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NEWSLETTER NO. 91 Hello! Hello! How are you? My greetings to you all from a warm and sunny Salone (although we are still getting some tin storms at night). First of all, I would just like to wish my lovely brother, Peter, a Very Happy 58th Birthday. I know you will join me in wishing him many more birthdays and love and prayers for his good health. Next, I have some sad news and I want to extend our deepest condolences to the family of Ralph Howes-Ward who died recently. 'Uncle' Ralph, as we called him, visited Sierra Leone many times as part of the Commonwealth Police team and always came to see us here at the school and sometimes brought Braille papers, typewriters, toiletries, etc., for the pupils. He was a gentle and kind man who was loved by many people here. I know he helped a great many people not only here but in other countries and in the UK. We will miss him very much and send our love and prayers to his family and friends. Our deepest sympathy also goes to my brother-in-law�s sister (Brenda) whose husband Dave died suddenly. Our love and prayers to Brenda and her family and friends. We finished re-roofing the Dormitories. We also re-roofed the Food Store and Kitchen area and re-painted them. We also put cushions on the benches in the Dining Hall and it was hilarious as the children sat on them for the first time and then stood up and sat down and 'shuffled' around exclaiming "dis bench i fayn o!" (this bench is very nice). I love these moments when the children are grateful for and enjoy something so simple. We put matting (linoleum) on the Library. This is a temporary measure to try and keep the dust down to a minimum until we get funds to tile it. Also, if the dust gets inside the Braille books it is more difficult to clean because if you rubbed the pages hard as you can in a printed book to get the dust off, you could also rub off/out the Braille dots. See the problem? Anyway, notwithstanding this problem, I have started to catalogue the new Braille books and audio (listening) books that have come. Some we received from Sight Savers International as part of a project they are doing to help each blind pupils get the equipment they need. Other Braille and audio books are ones that I had requested some time ago from the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and the National Library for the Blind (NLB) both in the UK, for which I am personally very grateful. We took the Choir, at the invitation of Sight Savers International, to the World Sight Day presentation hosted by Standard Chartered Bank during which we performed some songs for the appreciative audience. There were some eminent orators from the Bank, Sight Savers, Helen Keller International, and Professor Eldred Jones (himself blind). It was a very interesting and enjoyable occasion. We had a wonderful visit by our friends from Hull, UK. They were visiting Sierra Leone as part of the Anglican Church link which �twins� churches in Hull and Freetown. The cities of Hull and Freetown have been 'twinned' since 1980. We had met some members of the group when we did one of our Hull concerts to a 13,000(!) strong audience at the Hull Kingston Rovers rugby ground. It was great to see them again and we sang for them and especially their own rugby song 'Old Faithful' with which we had impressed them so much the first time as we had learned it in only one day. They spent almost three hours with us going around the school, listening to the pupils singing and then all of us singing and dancing together and having great fun! And on that happy note, I think will finish now and, as always, I send my best wishes to those celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and any other happy event. I also send goodwill messages and solicitations/condolences to those who are not well or have a bereavement or have received any sad news. From all the children and staff at the school and myself, I send all our love and prayers to you and your families and friends. Take care and may God richly bless you.
All my love. |