Rotary hope to rebuild school in Sierra Leone
Cirencester Rotary Club has pledged its support to a proposed project in Sierra Leone to rebuild pre-school buildings that will benefit over 250 local children aged 3-5 years.
Cirencester Rotary Club has pledged its support to a proposed project in Sierra Leone to rebuild pre-school buildings that will benefit over 250 local children aged 3-5 years. The pre-school they currently attend has deteriorated to the point where the classes have no roofs and the toilet blocks have fallen apart.
Madina is a small town in the Tonko Limba region of Sierra Leone, located near to the border with Guinea and comprising around 4000 residents. The Help Madina charity was founded in 2009 by Dr Veronica Sawicki and her husband Dr Rohit Sethi from Cirencester and has provided much-needed provision of medical clinics and eye, dental and diabetes care. It has also provided water wells, improved sanitation and help for local schools (more details at www.helpmadina.org.uk).
Cirencester Rotarian and nurse Lynn Adlington travelled to Madina in October 2017 as one of a group of healthcare volunteers and spent two weeks providing education and health support to local residents. The team each took 60 kilos of luggage containing a range of medicines and other essentials but also a few unusual items – including an electric hedge trimmer.
On arrival in Sierra Leone, the team endured an uncomfortable five-hour drive across country in an old 4x4 vehicle nearing the end of its usable life and spent the rest of their two weeks helping out at clinics, teaching in classes and providing outreach support to local villages.
As Lynn explained, “I was happy to volunteer to help the charity but also went to explore the potential for Cirencester Rotary Club to become involved in a specific project in the area. We have identified a pre-school in Madina which requires major rebuilding and refurbishment and the Club is now exploring the availability of a Rotary Global Grant to support this project. I am very hopeful that this project will get underway in the near future and look forward to the benefits this will provide.”
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