AlansAfrica “making a real difference” in Sierra Leone
Read This magazine is delighted to share the latest update from from Alan and the team.
Exam Fees, an update
I am pleased to report that with support received as a result of my last Newsletter, we have managed to beat the deadline and have paid the fees for all 117 children to sit their exams. A BIG thank you to all those that donated, generating £975 with a further £195 to be claimed back in Gift Aid in due course. I still had to divert £950 from the Konno Town School project, in order to meet the deadline but the vital thing was to ensure that all the students would be able to sit their exams. You’ll see from the letter below how much this means to these students and the wider community.
Letter of appreciation & thanks from Christian Hope School
Hello Brother Alan,
On behalf of the Board members, Staff, candidates and their families, and members of the wider community we want to use this opportunity to say a big thank you to you and all your helpers, and we want to tender our sincere gratitude for saving the future of our children. The candidates and the entire community were in total disarray and we were almost lost until you helped us pay for our WASSCE candidates (the problem was due to the increase of the cost of the WASSCE fees by WAEC).
As a result of your actions, today seems to be a public holiday in the school and the entire community. There is jubilation all over the community and parents and pupils are offering prayers for you and your helpers. With great appreciation, we say thanks to you and your helpers for saving our community from this predicament.
We are forever grateful to you and your supporters for making our community a better place to live and we are truly thankful as you have always stood with us since we crossed paths with you way back in 2006.
Having resolved the exam situation, we are now focusing on trying to complete Phase 1 of the build at Westminster International Community School in Konno Town Community Crossing. The builders are making great progress already. All the foundation trenches have been dug & below you see hundreds of concrete blocks that have been “hand batched”. It costs about £1 to make each block, allowing for labour and material costs, and it is slightly cheaper than buying them pre-made. It also provides vital employment for local builders while we’re building the school thus supporting the local community.
As with all my projects, there is no mechanical aid on site. Everything is done manually, giving the local guys ownership of the project as well as putting money back into the community through employment, therefore helping several local families.
The builders have now started to lay the concrete for the foundations and this should be completed later today. The next stage will be to lay the foundation blocks and we will then start to see real progress as the building work progresses and the project begins to take shape. More photos to follow soon.
There are regular updates on our Just Giving page and we are also doing a daily feature on Twitter and I am in the process of setting up an AlansAfrica Facebook page so please keep a lookout for that!
If you would like to donate, remember that EVERY £ raised goes directly to the project, because although Just Giving charge a small card processing fee, I have a donor who has agreed to offset any charges that I incur.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/alansafrica-konno
Just Giving asks by default for a voluntary contribution towards their running costs, but in the Donation Summary section you can set this at £0.00 by clicking on Enter Custom Amount.
My BIG ask today is for everyone to please SHARE the Just Giving fundraiser on your social media platforms – facebook, twitter, instagram, LinkedIn – anything to help raise the visibility/spread the word about the project.
I’d love to encourage some new followers to get involved and want people to feel comfortable chipping in the price of a coffee or a takeaway but I can only do this with your help, so if you use ANY social media platform, please help and get sharing!
I’m incredibly grateful, as ever, for everyone’s support across all of my projects.
THANK YOU! Together we can, and are “Making A Real Difference”.
