Humble Beginnings, Hope for Tomorrow - Youth Arise in Sierra Leone

Hey all,
I hope that you are all doing well in Canada, the U.S, or wherever you might find yourself in the world. Sorry for the break in communication, it's been a hectic two weeks filled with excitement and learning lessons. Our first volunteer arrived here on June 3rd, and it has been amazing to see her getting involved with the Foundation, learning from the youth and also giving so much back to them in return. It has been a real blessing to have someone to work side by side with, so I can start to see my own weaknesses and dilemmas in running the programs day to day, and learn how to improve them and work through them to make this organization develop. On June 5th, we officially started a branch of The People’s Foundation of Sierra Leone in Freetown, so that all the past scholarship recipients could continue giving back to the program and supporting it. It was wonderful to see the excitement, need, and passion for this program in Freetown – on our first meeting day, over 20 youth showed up to talk about the program’s goals and how they could fit into their lives. It is truly amazing to see youth who have come from Kabala to still be eager to work together and extend their network of community through this program in Freetown. It was encouraging to see their zeal for the program, and on Monday June 12th, they ran and held the second session of the program all on their own! What a dream come true to see the capacity building we began a year ago with four university scholarships taking form, and those students taking ownership over the programs and over their lives, being willing to work together to create change in their community, country, and generation. Hearing the words of one of our scholarship recipients, Martin Koroma, in his report about the first meeting he conducted really uplifted my spirits – “We had over 20 youth attend the meeting, and we had very good discussions about the need for this program and how we can use mentoring and community to help our country develop. I think we will need a bigger space if we keep meeting like this – everyone was so happy and excited to see this program starting in Freetown!” Those words are every development worker’s dream – how awesome it is to hear from the youth themselves how this program is benefiting and helping them, instead of just assuming it is working how it is supposed to be.

Yesterday, we had a planning meeting with some of the local partners for The People’s Foundation. It was encouraging to sit down and discuss the past year with Rev. John Phiri, Rev. Ezekiel Sudu, and Pastor Maxwell Kanu, three leaders who were active in the development and maintenance of our programs over the past year. As in any work in this field, there are always lessons to be learned and obstacles to overcome, and our biggest lesson is that we need to thoroughly invest in indigenous leadership if this program is to develop and continue growing here in Sierra Leone. Although the Pastors are a great help to the program, it became clear that they merely need to act as resources and overseers, not the actual program managers here on the ground. As we sat brainstorming about the youth that could possibly take up the volunteer position of program manager for this year, it was great to see that several youth in the program have developed enough over the past year that they could take on this position as long as they had training beforehand. Please continue praying for us as we try to identify and interview youth who could succeed in this position!

Although our meeting yesterday brought up the issue of leadership and how we need to address this and put youth in charge of the program, there was also tons of positive feedback about the way that the program ran over the past year. Rev. Ezekiel mentioned that the change in the youth because of this program has been incredible, and even one of the elders in the church stated that her daughter’s life has changed immensely just because of this mentoring program – without her mother even asking her, she has started taking responsibility of her life and started mentoring and guiding her younger sisters. I found tears springing to my eyes as I heard the words of encouragement from those here in Sierra Leone from day to day – even though there may be trials and struggles in the future, we are certainly on the road worth travelling down, no matter the obstacles in our way. Rev. John said it best when he stated that “although we cannot yet see the elimination of poverty, which is one of the true aims of this Foundation, seeing the development of our youth in their spiritual, educational, and physical lives is the key that we are on the right track.” Those words made all the late nights of fundraisers and lost sleep to try and promote this program in Canada all completely worth it, and they also made me eternally grateful for the support of all of you in North America and around the world – this change could not happen without you! We have now issued out a list for potential scholarship applicants this year, and I am excited to see the potential and talents that will be revealed through our scholarship interviews this year.
I think the words of Maxwell Kanu, one of our partners, sum it up better than I ever could:
“This program has been so great in terms of the output of our youth, because it has worked in their lives, brought some amount of awareness in them and allowed them to rethink their old way of viewing things - some of them are now actually realizing who they are, realizing they ARE something and they can DO something. They have identified what they want to be in life, it has helped the individual youth and their fellowship as a whole. This program is of immense importance to help build our future generation”.
How humbling and awesome to hear those words spoken yesterday – and what a reminder that this work is so necessary, so important, and no matter how long it takes, change will occur in this beautiful country through the lives of these young leaders. Be Blessed!
-Krissi