Nic and Vicky are walking the 55 Mile Oxford Green Belt Way at the end of May to raise funds for 2 Sierra Leone schools (St Andrews school at Maima and Meicheta at Bongalow). 

Vicky says “I went to Sierra Leone in November 2005 with a small group from St Andrews and Christians in Sport.  I was moved by the plight of the people there: the poverty and the pain that they had suffered a result of the civil war. Despite their circumstances we were made so welcome and they shared their food with us, what little they had.  There was such a sense of community despite the circumstances.  The women were so dignified and appeared from corrugated huts with mud floors, so smart in their brightly coloured clothes. The children so overjoyed to be attending school and so proud to have their own matching uniform (when they could). I have already raised some money for a women’s project in the capital, Freetown. I would now like to raise some money to extend the schools that have been funded by members of St Andrews church.  Nic has always supported me and taken an avid interest in the people that I have met in Sierra Leone.  We plan to visit together some time to see our friends again and to see how the projects are progressing.”

The work we are supporting is through the christian community church mission (C3M) and in particular Pastor Yatta Samura. The church members have helped to build and now run 2 junior schools (St Andrews school at Maima and Meicheta at Bongalow) which are open to children of all faiths. St Andrews school started with fewer than 100 children in 2005 and now has over 250 pupils. Bongalow school has 300 children and has been supported by the C3M church since an NGO stopped sponsorship in 2008.

 

In 2010 we need to raise £10,000 for extra classrooms together with educational material and teachers salaries. Please help by donating through Just giving which is quick, easy and totally secure. The finances for this work are managed though our church, St Andrews Oxford. That means that every pound you give goes straight to the locals in Sierra Leone with no admin costs. Many thanks from Nic and Vicky.