NEW!

Jeff Hall and Brian Siska will present a summary and slide show of the May 2009 trip to Sierra Leone, along with a preview of the exciting plans that are being made to improve life in the villages of Jokibu, Pujehun, and Foindu.
   
Date/Time: Sunday, June 14, 8:45-9:45 a.m.

Place: Plymouth Congregational Church, 1900 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis, mn 55403

ALSO, CHECK OUT THE MAY 2009 SIERRA LEONE TRIP BLOG:

www.sierraleoneplymouthpartnership.blogspot.com !
          

Welcome to the Sierra Leone-Plymouth Partnership, or "SLPP"! 
              
SLPP is a long-term, independent partnership between Sierra Leone and Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis.  The "SLPP" was created in spring 2005 by  former Peace Corps volunteer Jeff Hall as a way for people to become aware of conditions in Africa and to offer specific, dynamic forms of help.  Jeff lived in the Sierra Leonean village of Jokibu for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the early 1990s, and he has returned several times in recent years and now leads a yearly group trip to Jokibu and its two sister villages Foindu and Pujehun.      

Sierra Leone itself is a small, coastal, West African country between Guinea and Liberia. Its capital, Freetown, once was a major slave trading port for the Americas and also became a major center for the repatriation of slaves.  The village of Jokibu, near Sierra Leone’s eastern border, along with its nearby sister villages, Foindu and Pujehun, were devastated during the region’s 1990s "blood diamonds" civil war, their buildings abandoned and destroyed, and their residents scattered to the jungle and, later, to refugee camps..  However, civil strife ended in 2002; in 2003-4, villagers began returning to rebuild.  Now Sierra Leone is a peaceful and successful democracy.  The SLPP is helping all three of these villages. 

Jeff volunteers his time to coordinate the Partnership and SLPP Committee. His close friendships both with villagers and with the owners of a building-supply store in the nearby town of Kenema make it possible for him to personally and directly order goods, transfer money, and keep accurate, detailed accounting and installation records, including photographs.

This family is standing in front of two houses with different roofs: one is the new, much more permanent sheet-metal roofing supplied by SLPP; the other is the old canvas roofing that wears out quickly, allowing water to leak and destroy the house's walls.  SLPP has supplied 400+ roofs to the three eastern Sierra Leone villages of Foindu, Jokibu, and Pujehun. 

Dear friends,

We took huge strides forward in our village partnership in 2008.  A partnership with Amherst College (my alma mater) generated 9 students with extended stays in the villages to move our work forward – three graduates in early 2008, four summer interns June – August and two ’08 graduates September through January 2009.  Our work expanded significantly, particularly our critical but complicated micro loan program, and we had tremendously improved communication since we now have cell & internet reception in the village.

In June, 23 friends and family (including Plymouth members, Amherst summer interns and several high school students from the Blake School in Minneapolis) joined me on our annual service trip.  Our main focus was on much-needed health & sanitation training; we brought 700 mosquito nets and tested new ideas such as tippy taps for washing hands, a urine separator to make free fertilizer and a compost latrine.  Thanks to General Mills, we distributed three reading books (their first ones) to each of the 1,200 primary students.

Though our 5,000 friends still live in extreme poverty, I am amazed each year at the tremendous impact made by our $20/person investment.  Starting in 2004, we first helped with shelter, then clean water, improved schools, more scholarships each year and now micro loans that are increasing income.  But perhaps even more important than the physical/economic improvements, is the change in attitude – the hope and joy expressed as we arrive in the village, with singing, dancing and thousands of smiles.  Our long-term partnership commitment is working, as we build each year upon the previous, and demonstrate measurable improvement each year in quality of life.  The greatest challenge is always developing local quality leadership and systems, so that we build long-term capability and a self-sustaining model; we continue to focus on that task.

2009 will be our most exciting year yet, with an expanded structure to leverage our expert volunteers and former travelers, larger use of our website, an Executive Director and a Board.

Thank you for your generous support, and the faith to invest in some of the poorest, hardest working, and most incredible people in the world.

Accomplishments

Executive Director:  Brian Siska, a Plymouth member, will serve as a volunteer interim Executive Director for the first six months of 2009, as we undergo strategic planning and determine what level of staff we need in the coming years (part-time v. full time).  Brian is incredibly talented; he previously worked in marketing at Pillsbury and Land of Lakes, and most recently as a successful entrepreneur.  His donation of time and energy is a wonderful gift that increases our capacity for professional organization, thorough research, marketing and communications and to begin fundraising beyond our very strong individual donor base.  We are also incredibly fortunate to have additional part-time assistance from Jean Kennedy, another multi-talented Plymouth member.

Health: Sold (subsidized by 90%) 700 mosquito nets that will reduce the impact of malaria, which is the #1 killer.

Funded 10 new latrines to separate waste and germs from human habitat.

Established test to demonstrate the free fertilizer generated by a urine separator.

Training sessions on basic health and sanitation emphasized hand washing, use of mosquito nets and latrines.

Medical staff treated dozens of people in June, mostly with serious, untreated infections; saved several limbs.

Education: Inspected the new school addition we funded in Jokibu – a fantastic structure that will last for decades.

Handed out 3 new books to each of the 1,200 primary students – their very first books!!!

Providing scholarships for 218 students:  25 in college, 69% girls.  Funding teacher training for 6 teachers.

Assuring that school lunches are served every day to provide nourishment for (and attendance of) the students.

Water: Clean drinking water is the best way to improve basic health and reduce worms and diarrhea.

Funded several new wells in each village to provide clean water, which reduces worms and diarrhea.

Purchased tools and provided in-depth maintenance training for the Water Committee in each village.

Villages agreed to set up a $.15/family/month water fee to establish a fund for spare parts.

Food: Malnourishment and chronic hunger continue to be major problems that weaken and sicken the villagers.

With quality roofs providing quality shelter, farmers continue to expand their plantings almost to pre-war size.

Provided rice loans during the Hungry Season so farmers avoid debt; they repay with cocoa harvest proceeds.

Peanut grinder machine encourages higher levels of groundnut production for consumption and income.
       
Please join us in helping our three villages! à

Amherst summer interns help the villages.

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Mosquito nets
dramatically increase health.

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Students with more supplies learn better.
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Work develops a
U.S.-Sierra Leone friendship.

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One clinic serves three villages.

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Income & Micro Loans: Average income:  -$100 to +$100 a year per family; our loans are focused on farmers (95% of the village).

Our goal is for the micro loans to increase family income to $300 per family in the next 2 - 3 years.

We hire scholarship recipients who have graduated from college to be loan officers/business consultants.

We believe our village project is the best investment you can possibly make in the world. For an investment of only $20 - $30 for each of our 5000 friends, we are giving the poorest people in the world the greatest possible gift: confidence that tomorrow will be better than today, that their children’s lives will continue to improve.  Our deepest gratitude for your support.       

Thank you for your tax deductible donation.  Please make your check out to Plymouth Church - Sierra Leone, and mail it to:

Plymouth Church, Sierra Leone Project; 1900 Nicollet Ave. S.; Minneapolis, MN 55403

Name_____________________
           
E-mail_____________________
             
(Your e-mail address will save us
money & paper; please print it clearly.)

____  $1,000 – Capital for the micro
loan program to increase income.

____  $50 – A bag of rice that will
serve a family for one month.

____  $400 – 1-year college scholar-
ship for a hard-working student.  

____  $30 – 3 Mosquito nets to
protect a family from malaria.

____ $200 – A new latrine for a
family, which will last for 20 yrs.

____  Other $_______________

Thank you!!