School Rehabilitation Project
The Board of the Friends of Senehun Ngola in Sierra Leone, Inc. has in fact paid for the school repair and expansion out of its own funds. Although we would ultimately like to build a bigger educational complex in the future, our immediate goal was to allow 300 children to return to school. To that end, the Board members contributed US $10,109 for the complete rehabilitation of the school complex which is now student occupied. Of these donated funds, US $9,394.00 (93%) were wired to our account in Sierra Leone (full financial details and logistics to follow) with $370 in related wire transfer fees and bank fees (an additional 4%) of the fund contributed. Using the traditional ratio applied to charitable organizations, 97% of funds collected from the Board went to direct funding of educational activities, including construction. We supported this initial educational project by paying for:
- All building supplies including bricks, mortar, roofing supplies, nails, window materials, and blackboards.
- An architectural design for a rehabilitated and expanded school building
- Construction of a separate boys and girls latrine
- Installation of a water pump close to the school
- Purchase of a power saw so the villagers who live in a rain forest with ample wood could make tables and benches for the students, and teachers desks and chairs
- Labor costs ( meals for laborers were supplied by the village women)
- Also when we visited the village in March of 2005 we purchased out of pocket pencils, examination booklets, crayons and chalk for the children who were attending classes in a shell
- Because of the high cost of shipping materials from the US to Sierra Leone, the lack of accountability at ports of entry to ensure that shipments reach their designation, and the very favorable exchange rate: $US 1.00: 2,700 Leones, it is better to send funds and purchase all materials in Sierra Leone
Interim Primary Nursing Services
Until we can raise the funds to pay for a fully functioning primary health care, we are paying the salary of a full-time licensed nurse and needed drugs and medical supplies. The nurse is working out of donated space and is being housed by a local village family. This is another example of the spirit of partnership between us as a donor organization and the villagers. |
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