Our January 2018 Sierra Leone Team

We recently traveled with four other team members to Sierra Leone. Our team included four members who had never been to Sierra Leone before.

We engaged in a variety of activities while we were in country. We spent some quality time with the students at the Manonkoh UMC Primary School working on crafts and participating in a Bible verse competition. Below on the left, Pat Miller helps preschool kids with crafts.

One of the highlights of the trip was a groundbreaking ceremony for a new preschool in Manonkoh (above right). This project has been in the works for four years and is finally underway. The new 3-classroom building should be ready for use by the beginning of the 2018-2019 academic year.

We spent time every day with the local community and our team members took the opportunity to work along side the Manonkoh residents and learn about their culture. Above, Craig Turcott helps with the preschool construction and Lori Ficocello learns how rice is processed in the village.

As usual, we worshipped on Sunday morning at the UMC church in Manonkoh where Pastor Rhodie Jacobson delivered the children’s blessing and the sermon. The entire team also performed the Johnny Appleseed song and taught the congregation our other favorite Sunday tune: Skol Vikings!

After worship, we met with all of our Junior Secondary School (JSS) and Senior Secondary School (SSS) scholarship students. Africa Uplifted now supports 14 kids who are advancing their education in the city of Makeni. These kids have all come from the smaller villages in and around Manonkoh where they would not otherwise have access to further education.