The second Sierra Leone-Plymouth Partnership trip in May 2007 to Sierra Leone was for me at times moving, frustrating, inspiring and tiring. As a retired teacher who taught for 34 years in the Roseville School District, I was especially interested in the elementary schools of Foindu, Jokibu and Pujehun, the three small villages that SLPP supports in the eastern part of that country.  I soon discovered that I had much to learn.

From the first day of our eight-day stay in the three villages, it was very evident that education was important to all three communities. The SLPP Education Committee meetings held in all three villages were well-attended. Tribal leaders spoke passionately and at great length about the educational needs of their villages. Once I began teaching and observing teachers at the Pujehun Methodist School (first through sixth grades), I quickly found myself engaged in lively discussions about teaching techniques with the school’s teachers and community elders, and most of my evenings were devoted to reading and critiquing the English compositions of fifth and sixth grade students by lamplight. It was wonderful to be among people who cared so deeply about education.

Unfortunately for all involved, providing a quality education is a daunting task. The civil war of the 1990s left the human and physical infrastructure of Sierra Leone in ruins, and even today the national government is not in a position to provide much help to the country’s schools. Thus, small communities like Foindu, Jokibu and Pujehun must rely heavily on support from church and other non-governmental organizations. At Pujehun School, the classes often had as many as 50 students per teacher, the classrooms were lacking in basic school furniture, the few textbooks were badly out-of-date and the younger teachers hadn’t received any training in teaching pedagogy.

In spite of the enormous challenges, progress is being made in improving the schools of the three villages. I participated in a groundbreaking ceremony for a major addition to the badly overcrowded elementary school in Jokibu that was paid for by SLPP. We were also able to take school supplies and textbooks purchased in Freetown to the three communities. Beyond the elementary schools’ needs, the financial support of SLPP has allowed many students from the three villages to attend junior secondary school, secondary school and college on scholarships.