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.