Welcome to Sierra Leone Education and Development Trust
Children in Class 6 at Mania Primary School Receive Their Solar Lights for Home Study
It’s dark in Sierra Leone by 7pm every night of the year. Ask your children and grandchildren to imagine doing their homework under the flickering light of a candle or a small kerosene lamp. We now provide...
Sanitary pads for our girls
Our sponsored school girls in Sierra Leone cannot afford to buy sanitary pads. Often they miss a few days’ school each month.
Mohamed Mansaray's New Wheelchair
Mohamed is 22 and is a blacksmith in a village near Pujehun in Sierra Leone. He’s been disabled since birth. The wheelchair will change his life.
Volunteers meeting at Kent
Our volunteers met at Kent beach near Freetown in January for two days of training and problem solving. The team is led by Chernor Barrie, a law student. All are under 30 years of age and two volunteers are disabled people. Nobody is paid. They bring huge energy and commitment to our charity's work.
Wulematu Won a Place at Njala University to Study Nursing
Wulematu has been sponsored through secondary school in Sierra Leone. Now she has won a place at Njala University to study nursing.
Secondary Education Sponsorship in The Island of Shabro
We have selected 12 more girls and boys on the island of Shabro for inclusion in our secondary education sponsorship programme. The children and their parents met our volunteers Chernor and Capay (first and second right) recently to find out what sponsorship means and what we expect of them.
The charity's trustees met in June 2023 in Derbyshire for the AGM
Back row: Ralph Steen, Kevin Curley CBE, Mike Martin MBE, Ben Attle Front row: Jacqui Finn, Rachel Curley, Mike Clemson, Katherine Curley
Solar Lights For Students
Our sponsored school students receive their solar lights so that they can study at home in the evenings
Isata receives books to take home and share with her family
Isata is one of 200 children at Kroo Primary School in Freetown who has taken books home to share with her family.
Henry gets some more braille books from our volunteer Abdul.
He loves to read and is making great progress with braille.
Alie receives his laptop
We are helping 7 of our successful school students in Sierra Leone to go on to university or vocational training college this year. Our aim is to equip each student with a donated laptop. Alie has just got his. He’s studying political science. The smile says it all.
Wheelchair for Daniel
Daniel cannot walk and has severe learning difficulties. He is a real charmer with a huge smile. He is a strong boy and very heavy for his mum who carries him everywhere on her back. That ended today when volunteers Sulaiman and Hassan delivered a wheelchair.
Hassan excels in Engineering
We’ve supported Hassan since he was 12. He’s an orphan from the coastal village of Mahera. His dad was killed in the civil war - an innocent civilian and his mum took her own life. Now this fine young man is in his final year at Technical College studying Engineering (Alternative Energy). Here he is with Chernor, our volunteer leader, receiving the text books he needs.
Nabbi no longer has to crawl to school
Good news for little Nabbi in Shenge, a coastal village in Sierra Leone. Last week he was crawling as he’s done since birth. Now he has his tricycle which he will soon learn to ride. And soon he will go to school. Please help us to do more by donating.
Mariama
Mariama came top of her class in primary school but poverty stopped her going to secondary school. We are supporting her with textbooks, a solar light for evening study and everything she needs to succeed.
Sulaiman
Sulaiman is one of our team of eight wonderful young volunteers. Here he is heading by bicycle to remote villages on Shabro island, searching for children who cannot walk.
Adekalie - Before and After
Adekalie had polio when he was three and has been crawling throughout his childhood. He isn't strong enough yet for a 'mobility cart' so we have given him a wheelchair.
Alpha - Before and After
Alpha lost his leg in a motorbike accident when he was 16. He was depressed when we found him in a fishing village. Now he has a new leg, a positive attitude and has started a small trading business.
Alfa - Before and After
Alfa gets his 'mobility cart' and no longer has to crawl.
Fatmata - Before and After
Fatmata had polio when she was very young. We found her crawling, Now she can go to school every day and enjoy independence and dignity.
Wulematu
Wulematu comes from a single parent family in Lunsar. She is doing very well at school. We pay her education costs including this full set of textbooks.
Objectives for 2024:
Objectives for 2024: (2023 objectives appear in brackets)
- We will pay all the educational costs for 75 (50) high achievers in primary schools from poor homes who would otherwise be unable to succeed in secondary school.
- We will provide mobility equipment for 35 (35) disabled children and young people so that they can get to school and around their villages without crawling or being carried. We treat prosthetic legs as mobility equipment.
- We will support care and training costs at Mustard Seed children’s home in Moyamba so that 10 (10) severely disabled children get the support they need.
- We will pay for 2 (2) blind children and 2 (0) deaf children to get the benefit of residential education including, for the blind children, learning to read braille.
- We will support 70 (48) students in the final two years at Kroo primary school. This school serves the most deprived neighbourhood in Freetown.
- We will support 9 (7) of our successful secondary school ‘graduates’ so that they can go on to university or vocational training college.
- We will do all this with your donations of about £40,000 (£30,000).
Read our annual report and accounts
Our Vision Statement:
We envisage a society in which the children and young people of Sierra Leone have overcome the barriers to their education and advancement in life
Our Mission Statement:
We will contribute to the development of Sierra Leone by empowering children and young people to achieve their full potential through access to and support for education
Sierra Leone Charity / Education Charity
Founded in 2012, we are a UK education charity giving high ability children from poor homes in Sierra Leone the chance to go to secondary school.
The Sierra Leone education system throws up many barriers for poor children so we provide a sponsorship package that includes school uniform, a complete set of textbooks, extra lessons before exams and a solar light for homework.
We also search for disabled children in remote villages and provide them with mobility equipment so that they can access Sierra Leone education. We also work closely with a Sierra Leone charity which provides a children’s home for abandoned children and fund two care workers who train and support the most disabled children.
All our work is done by volunteers in Sierra Leone and the UK. We employ no paid staff, have no offices and own no vehicles. Almost every donated pound goes directly to improving the life of a child in Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries on earth. This year with donations totalling about £40,000 we will help around 220 children.
