We took a poda-poda into Wellington, a part of Freetown about 15 minutes away, which is actually the same town that Pastor Abu's church is. After arriving in Wellington, we took okadas up the crazy, treacherous, steep rocky mountain and arrived close to the church, where we continued on foot into Koya Town. I haven't mentioned the okadas yet. Partially, on purpose because I don't want to scare my mother. But I've ridden them many times now and have survived, so I can now share this additional means of transportation. An okada is a motorbike. Mom, breathe! ;) I jump on the back of the okada driver and ride wherever I need to go. It is so convenient as they can maneuver quite well through all the traffic, that a taxi or a podapoda gets stuck in. I happen to like it best, mostly because its a quick ride, its loads of fun, and its not nearly as "expensive" as riding in a taxi. They can be quite dangerous, as the drivers weave in and out of traffic, and the helmet they may or may not give you don't usually strap on. I don't really know how well it would protect if something were to happen. I try not to think about that, say a prayer, and jump on! Love them :)
Anyways, we reached the church, which is actually a new building they just finished. The church, Go Living Baptist Church, has held three services in their new building so far. It is just a concrete frame, with no benches, no windows, no doors. However, Pastor Nat is very thankful for their new building, as they had been renting the building the church was previously in. The building was simultaneously being used as the school, which it continues to do. I will explain later.
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The outside of the church building |
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| The inside |
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| The view from the church "window" of Koya Town |
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| What will eventually become "toilets" |
While in the church, the pastor asked that I pray for the church and the ministry and work that goes on there, which I did. We continued on to the school. The church has started three schools. The first one is located in Masaika, one of the provinces, about 47 miles away from Freetown and has about 85 children. The second school is located in Rokan, another province and is located about 40 miles from Freetown and then is an additional 7 miles from the highway. That school has 120 children. This school, Go Primary School, was started in about 2008 and currently has 115 children. It is a grade school that is from preschool to grade 6. The schools were established to provide education to vulnerable children; the "vulnerable children" include those who have been subjected to child labor, street kids, school dropouts, orphans, and children from single parent homes. The schools are considered by the government as a "mission school" and Pastor Nat has included in the curriculum RME or religious moral education and uses his schools as a means to present the gospel to the community, many which are primarily Muslim communities. As you can see from the numbers, there are many children in this small community who benefit from the school having been created.
Education in Sierra Leone is not free and for many families, its a sacrifice to send their children to school. It is often easier to use one's child to do work at home than to send them to school, which then promotes and leads to child labor. Because it is often difficult for poor families to send their children to school, The Go Primary School , has some children that are getting a "free" education. The administration determines how much each child needs to pay for their education and they base the tuition on the vulnerability of each child in that community. There are others in the school whose parents can't afford to purchase uniforms for their child, which you will see in some of the photos. These children are still encouraged to attend school. This cost gets absorbed by the church who currently supports all of the schools.
The Go Primary School is currently located in a rented building. When the building was simultaneously being used as the church, the church was paying the rent for the building. Now that they are somewhat two different entities, the school is now responsible for supplying the money for the rent. This is difficult because every child isn't paying for tuition, and therefore the church is having to help support the rent fees as well. The campus includes two buildings; the second building is currently rented out as housing. The owner of the buildings now wants to sell the buildings, which poses an issue for the church and the school. The owner want to sell the whole compound, which is the two buildings and some land and is selling for $16,000 US. Please pray the Lord provides the money so that the church can purchase the buildings so the school and the work there can continue.
The teachers in the school are volunteers. They are only paid a small stipend to provide the education to the children. Many of them also are receiving continued training at the Teachers College in Sierra Leone. Please pray for the teachers as they give of themselves, their time, and their resources to provide a Christian education to these children.
Each school day runs from 8:30am to 2pm. The students have a number of classes. The have Social Studies, English, Math, Science, Verbal, Literature, Quantitative, French, RMA (Religious Moral Educations) and CPA (Creative Practical Arts). As mentioned, the school goes from Preschool to Grade 6. When I arrived with the pastor, we walked into the first room of the school, which held the first grade class. The children were soooo cute in their pink uniforms. The whole class stood up and greeted us with this long citation which included "Welcome Pastor Nat, Welcome Auntie." We then continued to each of the classes, where they all did the same thing. One class, I think the Grade 3 class didn't know how to greet me and said "Welcome Pastor Nat, Welcome friend" and the teacher corrected them and said sternly "Welcome Auntie." Auntie is the phrase used to address another woman of the community. I am honored to be accepted as so. When we greeted, I think it was the grade 2 classroom, a student said to me, "Do you remember me?" I looked at him and recognized his face, but didn't quite know from where. He then told me that his brother Alie was a patient on the ship. Now I remember. I could never forget Alie. After all, his mother is Kadiatu, the woman I have written about. He told me he was in the preschool. When we greeted the preschool, Alie ran to me and hugged my legs tight. He certainly remembered me! :) Pastor Nat and I went into the one office, a small small room off the side of the preschool, where we talked about the school and he shared with me the needs. He wonders what can be done so that help can be provided for the work that is going on here. While in there I could hear the preschool kids, singing and reciting their numbers and the alphabet and learning to spell small three letter words. It brought joy to my heart. Such precious children!
After we talked, and prayed, we left the office and took some pictures. Pastor Nat wanted me to be in a picture with each class. Then as we were leaving, all of the children gathered in the center room, also the Grade 1 classroom, and sang "Tell Papa God Tenki", a common song here in Sierra Leone, thanking God for all that He has done. Of course, my camera battery died as I was trying to get a video of them singing. Major disappointment. I then prayed with all the students and we left.
It was such an amazing experience and I hope to visit again soon. I really want to see how God can use me to help the work that is going on here on this mountain. Pastor Nat has seen the needs of this community and has tried to address them, doing so in a large way by having the school, which provides a Christian education to the children. The curriculum is provided by the government, but the RME curriculum is donated from a Christian organization. The school has to follow the governmental curriculum so that the 6th grade students can take the NPSE, the national entrance exam for secondary school. The 5th and 6th grade classes were actually preparing for that test during my visit today.
So here are the loads of pictures from today. Pastor Nat took some more photos after my camera died and after he gets those to me, I will upload those as well. Enjoy!
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| Preschool |
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| Preschool |
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| Grade 1 |
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| Grade 1 |
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| Grade 2 |
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| Grade 3 |
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| Grade 3 |
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| Grade 3 teacher
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It is a challenge to have the children consistently attend school. The children all seem to have the desire to be there, but there are many challenges, including the amount of work at home, tuition money, uniform money, etc. On our walk to the road, we met a few students, who weren't in school. One of them it was because she still didn't have a uniform. Pastor Nat explained that she can still go to school. Another child was doing household chores. It was very humbling for me. I have never been thankful for school, for the opportunity to go, and that I never had to worry about if I would be able to attend. I have always taken education for granted. I now have a new appreciation for my own Christian education and for the opportunity I had to attend secondary education.
Some of the needs Pastor Nat mentioned that the school has.
- Benches- there aren't enough benches for the students to sit on and in the classes some children are standing during the lessons.
- Blackboards- because the school only has one textbook for the teacher and not enough for each student to have one, the teacher has to transcribe the text from the books onto the blackboards so that the class can follow along
- Chairs- there are no chairs for the teachers
- Tables- aside from the student desks, there are no tables for activities or for the teachers
- Ability to provide allowances for the teachers- they sacrifice their ability to work elsewhere for pay to be here with these children
- Teaching and learning materials- textbooks, paper, pencils and other learning materials for the children and teachers
- A bell- There is no bell to call the children to school in the morning. Most people do not have a way of telling time and thus don't know when school is to begin.
- A clock- There is no clock even in the school in order to determine the time of day
- Drinking rubber and cups- there is only one barrel for water for the whole school, whereas one is needed for every classroom. This is a container that is used to fetch water. There are also no cups, though, for the children to drink from
- A small feeding program- Pastor Nat really has the desire to have some kind of feeding program at his school, even if it is only once or twice a week. The feeding program would provide food for the children during the school day. There is currently a lunch hour, where the children are dismissed to go home to eat, but many of them don't and just hang around the school until the time is up or go home to do some chores. There are feeding programs in the governmental schools, and Pastor Nat believes it may be incentive for some who don't come, to come to school.
- A computer and printer- This would allow the teachers to print off some learning materials for the students.
- THE BIG ONE!- to be able to purchase the school building from the current landlord.
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| The children closing their eyes while I pray~so cute! |
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| The children waving! |
Well done. God is at work. we join you in prayer.
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