By Mohamed K. Turay
Sunday Foundation last Thursday officially handed over a youth and skills training centre, worth about forty-five thousand Euros, to the people of Kambia District, north-western part of Sierra Leone.
The skills training centre comprises tailoring and hair dressing departments and an entertainment section.
Briefing the gathering at the official handing over ceremony, Sunday Foundation’s National Coordinator, Alimamy Sawyer Bangura, thanked the Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sander De Kramer, for his financial support to construct the centre in Kambia Town.
Mr Bangura revealed how Sunday Foundation had boosted the educational sector across Sierra Leone, adding that his organization was the first to introduce Free Quality Education nationwide.
The Foundation’s National Coordinator also informed the gathering that they had built 52 schools countrywide coupled with the provision of uniforms and school learning materials free of charge.
Mr Alimamy Sawyer Bangura encouraged young people to take the opportunity to be enrolled at the centre and assured that no one would be asked to pay a cent and that materials would also be provided free of charge.
He called on young people to attend school while at the same time simultaneously embarking on skills “because with skills one can survive if he or she could not afford to get a white colour job”.
Mr Bangura narrated how the people of Kambia were able to get the attention of Sunday Foundation to build the skills training centre. He said a Report, which was published between 2007 and 2008, indicated that the most vulnerable children in Sierra Leone were those in mining communities.
He continued that a Dutch citizen saw the Report and decided to come to Sierra Leone and found out that it was the truth.
Officially launching the skills training centre, the Kambia District Council Chairman, Mr Mohamed Mansarico Mansaray said that young people were the hope of the future and appealed to them to make good use of the opportunity given to them by Sunday Foundation.
Mr Mansaray expressed appreciation to Sunday Foundation for complementing the District Council’s efforts in developing human capital. He promised that he would work closely with the organization and assured that he would make sure he provides oversight function for the centre’s sustainability.
The event was climaxed with a conducted tour of the centre by the Kambia Council District Chairman and deputy and other stakeholders of the District.
It could be recalled that Sunday Foundation was established in 2008 to help the most vulnerable children and communities in Sierra Leone. It started its operations in Bo District in the southern part of the country.
The Foundation’s Founder, Mr Sander De Kramer, is a journalist who came to Sierra Leone to verify whether what was contained in that Report was the reality. When he returned to his country, he decided that he should do something to help these vulnerable children.
The activities of Sunday Foundation are education; sports for youth; micro finance; skills training; health, and agriculture.
The Foundation has forty-five schools countrywide and in every school it buys uniforms, pens, books, and provides stipends for teachers who are not on Government payroll.