A darker day today

4 months ago today, we lost our beloved Alhassan, needlessly to medical negligence and being in a poor country that is riddled with corruption.

For more information about our work, see www.educaid.org.uk

Challenging a culture of underachievement

This year, EducAid senior secondary students came 5th in the country in their public exams. On the face of it, fantastic. In reality, however, I was mad as fire at the horrible underachievement of some of our students. Many of them did not get anything close to their potential. Some did, but far too many did not.

Sitting their public exams - better than most but not achieving their true potential yet.

Of course the first thing is that this tells quite a terrifying story of national underachievement and then the second thing is understanding the causes and therefore how to tackle such an enormous problem.

It has taken me literally years to realise that even the teachers here do not expect the students to cover the whole syllabus and saw that as a wholly unrealistic task to set their students. Teachers have, therefore, encouraged their students to believe themselves fit for the exam with under 50% of the syllabus covered. Accordingly, I have a battle with students who promise me with great confidence, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that if I enter them for the public exam that they will show me; that they will prove themselves; that they will come out with 'flying colours' and so on. When their records are checked, we will discover that in nearly all subjects the students concerned have passed Unit Tests in under half the units. The course being broken down into units with a test at the end of each one, the successful passing of a unit test is thus the evidence that they are competent in that area of the course.

Requiring the students to actually cover the whole syllabus is regarded as unfair, putting them back in their studies and their progress and generally willfully evil, on my part. This year, I have dug my heels in, taken control of the entries decisions myself and we are entering a tiny group. Next year, now the students are slowly getting the message and are pushing themselves to actually complete each course, we should be in a position to enter a really good, strong group of students and I think I have at last got the teachers onside. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a whole new era!

We could so easily mimic the poor performance that is seen across the country but to what end? We would simply help our students recycle themselves back into poverty through their academic underachievement. If we can now start to break that culture, we will start to see our students able to genuinely compete with youngsters anywhere on an equal footing; we will start to see our students challenging their contemporaries from the elite classes with real knowledge, thinking and skills.

There is now a nucleus of students who have formed themselves into study groups and who are pushing themselves not just on the Unit Test front, although they are impressive in that respect, but also in terms of accessing ICT, reading outside their subject areas, practising their English accents, listening to the radio to improve their general knowledge and understanding of current affairs and more. They are our real hope for a true EducAid academic hot house. The solutions will not come over night as the problem is so ingrained but we have started to see a light at the end of the tunnel!

For more information about EducAid's work see: www.educaid.org.uk

How incredible

Amazing good news. The diagnosis we had hoped against hope for - full recovery from Hepatitis C has actually now been confirmed. 15% of cases self heal so it was a possibility but very unlikely once Hepatatis C antibodies had been detected.

Jimiyke nearly died of unknown causes in March. TB was suspected but never proved. Hepatitis C antibodies were detected but no further diagnosis was possible in Sierra Leone.

The initial scans given by the doctors showed such extreme liver cirrhosis that he was given maybe a year to live. Unthinkable to sit back and watch while he degenerated. Now we wonder if he was given the wrong ones - after all, almost anything is possible in Sierra Leone.

He continued to have some abdominal swelling and pain for some time and eventually, after much battling and much generosity, a visa was obtained so that his health could be properly assessed in the UK, as both TB and Hepatitis C are generally terminal if untreated.

Today, he has received the letter that his body has healed itself. He has definitely had both TB and Hepatitis C but he definitely no longer has Hepatitis C. I have cried for him twice this year. I cried first when I heard in March, from the UK, that he had been admitted to the Connaught Hospital which is like a death sentence in itself. Today, I cried with relief.

With more kindness, help and concern from many good friends, he is taking advantage of any opportunity to be taught ICT by friends, preparing himself to come back and undertake some serious participation in the rebuilding of his country.

For those new to Jimiyke's story please read the post on 22nd May 09, 8th, 16th & 28th July and/or follow the link to: http://www.educaid.org.uk/EducAid_Sierra_Leone/Abu_Bakarr_Koroma.html]

For more information about EducAid's work please go to: http://www.educaid.org.uk/EducAid_Sierra_Leone/Welcome_to_EducAid.html

He is speaking for himself now

For those of you who have been following Jimiyke's story since the early days, you may be interested to hear that he is telling his story for himself now. http://jimiykevisittotheuk.blogspot.com/

While tests have revealed that he does need intervention to protect his life and health, the good news is that his liver is in very good nick and not requiring immediate treatment as the events in March had suggested. The bottom line is that, now he is in the UK, a clear picture is possible and then wise and informed decisions can be made. None of which is possible with the terrible and terrifying medical facilities available in Sierra Leone.

For those new to Jimiyke's story please read the post on 22nd May 09, 8th, 16th & 28th July and/or follow the link to: http://www.educaid.org.uk/EducAid_Sierra_Leone/Abu_Bakarr_Koroma.html]

For more information about EducAid's work please go to: http://www.educaid.org.uk/EducAid_Sierra_Leone/Welcome_to_EducAid.html

Women and education in Sierra Leone

My recurring problem: how to get strong women to teach the girls and provide a positive role model.

The women who should be teachers by now have not been invested in at the appropriate ages in the past. Accordingly, finding women to recruit as teachers is a real problem. Sadly, even when we find and want to recruit female graduates we have discovered that, in the main, they are not willing to actually do any work at all as they consider themselves above such things. Also shocking is the academic standard of many of them. I have learned that, for so many women, it is quite possible to sleep their way to success so why would they work hard with that option available to them!!!!

EducAid now has 5 women teachers of varying levels of education but with the right attitude and 3 female ex-EducAid students who teach across the three secondary schools. Of these, 3 have the appropriate qualifications and the remaining 5 will start the distance Higher Teachers' Certificate [all being well!] in the new year.

Sierra Leonean women have mostly been raised in the context of nobody believing in them, nobody expecting anything from them, not believing in themselves, significantly underachieving themselves and therefore they struggle, with the best will in the world, to be the role models we need them to be to the girls in their care.

Training for the female staff this time round was centred on the inspirational model of Ginger in 'Chicken Run'. Between lots of pep talks, occasional threats, much coaxing and a fair bit of fun, maybe we will get there!

The whole female staff team in training.

We're back

Still out of breath after the whirlwind tour organised by Jan and Anne [my long-suffering diary arrangers] Kofi and I are now back in Sierra Leone. It was hectic, but it needed to be and there are many positives from the trip in terms of new fund-raising initiatives and support.

There was a very encouraging meeting of all the UK volunteers - the management committee in the morning, joined by a good number of other supporters in the afternoon and for the first time everyone was able to put a face to the names generally flitting about by email. [Anyone who would like to be part of such a meeting in the future, please do let us know!]. Strangely, large chunks of N22, where the meeting was held, had gone out in empathy with Sierra Leone and had a power cut - a bit chillier in the UK when that happens though.

The Management Committee.

If we can get the engineer to flesh out his time line and 'flesh in' his labour costs, we have a commitment for the funding of a new senior secondary building in Rolal - fantastic news which will result in significant reduction in the pressure experienced in Freetown each year when up-country EducAid students have had to come to the capital to continue their education.

An exciting new initiative, master-minded by Alex Ehegartner [you can see why his pupils call him Mister E / mystery!] of Stockport Grammar School, is gathering momentum and getting interest from other areas too. The 'Link My Schools' project , with the motto 'Stockport Schools working as 1 on 1 initiative' is linking a growing number of schools, largely organised by their student councils, to work on curriculum and fund-raising projects to learn from and about EducAid and Sierra Leone while supporting us at the same time. [http://www.linkmyschools.co.uk/]

Jimiyke is still undergoing tests, but preliminary results seem positive. He has been speaking to schools and motivating them in their endeavours on EducAid's behalf and impressing people with his quiet confidence as he speaks of his past and of EducAid's role in helping him to a new life.

He is also seeking to improve his English and ICT skills. We have skeleton plans for a whole ICT programme of work experience and exposure. He is looking forward to having lots of new knowledge and skills to take home with him to Sierra Leone. [For those new to Jimiyke's story please read the post on 22nd May 09, 8th, 16th & 28th July, 11th Nov and/or follow the link to: http://www.educaid.org.uk/EducAid_Sierra_Leone/Abu_Bakarr_Koroma.html]

Jimiyke tucking in to his 'white man chop' with great enthusiasm.

St Simon's RC primary school, which hosts Kofi whenever we are in Stockport, have been modelling interactive learning in the early years so that I can go and convert the Maronka teachers. They are hard working and caring, but will greatly benefit from some ideas on how to get kids imaginative and creative.

St Simon's students modelling active learning, to help with training of Maronka staff.

We have a couple of visitors at the moment:

Pat Payton is on loan from the UK, post retirement and is working very hard with the science department and getting ready to train the staff in detection and support of dyslexic students.

And also Brother James of the Korean Kottongnae Community has been visiting to see, as part of their mission to the poor and abandoned, what they might be able to do to support EducAid - exciting possibilities!

Up-country today, and training the female EducAid staff tomorrow, it is as if we never went away.

Jimiyke in shock!

The 'Welcome Jimiyke to UK' fireworks in Battersea Park!
At long last, Jimiyke is in the UK ready to be assessed for treatment. Thanks to the hard work and generosity of many.

He was given a horrible time in the airport. His ticket had somehow or other bypassed the system and there was no boarding pass for him. After two hours of battling for his right to get on the flight, he was eventually given a hand-written boarding pass and allowed on [better than the 7 others behind him who were sent back for another night to stay in a hotel!]

He survived the trauma of his first escalator with dignity and maintained his vertical position. The first week has been spent getting used to the food, the transport, the 24/7 electricity, the fireworks displays and comparing notes on skype with Issa in China.

Next week he starts the medical stuff. Our prayers and thoughts are with him.

[For those new to Jimiyke's story please read the post on 22nd May 09, 8th, 16th & 28th July and/or follow the link to: http://www.educaid.org.uk/EducAid_Sierra_Leone/Abu_Bakarr_Koroma.html]

For more information about EducAid's work please go to: http://www.educaid.org.uk/EducAid_Sierra_Leone/Welcome_to_EducAid.html