I first met Fayia in 2006 on my second trip to Freetown, and at the time he was a driver for the Charity Mercy Ships. We became friends and when I started my Alans Africa projects in 2007, he became my “main man on the ground” overseeing projects on my behalf and when I visited the country, he would be my main point of contact.

Fayia and I had agreed, earlier this year, that the next major project would be the construction and equipping of two additional classrooms at the school, and the week before he died, I received an estimate from him for this project. In order to keep the costs down, we plan to utilise two of the compound walls, as we have done at a previous project, and will therefore only have to build two exterior walls and there will be no partition wall between the two classrooms, at the school’s request, and it will therefore also be able to be used as a multi-purpose hall. The building will be called “The Fayia Foday Memorial Hall” in recognition of all he has done for the school community.

When I was first introduced to this Junior school in January 2013, it was called the Good News Pentecostal School (see the 2 photos below). They were operating in a small, dark church hall with 80+ children crammed in, with children aged five to eleven being taught in three age groups at the same time with very little furniture and it was not a good learning environment. I committed to build an initial two classrooms when funds permitted.

Due to the Ebola outbreak, it was December 2015 before we started to build, on a piece of land we purchased from the community. Initially we built and equipped two classrooms and a small toilet block and the following year extended the building to include another two classrooms, an office, staffroom and storage area .

In late 2016 the community members informed me that “ in recognition of all your work for our Community, we wish to change the school name to Banbury International Community School. We are adopting a school motto which will be Making a Real Difference and we are introducing a school uniform for the pupils. Our uniqueness is to have the Community making a difference in educating our children and adults. We wish to recognise everything you have done for us and to thank you and all your sponsors for their great support which is impacting our lives.” This was the school badge that they designed.

In 2017 we sank a well at the school, as the nearest available clean water was over a quarter of a mile away, and this also serves the local community, not just the school .

In 2018 we built an additional two classrooms so that they could start Junior Secondary classes (equivalent to our Middle Schools), and also built another toilet block.

All the buildings have basic water harvesting systems and the toilet blocks also have handwash stations fed by the water harvesting systems.

The school now has six classrooms, two toilet blocks and a well, and all the buildings are enclosed within a secure compound and we have recently completed the installation of a solar powered electricity system to some of the classrooms .

Every time we provide better facilities at a school, it attracts more pupils and you realise that you have become a victim of your own success. As the number of children attending has increased dramatically there is a desperate need for these two additional classrooms. There are now 300 pupils in Junior classes and 220 in Junior Secondary. At the current time they are operating a two-shift system with the younger children attending in the morning and the older pupils in the afternoon , which is not ideal for either age group.

As with everywhere the cost of living is increasing in Sierra Leone. Here are a few prices of items to give you an idea of costs:

Bag of cement £10.

Each concrete block costs £1 to produce – these are made locally which is both cheaper than buying them and provides employment for local labourers.

A desk and bench set for 3 children is £20.

An 8 x 4 sheet of galvanised Zinc is £6

A steel classroom door is £100.

EVERY £ donated will go directly to the project and EVERY £ will help to "Make A Real Difference" at the Banbury International Community School. Any support you may be able to offer would be greatly appreciated.