President Bio joins Bo schools celebrating Education Week

President Bio joins Bo schools celebrating Education Week

Schools in Bo celebrated Education Week with a march past, cultural events and performances.

The programme for the International Day of Education on 24th January 2024 was “Learning for Lasting Peace”.

President Maada Bio, speaking at the event, said “I must, on behalf of a grateful nation, praise the tireless work of educators, parents, guardians, community elders, and all the stakeholders who work to advance education in our beloved country.”

Thank you Leamington! Pantomime-goers donate over £9,000 to OWL

Thank you Leamington! Pantomime-goers donate over £9,000 to OWL

Pantomime crowds were in generous mood as they encountered One World Link volunteers with collecting donations. They donated some £9,000 at the thirty seven performances of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Leamington Spa Centre.

OWL volunteers, wearing blue tabards and holding buckets decorated by school children, stood in the gangways and collected money from the audience as they left. In addition to allowing us to collect these donations, Warwick District Council donated over £700 from the sale of tickets to an invited audience, taking the grand total to £9,571. We are very grateful to them, the Spa Centre and the cast.

This income is particularly welcome in view of our programme for the coming year, including the Day of the Africa Child in June and possible exchange visits by teachers.

One World Link AGM – 27th January

Members and Friends are invited to our AGM on the 27th January 2024 at St Paul’s church hall, Leicester St, Leamington Spa. We do look forward to meeting as many members and friends as possible in person at this event. The meeting will start at 2.00pm

We will aim to keep the formal part of the meeting to a minimum and then review both recent activities and also look back at 40+ years of the friendship link.

For more information please contact secretary@oneworldlink.org.uk

Teachers’ meeting and celebration

Teachers held a meeting at the OWL Centre in Bo to discuss plans for their collaborative work on Climate Change. Schools are focusing on UN Global Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. We hope to inspire pupils to consider re-using and recycling materials to reduce waste.

When the business meeting was finished the teachers enjoyed socialising and celebrated a colleague’s recent wedding and sang “The more we are together the merrier we shall be”. The words continue “For your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends..” which is so appropriate for One World Link which is the friendship link between our communities.

Bo Waste Management Project goes National

In 2007 One World Link assisted Bo City Council in re-establishing the waste disposal system which had collapsed during the civil war. Now there are certificate, undergraduate and diploma courses at universities in Sierra Leone and Bo claims to be the cleanest city in Sierra Leone.

Bo Waste Management Project goes National

“Little things can grow into much bigger things but it might take a little while.”

Waste dump before the disposal project
Waste dump before the disposal project

Things are moving on in Sierra Leone with Undergraduate Certificate and Diploma Courses in Municipal Solid Waste Management now being offered by Fourah Bay College on behalf of the University of Sierra Leone.  The Eastern Technical University in Kenema is also offering a 1 year Certificate course and a 2 year Diploma course on Urban and Municipal Waste Management.  Who would have thought that would happen when OWL sowed those early seeds in Bo?

Furthermore, just last month (17th November), Sierra Leone held its first National Waste Management conference.  It would seem that it was well attended with good representation from Government Departments.

The waste management project was born back in 2007 when OWL persuaded the UNDP to invest in equipment to help Bo City Council to resolve their huge waste problem. The municipal waste disposal system had collapsed during the dreadful civil war in the 1990s and they were starting again from almost nothing. Facilitated by OWL, specialists from Warwickshire County Council, Glenn Fleet and Derek Greedy, provided guidance for the project. It was later taken on by the German NGO Welthungerhilfe.

Early progress with a compactor lorry
Early progress with a compactor lorry

Bo now claims to be the cleanest city in Sierra Leone. As Derek says: “Makes you feel good when you see those early efforts turning into all this. Little things can grow into much bigger things but it might take a little while.”

Prof Nancy Edwards to talk in Leamington on 20th October – All invited

Nancy Edwards is coming to St Paul’s Church, Leamington on Friday, 20th October at 7pm to tell us about her experiences with the title “Improving Community Health Care in Low Income Countries”.
She lived in the Sierra Leone for five years, two of them based in Bo where she worked with the Bo-Pujehun Rural Integrated Development Program.
Nancy Edwards is a nurse and epidemiologist who worked in the field of global health and development for forty years. She is a Distinguished Professor and Professor Emerita at the University of Ottawa and the recipient of numerous awards including three honorary doctoral degrees. 

Prof Nancy Edwards to talk in Leamington

Nancy Edwards is coming to St Paul’s Church, Leamington on Friday, 20th October at 7pm to tell us about her experiences with the title “Improving Community Health Care in Low Income Countries”. All members and friends of OWL – and any others interested – are invited. Please email chair@oneworldlink.org.uk

Nancy Edwards is a nurse and epidemiologist who worked in the field of global health and development for forty years. She is a Distinguished Professor and Professor Emerita at the University of Ottawa and the recipient of numerous awards including three honorary doctoral degrees. 

She lived in the Sierra Leone for five years, two of them based in Bo where she worked with the Bo-Pujehun Rural Integrated Development Program. One of her collaborators there was Dr. David Moinina Senge who is now the country’s Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education. Prof Edwards is the author of Not One, Not Even One: A Memoir of Life-altering Experiences in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Her stories of village life convey the ravages of tuberculosis, threats of witchcraft and tragedies of deaths related to pregnancy, childbirth and newborn tetanus. She celebrates local advocates for health improvements — mothers, traditional birth attendants and village health committees. 

Teachers’ visit to UK boosts school links

Our visitors enjoyed the hospitality of seven host families who had offered through the network of Leamington and Warwick schools.
A programme of school visits, meetings and experiences was organised to enable the team to learn about British education and culture as well as some of the issues we have in common such as Climate change. Sight-seeing in London, Birmingham and Coventry were all part of a packed itinerary.

Teachers’ visit to UK boosts school links

We were thrilled and somewhat amazed when five Bo OWL members got their visas first time! This was thanks to an OWL friend in Freetown – Michael Dennis (previously British Council) – without whose help we’d have never negotiated the whole, complex and costly visa process.

Our visitors enjoyed the hospitality of seven new host families who had offered through the network of Leamington and Warwick schools. Over the years, many OWL members have become interested in the link through offering to host and we hope this is to continue with many new friendships forged this year. A programme of school visits, meetings and experiences was organised to enable the team to learn about British education and culture as well as some of the issues we have in common such as Climate change. Sight-seeing in London, Birmingham and Coventry plus Fish & Chips, Ten Pin Bowling and a Curry at the Himalaya restaurant were all part of a packed itinerary.

Jennifer Abulai, Columba Sherriff, Nemahun Vandy and Elizabeth Allie all spent time getting to know their link schools – attending assemblies, observing lessons and joining staff-room discussions, as well as visiting other linked schools where they shared stories about life in Sierra Leone and learnt about our curriculum and methods.

Also among the team was Teachers’ Coordinator John Sandi who is now helping with the management of the OWL Centre in Bo – amongst visiting many schools John was able to spend time in discussion with the UK committee, visit Campion Secondary School and JBC Skills Training, a computer business in Coventry (who have given desk-top computers to Bo OWL).

The visit culminated with the annual Day of the African Child event where the visiting team, dressed in their beautiful, matching ‘ashobi’ surprised us with a special song they had prepared for the Finale Assembly which sang of us working together in friendship while naming every school. See the pictures of the event. We certainly hope and expect that this visit serves to strengthen the bonds which had suffered through the dry years of covid. We recognise that OWL partnerships are really very unique in offering these face-to-face opportunities – we look forward to working with strengthened links where friends on both sides are able to play their part in building understanding and support.

2023

Computers sent to Bo for a training centre at the OWL Centre
June – Four teachers from Bo visit the UK.
The Day of the African Child celebrated with Zoom links between Bo and Warwick

Computers sent to Bo for a training centre at the OWL Centre

June – Four teachers from Bo visit the UK. See report

The Day of the African Child celebrated with Zoom links between Bo and Warwick. See the pictures

Ready to go! Teachers preparing to visit the UK

Five teachers from schools in Bo are preparing for their visit to the UK in June. . They will have a busy schedule visiting their partner schools and having discussions with teachers. They will also join in the celebrations of the Day of the African Child when four hundred children will assemble for a programme of drumming, dancing, siinging and storytelling.

Five teachers from schools in Bo are preparing for their visit to the UK in June. John Sandi, Elizabeth Allie, Nemahun Vandy, Jennifer Abdulai and Patrick Columba.

They now have their travel documents and tickets and are looking forward to their two-week stay in Warwick District. They will be staying with families and have a busy schedule visiting their partner schools and having discussions with teachers. Bo schools are preparing parcels for their linked schools which the visitors will deliver. They will also join in the celebrations of the Day of the African Child when four hundred children will assemble for a programme of drumming, dancing, siinging and storytelling.

200 Trees Planted in School Campaign

Children in local primary schools have planted trees as part of a joint Climate Action project with their One World Link partner schools in Bo, Sierra Leone.

One World Link was delighted when Leamington Town Council agreed to sponsor tree planting in Bo as its way of marking 40 years of friendship between the two areas.  Since then, over 200 trees have been planted in total.

200 Trees Planted in School Campaign

Children in local primary schools including Brookhurst (Leamington), All Saints’ Juniors (Warwick), St Margaret’s and St Joseph’s (Whitnash) have planted trees as part of a joint Climate Action project with their One World Link partner schools in Bo, Sierra Leone.

One World Link was delighted when Leamington Town Council agreed to sponsor tree planting in Bo as its way of marking 40 years of friendship between the two areas.  Since then, over 200 trees have been planted in total – some at each of the link schools and some on community land owned by OWL in Bo.

The children’s’ project work focused on the importance of trees for a sustainable future. Pupils were inspired by the work of Wangari Maarthi, Kenyan environmentalist and activist, reading a book about her life – Trees of Peace. They also learnt about the Mayor of the capital Freetown whose ambition is to plant 1,000,000 trees over two years reversing some of the damage caused by deforestation and landslides – Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr’s aim is to turn Freetown into a Treetown!

Liz Garrett, OWL schools’ coordinator and teacher said, “Children are passionate about protecting wildlife and nature and have been so enthusiastic about tree planting. One boy even donated the sycamore sapling he’d grown from seed during lockdown – it’s now growing on our field! One World Link has always had strong support from Leamington Town Council, and we are both delighted and very grateful that it has chosen to support this project as part of its way of marking our 40 years of friendship with Bo.”

The Mayor of Royal Leamington Spa, Cllr Nick Wilkins, said: “Leamington Town Council were delighted to actively support and sponsor tree planting in Bo in Sierra Leone.  We have worked with our colleagues in One World Link planting trees in some of our Leamington primary schools too as part of a joint Climate Action project. Engaging with children around the globe could not come at a more critical time with climate change on the rise.   We are proud of our links with Bo, and our planting projects is just one, that has bound us in friendship for 40 years.”

See also the tree planting campaign in Bo

Read the press release