Empowering children with education for a brighter future
Helping children with hearing impairment in Sierra Leone
St Joseph’s School for the Hearing Impaired is one of only two schools in Sierra Leone for deaf and hearing impaired children. The school cares deeply and knows how excluding disability can be. It equips students with the skills to lead happy, fulfilling lives as valuable members of their communities. It is recognised as a centre of excellence, providing not only precious education and life skills to its students, but developing quality teachers and playing a key role in its community.
The Friends of St Joseph’s School for the Hearing Impaired was established in 2011. All of our trustees are volunteers. We fund dedicated projects that help the school function better and expand, as well as supporting ways to improve the lives of students, and developing teachers. We offer practical advice alongside funding and to date we have enabled supporters around the world to donate over £256,000 to the school.
One of only 2 specialist schools in Sierra Leone
St Joseph’s is one of only two schools to provide specialist education and audiology equipment to deaf and hearing impaired children, in a country of almost 9 million people. Many mainstream schools refuse to accept students with hearing impairment, and so without St Joseph’s, many children would simply not attend school.
Over £256,000 raised to date
St Joseph’s is lucky to have supporters like you, all over the world who have been moved by its extraordinary work. Thanks to your generous support, we have raised over £256,000 for the school. None of the trustees is paid, and so almost all of that money has gone directly to the school. As a small charity, we can fund things quickly, responding to immediate needs, as well as planned projects, and providing a real life-line to the school when it needs it.
45 years of empowering children
Since its inception in 1979 the school has taught thousands of children, at primary and secondary level, in both academic subjects and vocational training such as farming, catering and tailoring. It has also played a key role in its community, and is one of its oldest institutions.
Improving children’s lives
The funds we raise enable the school to provide specific, practical support to their students. That might be providing transport back after school holidays for families who are struggling; buying livestock for the school farm so they can teach animal husbandry; or ensuring that the school has quality audiology testing equipment and functioning hearing aids so that students are less excluded outside of school.
Dedicated projects
Each year the school’s budget covers its core costs, but this doesn’t allow them to undertake major new projects, and that is where the Friends step in. With your generous support, we have been able to fund new buildings, the major renovation of parts of the school and even the purchase of land to create a school farm that enables vocational training and provides food for the school kitchen. Our practical, hands-on approach of working closely with the school leaders means that the funds are targeted to projects that really matter.
Supporting teachers
Sierra Leone’s education system struggles to train and retain good teachers in its mainstream schools, due to more attractive salaries in other sectors and the civil war, in which many of today’s potential teachers missed out on schooling. Having to work that much harder to train staff, St Joseph’s has always placed an emphasis on supporting teacher training and development and the Friends have supported several of these initiatives with funds.
“With support from the Friends, we have been able to do so much more for our students”
— Sister Amala, School Principal
Contact
Get in touch to find out how you can help.
Email
forthehearingimpaired@gmail.com