a piece of paradise

Where does one begin to explain a place that seems a thousand worlds away? As I sit here watching people, cars, motorbikes, and chickens stroll up and down what would barely pass as a road by western standards, I can’t help but feel as though I’ve stumbled across a piece of undiscovered paradise. The beauty of the land…mango & banana trees, untouched beaches, and the most beautiful people I have ever seen makes Freetown’s potential enormous! These are Freetown’s gifts, but there are many challenges. One only has to get off the plane and journey into the airport (which looks more like a small town bus depot – despite the fact it is an international airport servicing a city of 1 million) to understand this country needs development. The war is over and the rebuilding has begun, the people are looking to their future, they are not living in the past…yet the city is still without a stable source of electricity, water is not always running, and there are far more people here than what the infrastructure can accommodate. Unemployment is high, pay is low, and change is slow. This city, this country needs to be able to support itself…as the NRA (national revenue agency) slogan goes…’independence, means no dependence’(although this slogan is meant to get people to pay their taxes). Sierra Leone is ready to join the world, isolation has been too long and its time for the people of Sierra Leone to manage themselves and show the world the true beauty they posses.
One of my primary objectives here is to see that the people of S.L. have an opportunity to receive computer training because as we all know computers and the internet are freedom in this world and to be without those skills means isolation. However many challenges face this objective, computers are expensive which is why we have been working very hard through a program called ‘Computers for Schools – Sierra Leone’ to provide institutions computers for free. (for more info please refer to the IPSI link on this page) Our first placement of 200 computers – from Canada – was very well received and we have been successful in placing them in various schools across the country (primarily in teachers colleges as teachers must know how to use computers in order to teach their students about them) unfortunately due to the lack of electricity these institutions are still without the adequate means to power the computer (our next phase – to find donors who can help us provide generators so these schools may be equipped to run the computers) We have received very positive feedback from the government here and support for our project is strong, however resources are still scarce.
Education is everything, it is empowerment, it is the opportunity to fulfill potential…a potential this paradise is ready to step into.