“Anything can be taken from you, but not your education”

We are celebrating a key handover in Sierra Leone: we are delighted to report on the opening of the new junior secondary school in Tambia Balia.

By Larissa Ghouse and Mandy Lohse

Bonn, 28 Oktober 2024 – The village of Tambia Balia is located in the north-east of Sierra Leone and is part of the newly created Falaba District. School education has been free in Sierra Leone since 2018. However, due to the poorly developed infrastructure in rural Falaba, the capacities of the few existing schools are quickly exhausted.

In Tambia Balia, the young people previously had to be taught in a Christian church (white building in the photo below), which is not suitable for this purpose and is also far too small. The education authority and the traditional Paramount Chief of the district, Chief Sheku, therefore suggested this location to us as a new project site. On our first visit in January 2023, we received an extremely friendly welcome.

The project

Construction of the new Junior Secondary School (7th – 9th grade) began after the end of the rainy season in December 2023. The construction period was nine months. The school building comprises six classrooms and has space for around 140 pupils. There are also two common rooms for the teachers. As we are located in a rural area, teachers often come here from the cities to teach. That is why we have also built accommodation with eight rooms. The project also includes two toilet blocks – one for the teachers and one for the children and young people.

During the construction phase, three teams of volunteers, each with two construction experts from Germany, were involved in building the school. There was also a local construction team of around 15 to 20 employees. As always in our projects, some local employees already had extensive construction experience, for example as bricklayers or carpenters, while we employed others as helpers. Our aim is to provide the helpers in particular with the best possible training and to teach them new skills. We were delighted to welcome Mansi, another Sierra Leonean woman, to the construction site team in Tambia Balia.

The anticipation is huge

Even during the construction of the school, villagers and future teachers came to the building site every day and told us how much they were looking forward to the school. Every day, people expressed their gratitude that the young people would now have easier access to more education, and the pupils were also looking forward to the new school year with great joy.

The opening ceremony

The community organized a big celebration for everyone to hand over the keys. There was lots of dancing, laughter and good food. We are delighted that the village is so happy about the new school and that it has made such a decisive contribution to the construction. We are particularly happy that the children are so enthusiastic about their new school. The state of Sierra Leone has guaranteed the operation of the school and the secondment of teachers.

At the opening ceremony, after several speeches of thanks, a future teacher emphasized several times how important education is for the children and the future in Sierra Leone. He concluded his speech with these words, which we think are very wise: “Anything can be taken away from you, but no one can take away your education and your knowledge.”

Danke

Wie viele Hände und Köpfe zusammenwirken bei dem Bau eines solchen Gebäudes, wird meist erst bei genauem Hinsehen klar. Darum wollen wir die Gelegenheit nutzen und allen Beteiligten „Danke“ sagen! Wir danken den lokalen Arbeiter*innen, der Community von Tambia Balia, allen Freiwilligen, die vor Ort waren, und Projektleiter Tobias Lange. Last but not least danken wir unseren Spenderinnen und Spendern!

Hintergrund: Sierra Leone

Das westafrikanische Land mit rund 8,1 Millionen Einwohnern liegt auf Rang 181 von 191 beim „Human Development Index“ der Vereinten Nationen. Nach dem Bürgerkrieg (1991-2002) und der Ebola-Epidemie (2014-2016) mit rund 4000 Todesopfern erschütterte Covid-19 das Land. Seit dem Ukraine-Krieg leidet die Bevölkerung unter der hohen Inflation. Unsauberes Trinkwasser, schlechte Bildungschancen und fehlende Gesundheitsversorgung sind Gründe für die Lebenserwartung von nur 60 Jahren. Es fehlt an Ärzt*innen und anderem medizinischen Personal, Medikamenten, Ausrüstung und Gebäude-Infrastruktur.
Die Grünhelme sind seit 2018 in Sierra Leone aktiv. Unsere Projekte fokussieren sich bewusst auf den ländlichen Raum, da dieser noch stärker von Armut geprägt ist. Bisher sind fünf Schulen und drei Gesundheitsstationen entstanden. Die sechste Schule ist derzeit im Bau.

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