Vandy Kamara is approved and endorsed by our District as a candidate for the Rotary Peace Fellowship program. Last Wednesday, we had the pleasure of hosting Vandy to talk to us about his own, personal charity to provide schooling to underprivileged children in his native Sierra Leone, a country with a population of some 7 Million in West Africa. Like many countries in the region, Sierra Leone suffered from Civil War, major health issues including Polio. "I saw a lot of atrocities" he mentioned laconically. Vandy, who works at Wesley Mission Queensland caring for homeless people in various areas all the way to Katherine in the Northern Territory, emigrated to Australia some 10 years ago. Talking about applying the proverbial Aussie "Have a go" principle! He holds numerous academic achievements, including a Master of Public Health and an Advanced Diploma of Community Sector Management. But that is not what he came to talk to us about...Primarily it was about his charity, the Sonjor Community School which he founded in 2012. Its Mission Statement is 'To provide education and other related services for girls, that will lead to empowerment and sustainable livelyhood'. Another major underlying objective: 'To delay the prevailing early child marriages
by keeping the girls engaged in education'. Yes, it's a problem we in the western world don't face.
"Sure, but there are lots of charities!" I hear you say. Hang on a minute: have you heard of a charity running a school which is primarily financed from the founder's personal savings year in year out? And it's not all that straight forward either: one needs to convince the village chiefs that it is a good idea to provide education to young girls rather than them carrying water. Some of the girls walk from as far as 6 miles to come to the school. Initially with a class of 57 girls, today the school has grown to 380 pupils, the vast bulk girls. Obviously, the concept works.
The popular French saying goes: 'Chapeau!'. The Australian equivalent, coined by the famous bush poet C.J. Dennis, is 'I dips me lid'. We wish you every success, Vandy Kamara.
Photo: Ray Higgs with Vandy. A copy of Vandy's PowerPoint presentation, which has lots of photos, is ready in the Download Section on the right.