- AGM for 2017
We have had a busy and productive year with activities ramping up again as Sierra Leone recovered from the Ebola outbreak.
We and our distinguished guests heard about reciprocal visits by teachers, the celebrations for the Day of the African Child, the waste project in Bo, a workshop on planning, our medical link and the refurbishment of the Bo OWL Centre.Day of the African Child in Leamington 2017
The Day of the African Child was about celebration and learning. It started with a grand parade when pupils from fifteen schools trooped round the field at Lillington Primary School with banners proclaiming their links with schools in Bo, Sierra Leone, as part of the education programme of One World Link. They then did drumming, dancing, singing, sports, drama and story-telling, all on a Sierra Leonean theme.
One World Link Social Evening
One World Link hosted a Social Evening at the Pump Rooms in Leamington to share news on progress with OWL members and friends. We were treated to a presentation on the teachers’ visit to Bo earlier in the year, including a very impressive video montage that captured the essence of Bo life.
- Supporting a growing city: planning the future of Bo
OWL has linked up with Prince Charles’ “Prince’s Foundation for Building Communities” (PFBC) to help develop a toolkit for use by town planners in countries across the developing world in cities, like Bo, facing rapid urban expansion. Bo’s populaton is predicted to grow by 330% in 30 years.
A refresh for the OWL Centre
The OWL Centre on Mattru Road in Bo forms the hub of OWL’s activities in the city and has been extensively refurbished. Completed in 2007 it offers two conference / meeting rooms, an office for OWL and a six-bedroom guest house. It is where OWL members and friends visiting from the UK always stay in Bo.
Transforming Bo’s Dump into a Park
A 20-acre piece of land was leased out to Bo town in the 1950s for a public park to be named “Peaston Park”. It subsequently degenerated into a massive illegal dump – a hideout for criminals and a danger to health. Now, step by step, it has been transformed into a recreation park at last.
