Stop press - August 2010 - container from UK (www.twam.co.uk) safely negotiates Sierra Leone customs - more news to follow soon
December 2008 - photos of school and vocational centre in action
October 2008 - Storms damage part completed school buildings
Half the roof was blown off our current school location and 2 of the
classrooms at the new building lost roofs and side walls. But we're
working hard to patch things up as the photograph below shows.
June 2008 - International Day of Tree Planting
The pictures you see were taken on 5th June 2008 International Day of
Tree planting. Ahkom has a very active environmental agenda. The area
you see is well over 600 acres which was once forest land but due to
unchecked illicit diamond mining has depreciated to grassland. We aim
to reafforestate the whole area with a variety of indigenous forest
trees.
Our biggest problem is fighting off illicit miners who uproot the
plants in our absence and dig up the earth in search of diamonds. To
prevent this, we have now decided to build a little hamlet of about 6
huts and employ forest security to protect the plants.
Building, transport, electrification and employment cost for the first
year we estimate to be around 30,000 pounds. If any one reading this
wishes to make any contribution let them please contact us at our
contact site.
Below are pictures of the illicit miners on the land some 1 mile away
from where we started planting. These guys can turn violent which is
why we now want to establish our own security. In the rains these pits
fill up and are a danger to wildlife and children who go out picking
fruits and wild berries. In the dry season the water stagnates and
forms an ideal breeding ground for malaria carrying mosquitoes etc
There is also a picture of some of the gems found by the child miners.
Another shows a child miner mining for his school fees. It's the likes
of him we try to support at Ahkom so he won't need to put himself at
such risk.
August 2007
Construction of the new orphanage and training centre began in the
summer of 2007. Construction progress is largely dependent upon fund
raising.
April 2006 Report of Dr Diana Snape – UK visitor to Ahkom School
Ahkom is the name of the secondary school in Koidu, which teaches up to
West African Certificate of Education. There is also a
technical/vocational college for students who are older. They are all
housed in a building in the centre of Koidu town, the tec/voc on the
ground floor and the schoolchildren on the 1st floor. Younger children
(10-13) are taught in the morning and 14-16year olds in the afternoon,
due to lack of classrooms. I have photos of all the existing building
and classrooms which and also photos of the land outside Koidu which
has been purchased for the new school and tec/voc buildings.
The exam results for the school cert this year for Ahkom (the first
year they have sat the exams) were 19 passes in all subjects, gaining
the school certificate, and 12 passes in some subjects. The photos
below show the Principal of the school teaching Maths, and the
blackboard shows a construction of a right angle (90 degrees) and
dropping a perpendicular using compasses.
Ahkom is a good school, as the exam results show.