A 12-member delegation from Sunday Foundation in Holland, headed by Honorary Paramount Chief, Sander De Kramer, is in Sierra Leone on a working visit (from 16th-20th November 2024) to their 52 schools nationwide that have created impact in the country.
The delegation will also strategize the way forward for the Foundation, as plans are underway to construct more schools nationwide.
Sunday Foundation commenced operations in Sierra Leone in 2008, just after the country’s civil war.
The founder of the Foundation, Mr. Sander De Kramer, was inspired by a UNICEF Report, which stated that five-year-old children in mining communities in Sierra Leone were the most vulnerable. This captivated him to come to Sierra Leone on a fact finding mission, where he visited especially the mining communities to gather first-hand information.
It must be noted that because of his outstanding contributions, Mr Sander De Kramer was crowned Honorary Paramount Chief of Baoma Chiefdom in the Bo District in 2012 and Chief pa Komrabai in Magbema Chiefdom in the Kambia District in 2010 respectively.
The Foundation built its first school in Kormende, Baoma Chiefdom, Bo District, in 2008, the beginning of the free equality education in the country.
Mr Alimamy Sawyer Bangura, the National Coordinator, disclosed that all 52 Sunday Foundation Schools in the country are free of charge, and in addition, the Foundation provides uniforms, books, bags and shoes.
For pupils in institutions like technical/vocational institutions, they are provided with startup kits at the end of their trainings.
Furthermore, the Foundation provided loans to teachers and even parents. as well as paying medical bills for pupils and teachers, and scholarships to their former pupils now in universities.
Most of the beneficiaries interviewed by this medium revealed that the Foundation has constructed schools in hard to reach areas, where most NGOs are unwilling to go, underscoring that the Foundation has created impact in the country.
In Kambia Town, the delegation was accorded a rousing welcome, as pupils, parents are teachers processed from the town to the school grounds.
Addressing the pupils, Mr. Sander De Kramer disclosed that they were proud of the pupils, and encouraged them to be studious and disciplined, as they are the future leaders in the country.
He added that some of them would become various professionals, including the President of the country, and assured them that the Foundation loves and would continue to support them.
He furthered that the Foundation has achieved a lot, as some of their pupils would soon graduate from universities, in addition to the fact that their schools are renowned for quality teaching and learning, excelling in public examinations and other competitions.
He concluded that they have been able to do all these as a result of Togetherness, which is incidentally their motto.
Highlights of the ceremony in Kambia Town were official opening of the Sunday Foundation Business School, drama and cultural performances by the pupils, a boat excursion along The Great Scarcies River and the football match between Sunday Foundation Football Team and Masungbala F. C that ended goalless.
The Kambia District Council organised the football gala for the coveted first prize of Le200 thousand new Leones.
Other activities in Kambia District included visit to Kamba Village, where the 52nd school has been constructed, visit to the technical/vocational training centre, where former street girls are trained in tailoring, gara-dye tying, and the Village of Hope for polio victims, who are also trained in various technical/vocational skills for self-reliance.
Some stakeholders I came across in Kambia Town wandered what would have happened to the over 11,210 pupils enrolled in Sunday Foundation Schools nationwide, if there were no schools in these deprived communities.