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Catholic Women Speak raised £4,629 from 132 supporters
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Closed 31/08/2021
Iʼve raised £4,629 to support the work of Byseee Preparatory School for Girls and Day Care Centre in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Our target is £300 per month.
- Freetown, Sierra Leone
- Funded on Tuesday, 31st August 2021
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Story
Catholic Women Speak (CWS) is raising funds to support Byseee Preparatory School for Girls and Day Care Centre in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Our initial aim was to raise £300 per month during the Covid19 crisis, with a plan to establish a regular funding project. We have now committed to continue to send £300 per month, which provides regular support for teachers' salaries, school uniforms and supplies and maintenance, as well as contributing to more substantial projects. The building of a well which serves the school and the local community is now complete, and we are exploring future projects with the school's founders and organisers, Yema Jusufu and Edita Fofana.
The school, which comes under the auspices of St Peter the Rock Parish in Calaba town in Freetown, is run by Yema (Gertrude) Jusufu and her sister Edita, who are both members of CWS. When asked to explain the puzzling spelling of the name "Byseee", Yema wrote that their late mother was asked to start a girls' school by parents in the community. She had six children - three girls and three boys - and she used the initials of each of her children to name the school:
Bernadette - Yema - Sydney - Edward - Elis - Edita = Byseee
Byseee school offers a wide range of educational and care facilities to women and girls, particularly orphans, girls from broken homes, and single mothers. It follows the formal school curriculum but extends this to develop the girls holistically and spiritually. The aim is to help them to recover a sense of personal dignity and self-esteem after the traumas of war and amidst the ongoing challenges of poverty, violence and abuse.
The holistic education and support offered by Byseee School, which is rooted in the Catholic tradition but informed by the particular challenges of gender-based inequality and violence against women and girls, expresses the ideals and visions of our global Catholic Women Speak network. While we are not a fund-raising or charitable enterprise, we seek to express our commitment to the promotion of the full human dignity of women and girls by offering practical support to Yema and Edita. We are grateful to Chantal Götz, Director of the Fidel Götz Foundation, for agreeing to underwrite this project.
To find out more about Catholic Women Speak, please visit our website. You can read more about Gertrude and the Bysee school project at this link .
Updates
23
- 3 years ago
Catholic Women Speak
3 years agoDear supporters of the CWS Byseee project, JustGiving closed our current Byseee site because the time limit had expired. All donations have been transferred and I've started a new JustGiving site, but I can't carry over any of the regular funding pledges. If you are willing to register again with the new site I'd be very grateful. Regular donors mean I don't have to do vigorous fundraising campaigns every month to sustain our £300 pledge. Thank you so much on behalf of CWS and Byseee for your faithful support for the project. Tina
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- 3 years ago
Catholic Women Speak
3 years agoShare this update to help us raise more
- 3 years ago
Catholic Women Speak
3 years agoThank you to all who so generously continue to support this project and help us to maintain our solidarity with the Byseee School and Community Project in Sierra Leone. Yema has sent news and photos of the school's graduation ceremony in July, when Kindergarten Three children entered Primary One, and Primary Six prepared to enter high school in September. She also sent photos of the pump being set up for the well they installed. Please join our Facebook group for more photos and updates: https://www.facebook.com/groups/286728735819481.
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Supporters
132
Celia Wexler
Aug 31, 2021
This was a lucrative month for freelance writing! Hope you all are safe!
£100.00
Celia Wexler
Aug 10, 2021
Hope you all stay safe!
£50.00
Jacqui Stewart
Aug 2, 2021
Thank you for doing this!
£69.00
Rachel Caseby
Aug 1, 2021
Hope all of the children are thriving 😊
£20.00
Mary Hanrahan
Aug 1, 2021
In solidarity and love.
£20.00
Adrienne Keller
Aug 1, 2021
Proud to be part of support for female education.
£40.00
Katie Humphrey
Aug 1, 2021
£10.00
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Catholic Women Speak
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Catholic Women Speak (CWS) is a forum of Catholic women from diverse cultures who share a common commitment to promote the dignity and equality of women in the Church and society, and to struggle for justice for the poorest and most marginalised women and children.