Educational Lifeline For 100 Pregnant Girls

Dear Project Supporters,

It's been more than a full year since we launched the Creating Pathways Centre, back in May 2015.  

Over the past year we have offered a range of courses including Psycho-Social Counseling, Christian Counseling, English Language, Literature, Government, History, Computer Studies, Mathematics, Financial Accounting, Cost Accounting, Career Talk, Integrated Science, Social Studies and Economics. These courses were focused on providing remedial education and strengthening their education foundation, while they were out of school.

We have been able to accomplish the following:

• Psycho-social and Christian counseling: we have been able to have an intimate chat with the ladies where they expressed their fears, treat and challenges. This provided us with a perspective on the emotional problems that hey have been struggling with.  At the end of each session, we have advised on solutions and we obtained feedback from them.
  
  
• We provided solar radios to the ladies to listen to school lessons / teachings - in partnership with Lifeline Energy. 
  
  
• We provided an initial supply of stationery to the ladies.
  
  
• We have assisted several ladies with school fees and school supplies.
  
  
• For over a year, we provided a transportation allowance, ensuring that the ladies could come to the CPS, unhindered by finances. 
  
  
• We’ve created a forum where we talked with the friends that impregnated the ladies and also some of the family members.  We encouraged them to give the ladies the support needed to make the best out of their lives. 
  
  
• The lives of the young ladies have been transformed through the encouraging sessions from the teachers and multiple visitors.  
  
  
• We can happily say that all of our ladies are now computer literate.  Most of them now know how to create flyers, souvenirs, birthday cards, do calculations and much more on the computer.

We would not have been able to accomplish all this without your generosity and support.  We cannot thank you enough for helping us make the first year a success.  

At the end of July, Sylvester made a 2 week project visit to the Centre and met with the ladies. They asked him to convey their deep appreciation and gratitude to YOU for the remedial training and support.

During an open group meeting with Sylvester, the ladies expressed their current need - for either scholarships to return to school or microfinance funds to start a business. 

Effective August, we have phased out the general classes and are continuing computer classes. Currently they are learning to improve their typing speed.  As of Mid-September, a smaller group is continuing to coming to classes regularly.

Looking Ahead:  As requested by the ladies and based on our needs assessment, our future efforts will be focused on following 3 areas.

1.  On-going computer training for those that are interested in continuing and also for new students.  We have determined that there is an on-going need for this in Sierra Leone. We plan to pursue new partnerships with schools and groups.

2.  Helping them restart their schooling / start vocational training.  We have been able to help 5 ladies restart schooling.  

3.  Helping them secure microfinance funding. We plan to help launch businesses for those who are not interested in continuing their schooling.

We are very grateful for what we have been able to achieve so far and are super-excited about the on-going opportunity to help them pursue and develop in their future careers.  We welcome your support as we continue to provide an educational lifeline for ladies in Sierra Leone.

With great appreciation,

Sylvester and the Develop Africa Team