Sierra Leone Immersion Programme
October 2009 half term saw Miss Greenland, Mrs Taylor and Mr Ryan travel to Sierra Leone, West Africa. The aim was to carry out a preliminary visit and take part in a Christian Brothers Immersion Program, with the view that hopefully, next October, pupils from the Upper School will be having the same experience. They were there to observe the work the Christian Brothers carry out in Sierra Leone and to offer support to those working in the area.
The adventure started after school on Thursday 22nd October when the trio flew from Manchester to Heathrow airport, narrowly making the flight after an accident on the motorway delayed them. Their luck didn’t get much better when one of their bags, laden with charity items such as football kits and stationery, never arrived on the flight. This didn’t dampen their spirits, and they flew to Sierra Leone Friday lunchtime arriving at Freetown late Friday night.
Saturday brought new challenges, as they travelled by minibus from Freetown to a more rural area, Bo, their home for the next seven nights. Sunday was an early start with Mass at nine. The group packed into a beautiful church where they received a warm welcome by local people and enjoyed a lively Sunday service.
Monday to Friday proved to be a very exciting and challenging time both emotionally and physically. The itinerary was packed full with school visits, home visits and exploring the fantastic projects for young people in Bo run by the Christian Brothers. A visit to a refugee camp was particularly moving. There were many people there who touched the lives of the group; terminally ill children provoked a strong sense of injustice and money was put into a collection by members of the group for the Christian Brothers to take these children to seek medical help and ease their pain. The school visits were the most uplifting; the children were thrilled with stationary gift items and overjoyed with their ‘masks’ made from paper plates and pipe-cleaners. The excitement the skipping ropes caused was quite contagious and the footballs were gratefully received.
Saturday was the beginning of the return leg of the journey; the group sadly left Bo and travelled back to Freetown. The warm welcome from the people of Sierra Leone continued, however, as the trio met the Christian Brothers living in Freetown and explored their projects helping local people.
Monday proved to be a challenging day for everyone, social workers working for the Christian Brothers accompanied the group on their visit to one of the many slum areas where people live in Freetown. This was a distressing experience for all and left members of the group determined to return to England and raise awareness of the need of the people and the plight of the Christian Brothers as they try to help.
Miss Greenland, Mrs Taylor and Mr Ryan found the immersion program to be an amazing, insightful and emotionally challenging experience, one which they will never forget.