Healthcare – next level

In the northeast of Sierra Leone, we are now beginning the construction of a nursing school. The graduates are to be deployed in rural areas in the future, helping to improve local healthcare – including in our four health stations.

By Simon Bethlehem

Bonn, December 12, 2025 – The town of Mongo-Bendugu in the northeast of Sierra Leone was, until recently, still an unremarkable village, reachable only via an unpaved road, more bad than good. A small health post, a Catholic mission, and a few schools – but otherwise largely characterized by agriculture.

For several years now, Mongo-Bendugu has been the capital of Falaba District, which was newly created at the time due to restructuring measures. Since receiving its new status, administrative buildings and new shops have been built in Mongo, and more people from the surrounding area have settled here. The roughly 100-kilometre road to Kabala, the capital of Koinadugu District, has also now been partially leveled. Travel time, previously six hours, has been reduced to four, resulting in increased presence from other aid organizations.

For us, Mongo has so far been a transit point on the way to our even more remote project villages. Since 2021, more of our coordination with the education and health authorities has taken place here, after they moved from Kabala. The small market was also occasionally worth a visit.

Training women from the region to become nurses

Mongo is now our new project location: on the outskirts of town, the health authority has released a plot of land for the construction of a training center for nurses. These nurses will later staff the rural health posts throughout the district. Until now, nurses have mostly come from the region around Freetown or from the larger cities of Makeni and Bo.

The motivation for these urban women to go into the hinterland — where there is no electricity, no running water, and little excitement — is often limited. Added to this, due to the many different ethnic groups in the country, there are often language barriers and a sense of cultural unfamiliarity.

As early as 2022, when we built our first health station in Seremodu, the idea for such a training facility was born together with the local Paramount Chief (traditional authority) and the District Medical Officer (state official responsible for the district’s health sector), in order to strengthen rural healthcare in the long term. Too often, urban nurses had quit and left the stations behind. Until replacements arrived, the stations remained unstaffed for longer periods, and people from surrounding villages had even farther to travel to receive medical care.

Now, women from the region will be trained as nurses. They have a stronger identification with the area and its people. At the same time, we also create new professional perspectives for young women in rural areas.

A school for 50 trainees

Now, more than three years later, all the required documents are in place, the rainy season is over, and things are finally getting started. The health authority even launched the first class of trainees this summer, who are currently being taught in the town hall, a kind of village community center.

The new training center is designed for 50 trainees. It includes a classroom, two training rooms, an office, a storage facility, and a residence for teachers. The two-year training program includes both theoretical instruction and practical courses. An expansion of the school into a boarding facility, where the students can also live, is already under consideration.

The project started in mid-November. Since the construction site is located somewhat outside the town and living space in Mongo is scarce anyway, we first built a small hut that our volunteer team is living in, and which also serves as a storage area for materials.

Proven construction method and familiar faces

Construction is once again being done using Soil Stabilized Blocks (SSBs), cement-stabilized compressed earth blocks that allow us to use the local clay soil for stable and durable walls. The first 3,500 SSBs have already been produced, the foundations poured, and the plinth walls of cement blocks built. Work has also begun on the first roof trusses, which are being built from timber sourced in the surrounding forests.

We are working with a team of 25 local workers, most of whom we already know from previous projects in Mansadu, Tambia Balia, and Bamboria. We brought them with us to Mongo because it is currently harvest season and it is hardly possible to find workers in Mongo. Many of our workers are living with us directly on site, so a small compound with a wonderful sense of community has formed, where we often sit together around the fire in the evenings.

Thank you for your support

Sierra Leone remains one of the countries with the highest child and maternal mortality rates. The main reason for this is the poor healthcare system, particularly in rural areas. For this reason, Grünhelme has built three health stations in Falaba District since 2022. With our new project, we want to support the local health authority in strengthening the supply of skilled workers in the long term. We are very grateful for every donation that contributes to the success of the project.

The Grünhelme project

On our project visit in April we discussed with the school administration and Darfur-Hilfe that, as a first step, six new classrooms, two rooms for the kindergarten and new sanitation facilities should be built. The local school authority is also involved, even though the school is not in its area of responsibility because it follows the Sudanese curriculum.

The city administration has already issued the permits, so construction can begin in mid-December.

As in all our projects, we want to closely involve the school community in Tiné: the parents of the children are to help build the new rooms for their children together with us.

The implementation of this project is particularly close to our hearts, because Darfur is truly one of the world’s hotspots that, unfortunately, receives far too little attention or is quickly forgotten.

We are very grateful for any support!