March 2020 Update 2

Work on putting back the roof following the building work of Phase 2 nears completion, just in time as the rains appear to have come early this year.

The Senior Secondary students received their new text books, following a parents’ meeting which detailed expectations about the responsibilities of keeping them in good condition and not losing them. The new books were much appreciated by students and parents alike.

Parents listening carefully.

Textbooks ready for collection

Extra Mile is very grateful for the continuing support from Annecy Catholic Primary School in Seaford, East Sussex. Many thanks to Mr Paul Gallagher, Headteacher, and Oscar from Year 3 for the many tables and chairs donated, which will help our provision for new classes in August 2020. Our thanks also to Panther Truck Hire for their continuing support, in providing the van to enable Tim and Adam Feast to pick the items up.

It is with great sadness that Extra Mile’s Director, Mike Fielding, has postponed his visit to the school in March 2020 owing to the impact of the coronavirus. He hopes to re-book the visit in the near future when circumstances are more favourable. In the meantime we keep all our students, staff, governors, trustees and supporters in our thoughts and prayers, wishing them good health.

MARCH 2020 UPDATE

Thanks to some superb fundraising, particularly from supporters in Rugby, and continuing donations from regular donors, much work has been done to rectify damage done during the last wet season. The roof structure, which also  helps to provide water has been re-instated and new text books for our Senior Secondary Class have been purchased. Our team of workers, led by Site Manager, Mohamed, have been extremely busy repainting the classrooms and ensuring all the lights work.  We thank you all for your considerable efforts and continuing support.

Extra Mile continues to benefit from schools throughout the UK.  The latest school to provide resources is Annecy Catholic Primary School in Seaford in East Sussex. We thank the Headteacher, Paul Gallagher and Head Girls and Head Boy, Summer, Charlotte and Kieran and all the staff and pupils for their generous donation of library books and reading schemes. 

Our school in Sierra Leone continues to thrive. Our thanks to all the staff and to all the students who make it such an inspiring place of education. We thank Ishmael and his team of Breakfast Club supporters for continuing to provide the daily breakfasts for all the students and staff.

Ahead of the Sierra Leonean government making IT a compulsory subject, our students have the opportunity to study it supported by our enthusiastic staff. We show you a Junior Secondary Class having a theoretical IT lesson which helps to underpin their practical sessions.

FEBRUARY 2020 UPDATE

It has been a busy few weeks.  Students in the Express and JSS3 classes have been taken internal tests to determine  entries to external national examinations later on in the school year. The results show they are making good progress.

Senior Secondary students have had their first field trip. Students visited Ogoo Farm as part of their Agricultural Science studies and gained much from the trip. Thanks to our science teacher John Lahai for organising it.

The Board of Trustees met, discussing progress towards achieving our mission and discussing ways to eliminate barriers. The Board is really pleased to announce the appointment of Moses Conteh, our Country Manager, to the Board as a trustee. He will bring a great deal of local expertise to our deliberations as well as being the first appointment in the Board’s attempt to widen its diversity and lower the age profile. We wish him well in his new role. Moses is on the right of the picture at a meeting of the school’s Board of Governors.

Thanks to a considerable number of donations of resources, the trustees were able to send three barrels to Sierra Leone crammed with exercise books, stationary, uniforms, library books and other equipment requested by staff. We thank the generosity of all our supporters and to David Gelsthorp-Hill, a trustee, for transporting the barrels down to Essex for loading on the freighter.

The IT club has been going strongly this term with different classes attending on different days. Many thanks to Ishmael Bockerie and other staff who have organised this activity and to our supporters who have generously donated the laptops. 

JANUARY 2020 UPDATE

The students, staff, governors and trustees wish all Extra Mile’s supporters and followers a very happy New Year and a splendid 2020 to come. They thank all who have volunteered in whatever capacity in 2019 for their considerable contributions to the education of 140 poor and vulnerable children and young adults.

We thank the volunteers who went out to Sierra Leone in 2019. Maintaining the physical link with the community in Goderich is imperative to the mission of Extra Mile and is greatly valued by the community.

Will you volunteer for Extra Mile in 2020?  Either in the UK or going out to Sierra Leone your skills, expertise and enthusiasm will be well utilised by Extra Mile for the benefit of the those who need our help in Goderich. Please use the web link mike@extra-mile.org or follow the instructions on our contact page if volunteering is of interest to you. We look forward to hearing from you.

DECEMBER UPDATE 2

£4788 was the magnificent sum raised through generous pledges and matched funding from the Big Give Christmas Challenge. These funds will help Extra Mile to provide its 128 students in this academic year with breakfasts, safe drinking water, exercise and text books and a reading scheme to improve literacy. The students, staff, governors and trustees thank all who pledged support and for the backing of the Big Give. 

The end of the Autumn Term sees all students taking internal examinations to help them prepare for their national tests, especially those taking their NPSE and BECE examinations in the summer of 2020.

Extra Mile receives regular donations from Lee and Hazel Swingler of Orchard Corporate. Their latest donation is a large number of high quality notebooks which will be of particular use to our older students for subject notebooks. We are grateful for their continuing generous support.

The students, staff, governors and trustees of Extra Mile wish all our supporters, those who follow us and those who have given so generously in 2019 a very happy Christmas and a joyful 2020.

The month has started with a number of important fund raising activities including the latest in the series of The Great Benn Hall Table Top Sales. Trustees are looking forward to being supported in The Big Give Charity Christmas Challenge, which starts on December 3rd. Please see the separate page on the website for further details.

Trustee Tim Feast returned from his busy visit to Goderich in Sierra Leone. In addition to supporting the school in operation, he conducted six sessions for teachers from our own and four other neighbouring schools to continue their professional development.. The sessions were very well received and across the 6 sessions were 108 attendances. He initiated a quality assurance programme for local partner schools involving Critical Partners and liaised with our medical partners from the local Health Centre. His report to the trustees will help to inform their decisions at their next meeting in January 2020.

Trustee David Gelthorp-Hill, with a small group of other trustees, has been working on the charity’s structure to take it forward from 2020.The charity is looking to recruit more trustees, volunteers and those whose skills can be used well to support our mission in Sierra Leone. If you would like to be part of the process in 2020 please look at our webpage on volunteering.

NOTES FROM FREETOWN-NOVEMBER 2019 from Trustee Tim Feast

There were many positive signs of improvement in the capital since my last visit 18 months ago:

The airport continues to be upgraded including the potential to secure your visa on arrival.

The Seacoach ferry from the airport to Aberdeen has a new terminal at the Aberdeen end, complete with shops, refreshments, travel agents, TV screens, Wifi and fans to keep you cool.

Roads in many areas continue to improve including a much needed bypass of Lumley, to speed our journey from Aberdeen to Goderich.

Continuing construction boom including new hotels, restaurants, health centres, schools, churches as well as private dwellings.

Hundreds of ‘flying foxes circling the school on my first Saturday in the country. They eventually roosted in the big tree next to the school. Locals said they had lost their bearings in the stormy weather.

There continues to be problems with the power supply, particularly as it tends to cut out as soon as the sun goes down. Continuing problem with obtaining a wifi signal, the provider merely saying the service was down.

Some evidence of the positive impact of the government's cleaning day initiative which happens every 1st Saturday of the month. Still not great but certainly improving cleanliness. Sierra Leone remains a very beautiful country.

NOVEMBER UPDATE

The school received the results of the 17 students who took their BECE examinations in the summer. 13 of them completed BECE successfully and have now started their senior secondary education. This is a pass rate of 77%, compared to a national pass rate of 30% which is being reported in the country. We congratulate these 13 students and their families and we congratulate our wonderful teachers, without whom these successes would not be possible. The remaining 4 students missed completing their BECE, all very narrowly, and will continue their studies with us.

One of our trustees, Tim Feast, arrived safely in Sierra Leone on the 1st November. He left the airport in the middle of an enormous electrical storm, plus very heavy rain at a time which is supposed to be the dry season. His first day was spent touring the new facilities in the Phase 2 building programme, meeting staff from our own and partner schools and continuing the preparations for the first staff training day on Monday.

In addition to timetabled lessons the students’ curriculum is being enriched by activities such as an IT club, two evenings after school and with a football team, in which the girls play on occasions. Recently the students played a staff team, defeating them comprehensively 9-5. A re-match is threatened.

OCTOBER UPDATE

The Autumn Term is well underway. The trustees are pleased to welcome the 140 students to the school, both newly admitted students in the Express and JSS1 classes and those students returning to the school having successfully completed the last academic year. The trustees also welcome all the teaching staff. The team has increased significantly as a result of needing to cover all the subjects across three phases of education; NPSE; BECE and now WASSCE. The trustees are delighted to have such a well qualified team to provide high quality education for all our students.

The trustees will be holding their next meeting on the 19th October. Among other items they will be looking at steps they can take to minimise risks to the charity, adopt the terms of reference for the school’s governing body and receiving the report from the Director on his latest visit to Sierra Leone and planning for 2020 and beyond.

Fundraising has continued apace to help raise the funds to fit out the rooms constructed as part of the Phase 2 building programme. We are grateful to all the volunteers who have raised the funds through car boot and table top sales and who have made the presentations to local organisations such as the rotary club and the Methodist church in Rugby. There is still much to do but every little bit helps.

Trustees are extremely pleased to report that 18 of the 22 students who took the end of primary education examination (NPSE) achieved the national pass mark of 230 marks. This is a pass rate of 82%. There are no published national figures for comparison purposes but trustees are reliably informed that 181 local primary schools achieved no passes at all from their entrants. We are delighted with our students in the Express class who have successfully negotiated the hurdle to them starting their junior secondary education. At the time of writing this report the school had not received the examination results for its students who took the national examination (BECE) to mark the completion opf junior secondary education. When we have these results trustees will report them on this site.

September Update

New staff and students on their first day of the Autumn Term 2019

Director Mike Fielding is in Sierra Leone ramping up preparations for the new academic year.

Staff hired, new students admitted to the school and lots of preparing the school premises and site after all the building work over the summer break.

Staff professional development undertaken including updating work on child protection and safeguarding.

Extra Mile August 2019

News of the severe flooding in Freetown reminds us of the struggles students, staff, volunteers and builders have to make to deliver Extra Mile’s vision of a high quality education for poor and vulnerable children.

Volunteers have been training staff in providing active learning strategies for our students. Here we see our Express class students participating in Active Reading to improve their literacy skills.

Our latest volunteer Lauran Trumper got down to work quickly with staff revisiting work on increasing challenge in the students’ work using Bloom’s taxonomy.

Preparing the building for floating the concrete roof later this week. Taking advantage of some rare better weather in the rainy season.

Extra Mile Updates July 2019

As we come to the academic year 2018-2019 it is right that we look both backwards and to the future.

Trustees would like to thank and congratulate three stalwarts of the charity who have completed at least 10 years service with Extra Mile. The three individuals are Mike Fielding, Director; Moses Conteh, Country Manager and Ishmael Bockerie, General Assistant. The charity and the staff and students of the school owe them a great deal.

Trustees would like to thank all the staff and the governors in Sierra Leone for their considerable efforts this year to support the academic and personal development of all our 108 students but especially those who will be taking their BECE exams ( the Sierra Leone equivalent of GCSE) this summer.

Students in our top class will be camped at the school for the period of the lead up to and the BECE examinations. This will enable staff to provide additional support and to monitor their welfare during the exam period. As it is the rainy season staff will be able to aid the students travelling to the examination centre, particularly at times of extremely heavy rain.

Trustees note with pleasure the continuing good attendance of the students and congratulate the school on maintaining an attendance record in excess of 95% in the first two terms of the year.

Despite the earlier beginning of the rainy season work has continued on Phase 2 of the building work and trustees committed further funds to ensure the completion of the concrete roof on the second floor which will help protect the integrity of the building during building work and help secure the safety of the students and staff on site.

The trustees held their regular summer meeting on July 13th. Important decisions were taken in respect of building work, safeguarding policies and training, staffing and fundraising.

Mike Fielding, the Director, is pleased to announce that the charity’s latest volunteer to Sierra Leone will be based in the school from the end of July to mid August 2019. Lauran Trumper’s work will be focused on developing an effective reading scheme, training staff and using the scheme to introduce a buddy scheme for students who need additional support. We wish her well and hope that she thrives in Goderich and puts her considerable talents to excellent use.

Trustees would like to thank all our supporters; individuals, families, schools, churches and corporate organisations for their continuing commitment to Extra Mile which has enabled us since September 2018 to embark on an ambitious building programme whilst continuing to provide an excellent education to some of the most deprived and vulnerable young adults in Goderich.

As we take stock at the end of this academic year we may reflect on the words of Archbishop Oscar Romero.

“It helps now and then, to step back and take a long view.

This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realising that.

It may be incomplete but it is a beginning, a step along the way.

We may never see the end results.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

Extra Mile Activities June 2019

Busy month in both Sierra Leone and the UK

Continuing building work on Phase 2 of the school to provide specialist science and IT facilities and class rooms for our new WASSCE students ( Sierra Leone equivalent of A Levels)

Our first class (JSS3) taking the national BECE examinations (Sierra Leonean equivalent of GCSE). Wish them luck and keep them in your prayers.

Barrels numbers 103 and 104 sent out to Sierra Leone with resources for the new school year, thanks to kind donations.

Really good response to fundraising, from schools like St Ursula’s in Greenwich, from former volunteers and from the charity’s on-going activities such as car boot sales.

Notes from Freetown - Tim Feast, Trustee, May 2018

First time back in Sierra Leone since 2013. Many changes, most of them positive.

1.       The airport has been upgraded including biometrics at passport control. Easier to get a trolley and customs is more efficient. The scrum of people offering to help is now outside the airport entrance so you can be met without too much hassle.

2.       The seacoach from the airport is a more effective if expensive way to travel to Aberdeen, although it is a less atmospheric way than the ferry to be introduced to Sierra Leone.

3.       Many roads have improved including dual carriage ways and toll roads. Many of the side roads also have tarmac including nearly all the way down to the school. However there are still unimaginable barriers of rock in some roads which reduce speed to a minimum and do great damage to the cars. Improved roads mean greater numbers of cars and on-going problems at bottlenecks like Lumley.

4.       A great deal of construction including hotels, private accommodation and business premises. Often these are cheek by jowl with far more basic accommodation.

5.       Still the vultures circle slowly on the thermals but this time I have seen many more hawks including kites. There are also swifts swallows  and martins  in abundance.

6.       This is my first visit to Sierra Leone  outside the rainy season. Most of the time it has been very hot and humid but it has been great to see the country without a backdrop of dark low clouds and rain coming down like stairrods.

7.       I don't  know if it is because it is the dry season or whether it coincides with the inauguration of a new president but the power supply has been more reliable. Power has been on for longer and at useful times as well. There has been less imperative to dive for the charger when power is on. We have even managed to use computers in training sessions and Skyped with students in London.

8.       The people are just as friendly and welcoming.  Students, staff, parents and the outside community have been very hospitable, so generous when they have so little.

EXTRA MILE SCHOOL

Since my last visit the charity has opened a secondary school. I am really looking forward to meeting the staff and students and seeing how the school operates. The school has been open for two years and has 72 students on role in three classes. Class sizes are much smaller than local schools and the quality of the classroom furniture mean that when the power is on the classrooms have a light airy feel which makes for a conducive learning environment, much appreciated by staff and students alike.

Students start arriving at school at 0645 for a 0730 breakfast. Generally they will wash their hands on entry to the school but sometimes need reminding by a beady eye whilst I am having breakfast. Students value the tea and bread they get for breakfast, sometimes the only food they might have. Others take advantage of food provided by local ladies who offer food to eat at the two breaks during the school day.

Students play well during breaks including the girls playing a type of British Bulldog with a homemade ball made out of plastic bags.  Football  is always popular.

Students are really grateful for the opportunities offered to them by education at Extra Mile School. Some are already thinking ahead to when they complete their WASE and wonder how Extra Mile will support them in the next stage of their education. They are really ambitious, both girls and boys, and really wanting to do well for their country. There are many reminders around them in school of what life might be like if they don't succeed at school, with adults and youngsters working hard as fishermen and others breaking rocks. Both backbreaking occupations.

School staff appreciate the availability of the dongle to give them access to the internet. A first for me to use the internet in the staff training sessions. Much angst as to whether the laptops are still charged and whether they will log on. In the end staff with mobiles with internet access use their phones and this proves most effective. Note to self. See if we can get a larger monitor to use for training. It would be useful in the living accommodation where the tv only works on half the screen so when watching football the ball can disappear for minutes on end. Staff, including those from other partner schools, really enjoy active sessions in the training and our staff  enthusiastically try some of the strategies out in their lessons the following days. I hope they continue to do so when I am no longer around in Sierra Leone.

Really impressed with the morning assemblies, both outside and in class. The students recite prayers like the 23rd Psalm by heart and sing the hymns with gusto. Though some of the students are Muslim they all partake in the Christian-focused assembles, admirably demonstrating the religious tolerance found in Sierra Leone.

Holy Spirit Catholic Centre

Since my last visit a new Catholic Centre has been built . Services whilst familiar in many respects to those in the UK also have a number of differences. The length of the service is much longer with

 the record for my visit being 2hours 45 minutes and that's quite short compared to other denominations. When observing to the parish priest that a live chicken was an unlikely offertory offering, he replied “ That's nothing, when the bishop was last here the offering was a live cow. The music is stunning with a full on soul choir complete with backing trio, complete with dancing in the stalls. What is similar is the stunning welcome I was given by the congregation.

Shopping

Limited opportunities to go shopping. Artisan products are very similar to ones seen in Lagos although the vendor assures me they are handmade by him. Bright locally designed material bought in the local market proved a better option. There are duty free shops at the airport but terribly expensive and limited merchandise.

Extra Mile is looking for a new UK Director

Extra Mile is a growing UK registered charity (1130879), that trains teachers and runs a school in Sierra Leone.  The charity has been working in Sierra Leone for over 10 years and in that time, has worked with many local teachers in more than a dozen primary and secondary schools within Goderich, a small suburb of the capital, Freetown. Teacher-training has been provided to more than forty local primary and secondary teachers. In addition to that more than fifty teacher volunteers from across the world have travelled to Sierra Leone to contribute to the work.  They have all been wonderful ambassadors for the charity and become part of the Extra Mile family, often continuing the partnership which they developed with their school and the charity, whose ethos is firmly based on Christian principles.  In these ways, Extra Mile has helped to improve education for some of the poorest children in this deeply deprived country.

The charity is governed by a ten strong board of trustees in the UK, headed by a UK Director, and employing four Sierra Leonean staff who live within the school grounds.  The trustees are now looking for someone to step into the role of the UK Director and to take over the directorship of the charity in 2018 and beyond.

The Post:

The new UK director, who will also act as the school principal. They must be willing and able to travel and work in Sierra Leone at least twice per year to teach and conduct teacher-training with local staff, They should also be coordinating the fund-raising efforts back in the UK at all times.

The successful candidate will ideally have:

·       senior, school/college managerial experience;

·       experience of teaching and or working abroad;

·       experience of planning and delivering fund-raising events at various scales;

·       the capacity to work to fulfill Extra Mile’s Christian principles;

The successful candidate will be able to:

·       develop a supportive network of fund-raisers/event organisers to raise money for the charity;

·       manage the staff in Sierra Leone;

·       lead the strategic deployment of the finances of the charity;

It should be noted that this position is non-salaried and the charity will only reimburse for telephone costs relating to Extra Mile work and transport costs which accrue within Sierra Leone.

If you are interested in this exciting position and would like to discuss it more, please call Mike on 0777 187 4128.                           

Application letters should be sent to the address below. Please include your contact details.

Extra Mile
P.O. Box 4884
Rugby, Warwickshire
CV21 9GL

This week in Sierra Leone

Greetings from Sierra Leone, which is drying out slowly.. stop, .........hold that,..... we had a huge storm last night. The weather here is very changeable!!!

We've reached the end of our first week of term, with the addition of one classroom helper, Ysatu to replace Anita who left in the middle of last year for a job in a bank. We now have an extra class, making 82 pupils in three classes (30, 32, 20). We've lost about 6 pupils who've got fed up of our staff chasing them to attend every day and be on time.

I've been observing lots of lessons during this first week. I know that's cruel, but staff have engaged with that, been very positive and appreciative of the help and advice, and I've been pleased because our teaching is gradually improving!

We've had to avoid going into town over the last few weeks because the driving licences of both Moses and I have expired!!. We've tried to renew them now for over a month but the one and only official machine (Nigerian in origin!!) has broken down......... for the third time in four weeks. It appears that several thousand Sierra Leoneans are driving without a licence. The police are having a great time extracting fines from them, (even Moses yesterday), despite their protestations. Such a crazy country.

The doctors from our little local clinic called on Wednesday to collect the money which we owed them for treating our pupils during last year. The bill came to about £65. However, we managed to reach a deal to halve this by costing the value of some of the medical stuff which people in the UK have very kindly donated to us over the last year. So thanks to all those who continue to be so kind. Our last two barrel arrived this afternoon with the rest of the exercise books and lined paper as well as some medical stuff and some baby clothes for the mothers at the pregnancy clinic so lots more ‘bargaining chips’ for the medical bill next year.

I continue to chase a mosquito in my shower which seems to have attacked me several times over the last few days and then gone into hiding, unless, of course, it may be several of them working in a ‘pack’? Not sure what the collective noun is for maybe two or three mosquitoes, but tomorrow is ‘judgement day’. Its me or it/them. I’ll let you know the final score.

Mike

Photo update - Feb 2017

Moses, Mohamed, Ismael, BH, and Mike with our guard dog, ‘Rocky’

Teacher training at the EM school

Mohamed. our caretaker enlarging the water tank

The finished, extended water tank

Our Extra Mile volunteer, Brian, showing the boys how to build shelves

Pupils having breakfast at 7.30 am

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Christmas Update

Dear Friends,

Jan and Mike, on behalf of Extra Mile, wish everyone a Happy Christmas and New Year. We are so sorry not to have had time to send everyone a Christmas card but hope you’ll understand how little time we’ve had since Mike returned from Sierra Leone last week.

Whilst Mike was out there we held our first Governor’s Meeting and the staff and pupils completed their second main assessment and also their termly exam. Staff completed their end-of-term report cards and held a parents’ meeting to share their successes. Overall, pupil’s academic progress has been very good and with attendance at an encouraging 88%. We now have three full-time teachers, including the deputy Principal, two part-time teachers and four volunteer teachers. We offer bread and tea every morning at our ‘Breakfast Club’ from 7.30 till 8 am and a small drink of water at lunchtime, around 11.30am. Brian Hoy (ex-Bolton RUFC) has been with us for a month repairing the roof, building shelves and cupboards and re-organising the weather blinds, for which we are very grateful indeed. Mike ran two half-day computer workshops with one of his ex-pupils and a half-day teacher-training workshop before coming home, thankfully without any further illness.

Finally, another piece of good news is that our full-time teachers are now offering extra classes after school and at weekends for our Class X (NPSE primary class) to help them prepare for their forthcoming external exams in May 2017. We especially thank all our wonderful donors who have helped and supported Extra Mile once again this year.

Best wishes and God Bless you all.

Mike

PS We hope you like our new school logo at the top of this letter, which now forms our school badge. Extra Mile, Ober-Funkia Community Secondary School – EMOFCSS

The school opens!

Good afternoon, on a very wet and windy Sunday, (18th September, 2016). Only another two months left of the ‘rainy’ season, “glug!”. One benefit of so much water is that Jan (one of our volunteers in SL) has transplanted most of Africa’s flora now, and hopefully its all going to filter out most of the salt crystals blown in from the sea which corrodes everything so quickly here.

With all the rain, the leaks from the roof into all the classrooms have increased. We tried to spread more than twelve huge, blue tarpaulins across the roof but sadly the rain crept beneath them and over a few days the leaks started again. Time for more serious action and this time we built sloping, wooden frames covered with eight feet long zinc panels with guttering, to run water off into a new water tank we’d built at the back of the school, sadly we've had no water for almost six months. Over the course of the month of August we stemmed the flow to a few drops wiped off the desks each day. Only then could we finish off the plastering and later the painting of the classroom walls and corridor before the pupils came for induction on the 12th September.

A phone call on Tuesday last week to tell me of the sudden death of one of our former headteachers. A stroke had paralysed him for the last two years. We had visited him only the week before to put a canvas over his leaking roof. Forty-eight years is no age to die. Rest in Peace, Komba Mbayo.

The last of our three volunteers has now left, back to Texas via Brussels. We’ll miss his ‘southern drawl’. He was a little bruised as he left, having ‘flipped’ off his bike and onto the road when he and Ismael tried to share a ride the night before.

We began interviewing pupils and their parents/guardians on the 18th August. We had filled all our places by the following day. Stories of complete destitution and despite such poverty, many of the orphans of ebola had been 'adopted' and now seek an education with Extra Mile. Traumatic interviews were only part of our difficulties, the turning away of so many more pupils and their guardians over the pervious four weeks was equally hard. Every day people would come from miles around, through intensive thunderstorms and unbearably hot days, only to be told that, ‘the school done fl-op’ (full up). Even today another two ‘aunty’s’ prostrated themselves on our verandah, praying and pleading that I would  ‘admit’ their wards. If only we could build another ten classrooms, but even then we would need another ten. Our mission now is to do the best we can to raise the hopes of those pupils we have admitted into the school and help them achieve the impossible, an enjoyable and successful education.

Please pray that we can achieve this ambition.

Mike.

Congratulations!

Mr.Moses Conteh and his new wife Marie at their marriage registration at Roksy Building, June 1st. 2016, witnessed by Mrs.Anne King, one of Extra Mile's fantastic volunteers, who is teaching Mathematics at Lady Patricia Kabbah Memorial JSS, Goderich.