
Catholic Women Speak is crowdfunding
Weʼre raising £3,300 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
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Crowdfunding is a new type of fundraising where you can raise funds for your own personal cause, even if you're not a registered nonprofit.
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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 until August 2021, by which time we hope to have assessed the longer term funding needs.
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 .
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Updates
18
19 days ago
Catholic Women Speak
19 days agoThis month Yema sent news that the well they have dug with our donations is now producing fresh water for the school and the local community. The money we send covers some teachers' salaries, school uniforms, stationery and IT supplies, building maintenance work, and still there has been enough left over to pay for a well. Thank you to all our donors whose generosity enables us to contine to support the Byseee Project and to help poor children in one of the world's poorest countries to develop a sense of dignity and hope through education.
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2 months ago
Catholic Women Speak
2 months agoYema writes: "The main big thing that your sponsorship has done to Byseee school is providing safe drinking water for the pupils. We are digging a well in the compound for water. This is lasting remembrance that I will name after our CWS donors when it is finished. I am so happy for this activity as the school is struggling for safe drinking water. You can't imagine what you and the donors have done in the lives of these children for water in the compound and community members will benefit from it. Thank you so much.God bless you all."
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3 months ago
Catholic Women Speak
3 months agoToday we're sending our next contribution of £300 to the Byseee School Project in Sierra Leone. As well as helping to pay teachers' stipends, our monthly donation provides school uniforms, maintenance for school buildings, IT equipment, stationery, etc. Every month there's enough in the JustGiving account to cover that month's donation, almost exactly. Thank you on behalf of the Byseee Project for supporting this CWS initiative. All overheads are covered so everything you give is sent to Yema Jusufu by Western Union. Tina for CWS
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Catholic Women Speak started crowdfunding
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Supporters
96
Celia Wexler
Apr 10, 2021
Keep safe and well!
£40.00
Rachel Caseby
Apr 8, 2021
Sending good wishes to all in the school community xx
£25.00
Mary Hanrahan
Apr 1, 2021
In solidarity and love.
£20.00
Adrienne Keller
Apr 1, 2021
Proud to be part of support for female education.
£40.00
Ursula Halligan
Apr 1, 2021
Thank you Yema and Tina for all the important work you do.
£30.00
Katie Humphrey
Apr 1, 2021
£10.00
Ann and Maureen
Apr 1, 2021
Delighted to support this project
£20.00

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About the fundraiser

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.