Tombo School Update 

Late last week I received an update from our great friend Abs Dumbuya out in Sierra Leone, about the school we have partnered with our friends in that country to build and run. I thought you might like to see it as it makes for very encouraging reading.

"The extra building work on the second toilet, painted verandah, electrical installation, generator, computer and internet setup are all now completed...wow all for a small village primary school. A first in Sierra Leone! Everybody is admiring the school. The toilets are so good, teachers are concerned that the kids don't know how to use them so we are building another structure with a toilet that isn't a flush toilet but a direct one - a hole in the ground but with modern seats...very unusual in Tombo.

The number of student intakes has increased significantly to 200 pupils and they are now turning away some pupils. I have just been told they have exhausted all the 200 and something chairs installed in the school. Every parent in Tombo seems to want to send their children to the Easthampstead Baptist Primary School, Tombo."

Isn't this amazing, and helps us understand even more about the situation. The children in Tombo have never seen or used a flushing toilet and don't know how to use the one that has been put into the school! Just goes to show the circumstances that the children are living in. How encouraging that those children who were going to school in that old tin shack are now in a state of the art facility. And it isn't all about the buildings...the furniture we were given from local schools is being well used, the books and computers that we have also been given are being put to good use too, we have also heard that the classes are all fully staffed with teachers that we are helping to fund and all so these children have the chance of a great education which is THE key to lifting them out of poverty and giving them hope for a great future.

Thank you for being such a generous bunch of people and being so committed to changing lives in Sierra Leone - it is really working! And we must also give all the credit to Abs, Pastor Tannie and our friends at Regent Road Baptist Church who are the visionaries and drivers of all of this. It is our honour and priviledge to just join them in the ride!

God bless
Chris