Everyone to school!

The project A school for all – which included the expansion of the existing school with 100 new seats (chairs and desks) for students, the construction of toilets and a well for drinking water – was a choral effort , done by many hands, many wills, many hours spent all together to achieve the goal, up to the last “act”, that of painting the building and the fixtures. Seeing those classrooms fill up with the voices of the children is a great satisfaction. In Sierra Leone the dropout rates are very high; just think that in the district of Koinadugu – the one to which the village of Serekolia belongs – it is estimated that only one in six children attends middle school . The reasons for the dropout There are many, but there is one crucial one: the schools are very far from the villages and the children are forced to walk very long distances. Not everyone can do it and those who do run risks by moving away from the protection of their families and their community. Now this will no longer be the case. Since September, the girls and boys of Serekolia have entered the new classrooms built with the support of AMU. But last week, the same community wanted to celebrate the new buildings with a joyful inauguration ceremony . The men played, the women danced, and there was also the traditional ribbon cutting . There was also a special presence: the Kuranko tribe brought with them the spirits of their deceased relatives, as an act of thanksgiving. It was a truly exceptional event, because in the culture of the tribe, this happens only once a year.