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NEWSLETTER NO. 97 Hello!
Hello! How are you? Greetings to you all from a hot and sunny Freetown. Sorry if I’m making you jealous but it is days like this when I still marvel at the beauty of Salone – I’ve just taken a photo from my verandah of the sea and beach road because the colours are so stunning. Okay, I’ll stop now because I know in a month’s time, I will not be so glad when we are into the rainy season…….or maybe not this year, because I have dug my school garden ready for planting and I will be glad of the rain to water the garden. Now back to the news. We were indeed so very happy to welcome back our very good friends, our ‘uncles’ and ‘auntys’ from the ship RFA Gold Rover who were visiting Sierra Leone for a week. You may recall that they came a few years back and did a lot of work at our school and a few other schools and hospitals. Although they only spent two days at the school, they and a couple of the guys from IMATT re-built the culvert and part of the rear boundary wall which had collapsed. This was no means feat as they got hold of a two-ton iron bar to make the culvert and had to carry it on their shoulders right down to the bottom of the compound! and then built an 8ft x 20ft section of the wall. They also re-furbished an old workshop into a classroom which we will use for teaching the pupils how to use the Perkins Braillers. They put new security lighting in and new lights in the Library. They also did repairs and maintenance on the generator. Everybody was so impressed with the amount of work they got done and again I must say an enormous thank you to Captain Philip Hanton and all his crew and to IMATT and the High Commission for this wonderful gesture. We had a visit from our good friends, the MD and staff of Standard Chartered Bank. They came with food provisions – rice, oil, sugar, etc and gave the children lunch. They also gave a big donation to Sight Savers which they will use to Braille more books for us. This was one of several donations they made to different institutions as part of the 47th Independence Day celebrations. We are so grateful for this gift and the Bank’s continued interest in the School. The new staff quarters neared completion with just a few ‘snaggings’ to do and the refurbishment of the vocational centre is going well. Sandy and I were invited by Comium (mobile telephone company) to their fundraising evening at the Cabenda Hotel. Their new MD, Paul Hyde, is, would you believe, from the North East very near my home town, so we had a good ole ‘chin-wag’ about ‘Geordieland’. Comium gave donations, they had raised from fundraising events, to us, Ballanta Academy, SOS Childrens Village, Voice of Islam local radio station, and a local NGO called Pikin Bizness. It was a great evening and most enjoyable. I was invited to HM The Queen’s birthday celebrations at the British High Commissioner’s residence. I always enjoy this because it’s a good opportunity to catch up with friends and meet new ones from so very many countries. I also like the ceremony attached to the occasion. I feel proud to be British because although we may have our faults, and what country doesn’t, many people still have a respect for us and our country and we have a freedom and peace that many another country would love to have. I was only able to get to St George’s on one Sunday but it was a lovely service. Still no visits to the beach and now we are into the rainy season I certainly don’t expect to be able to get there for the next few months. Well, I’ve got to go and water the garden because we are not actually expecting rain tonight. So I will close as always by sending 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 here at the School and myself, I send all our love and prayers to you and your families and friends.
May God bless
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