government efforts in feeding Ebola victims especially children.
He categorically encouraged all community members to warn everybody against stigmatization and discrimination of affected Ebola persons everywhere and anywhere in Sierra Leone.
“They are the heroes of the Ebola war and history will count on them so much” he disclosed.
In his contribution, the Chairman Western Rural District Council said collaborative effort in the fight against Ebola was very essential in the fight against Ebola. He advised all and sundry to lend hands in the fight against stigmatization of survivors.
“Sierra Leoneans were not prepared for this kind of scourge but today we are struggling with it and it was not the wish of any of our compatriots to be victims so let there be no discrimination or stigmatization” he maintained. Other speakers including representatives of Parliament, Ministry of Education, Social Welfare and other NGOs made salient statements.
135. Ebola tragedy at St George's Orphanage Just when you think, that maybe, just maybe, the Ebola virus is under control, you recieve a terrible reminder of just how terrible the virus can be.
As many of you will know, CODEP has close links with St George’s orphanage which is situated betwen Freetown and Waterloo.
We have visited the orphanage and donated books. We have also got to know some of the people who work with the charity ascoaited with the orphange, both in Sierra Leone and the UK.
We were therefore deeply sadded to learn of the death of Augustine Baker who worked at the orphanage.
The orphanage was set up in 2004 and, until the Ebola outbreak, was mainly concerned with rescuing street children. Since the Ebola outbreak it had looked after many of the Ebola orphans.
We understand that Augustine contracted Ebola while being treated at the Hastings Treatment Centre for typhoid and malaria. After keeping him over-night in a room with patients, who were also under observation, healthworkers gave him the all-clear and sent him back to the orphanage.
The orphanage staff picked him up when he collapsed a few days later and took him for treatment. They thought it was safe to touch him because they thought he only had malaria and typhoid. Sadly it was far worse.
The thirty-three children and seven staff at the St George Foundation orphanage have been in quarantine since Mr Baker was diagnosed with the deadly Ebola virus.
You can find out more about the tireless efforts of Mr Baker to help the Ebola orphans in two BBC articles here and here
All our thoughts are with Mr Baker’s family and the chldren and staff at St George’s who are currenlty under quarantine.
CODEP
136. Hope for Tomorrow As you know, we have for the past few months been supporting some 200 Ebola orphans, providing them with a cooked meal and other support on a weekly basis.
We are pleased to say that SLWT have generously agreed to help support our work. SLWT was founded in 1999 and since then they have supported the lives of over 5,000 children and youths, and their communities in Sierra Leone. For exmaple they suported the FAWE school in Waterloo. As SLWT say on their website, they work to identify and fund projects in Sierra Leone that improves the welfare of disadvantage children and youth.
You can find out more about SLWT here.
Early this year, SLWT undertook an evaluation of our feeeding programme, joined Rosetta and her team on their weekly feeding programme and held several meetings in Waterloo and with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs. As a consequence SLWT have identified up to 50 children between the ages of 1 and 4 years old, that they would like to support.
The project is called Hope for Tomorrow and SLWT will for the next six months take responsibility for the feeding of 50 children under the age of 5 years old and also put in place measures to observe the health and development of these children within the Waterloo community. This means that the children will not only be fed but they will be weighed, measured and their progress charted.
Together our prime objective over this initial 6 months period is to provide a sustainable development plan for these children, an in particular to:
(i) Ensure the children are kept within the community they know;
(ii) Find appropriate foster care; initially and if possible with a family member; and
(iii) Commit to providing a scholarship program, which looks after their Education and Health care needs until they complete their secondary school.
SLWT will work alongside us and Build on Books in the Waterloo area, so that experiences and lessons learnt are shared.
Everyone at CODEP are incredibly grateful to SLWT for their support and look forward to working with them over the next few months.
If you would like to done funds to help sustain the project please go to our Just Giving Page.
137. Ebola Appeal Update 21 March 2015: new three-day lock down announced As we have said before, whilst the figures continue to show a decline in the number of Ebola cases, it is proving to be very (and dangerously) stubborn and difficult to eradicate.
News of 10 Americans having to return home because of concerns that they have contracting the disease, is troubling enough, but they are lucky enough to be able to return home. Liberia has now been able to declare that it has been free from Ebola for three weeks in a row, the same cannot be said of Sierra Leone. There has been a welcome decline in the number of new confirmed cases, just 55 over the past week, but there are still a number of cases in the Freetown and Western Rural areas.
This is why the government has announced a second three-day lock down on 27-29 March 2015 in the worst-hit areas, including Western Rural, where Waterloo is situated. The last curfew was considered a success, so it may just do the trick.
There is some much more positive news: we were all pleased to learn that the quarantine at the St George’s orphanage has been lifted. All the children are fine.
Further, Rosetta and our team are continuing, with the support of SLWT, their regular missions to support the Ebola orphans in Waterloo. The photos you can see were taken over the last seven days. It is really pleasing to hear how happy they are, even if (typical children!) they are not always so happy to have their photo taken!
We are so grateful that we have been able to maintain our support for these children. Indeed, everyone in Waterloo remains tremendously grateful for all your support, and continued support, in what continue to be difficult times for everyone in Sierra Leone.
The CODEP team
138. Ebola Appeal Update - the Schools are open again!
Some good news!!!
First there is room for cautious optimism as the indicendence of Ebola continues to drop. The World Health Organisation has reported just nine confirmed cases for the past two weeks in Sierra Leone. In Sierra Leone, cases were reported from 3 western districts: Kambia (4 cases), Port Loko (1 case), and Western Area (4 cases), which includes the capital, Freetown and Waterloo.
And … this continued fall is the major reason why on 14th April 2015, the schools reopened across Sierra Leone some nine months after they were closed because of the Ebola outbreak. To begin with, it was reported that school numbers were down, and understandably one of the first steps was to reinforce the lessons that have been learnt over the past few months about how to avoid and stop the spread of Ebola.
We hope that the Ebola Education forums will have played a part in reminding teachers and pupils alike of what needs to be done.
However the threat from Ebola still remains and vigilence must be the continued watchword. We can, perhps, however allow ourselves to think what we can do to hlpe rebuild the Waterloo community and we shall be working with our freinds and colleagues at Build on Books and the Waterloo Partnership to see how we can help.
And of course, we are continuing to care for the Ebola orphans, together with SLWT. Rosetta and her team continue to make regular donations of food and supplies. Build on Books, arranged a small donation to provide uniforms for the orphans so they too could join their friends back at school.
The next step here must be to establish a more long term care programme for the orphans.
But, the schools re-opening is a major step forward. The government of Sierra Leone’s has announced that its four key priorities on #EbolaRecovery are i) Back to school, ii) Access to health services, iii) Protection, iv) Growth. that sounds sensible to us, and with the first goal now achieved, let’s all hope that the small postive steps that our now being taken can continue.
That said, we must all remember that Ebola has not quite been eradicated. Until that time, care and vigilence must be maintained at all times.
The CODEP team
139. Independence Day at the Chukuma Johnson Library Monday 27th April marked the 54th Independence Day celebrations in Sierra Leone.
At the Chukuma Johnson Memorial Children’s Library, Rosetta and our team organised a small party for the Ebola orphans. The children learnt about independence from Mr Julius Fisher who also explained the significance of the colours of the national flag: Green for natural vegetation, White for peace and Blue for the ocean.
But it was a party so there was singing and dancing and some food and more singing and dancing, as it should be!
Happy Independence Day to al our friends in Sierra Leone. With the schools now back and the Ebola rates continuing to fall, it does seem that there is much to celebrate!
The CODEP Team.