Happy New Year Everyone

Wishing you all a very happy new year......


We all had a wonderful time over Christmas and New Year and we thought you would like to hear what we have been up to......We have 39 girls now in the safe house, the latest Isatu came yesterday to join our happy and growing family.

We have been making christmas decorations, cooking lovely food, UK Yebe made by Jane caused quite a stir here on New Years Eve, making jewellery, playing games, balance ball and hopscotch are the current favourites, playing santa too...apparently a few girls saw Miriam & I in our magic cloaks and caps putting sweets in the baskets and presents under the tree.

jewellery making was very popular and very relaxing too.....lovely quiet time with the girls and staff.

paper chain decorations were good for wearing too....

Santa filled the Danish baskets with sweets, a Mason family tradition.

Christmas morning, the girls were busy doing their hair and trying to keep warm......Mawah, Christiana, Miriam & Saitu are not impressed with the weather as Hamatan has arrived and rainy season is well and truly over. It is blissfully warm & sunny weather for us however the girls are freezing cold, especially first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Everyone is wearing socks and jumpers and blankets are much needed for everyone at night.

The nativity play was delightful, Miriam directed it all fabulously and for days before and even now many days after you can hear the sweet sounds of Noel Noel and We wish you a merry Christmas through out the day and night........Here's Mary, Joseph & the donkey on their way to Bethlehem.

We have had several birthdays in December, Kofi, Isata, Jane and Kofi's chocolate spread sandwich cake went down a treat with all. New Years Eve was celebrated with style, cooking UK Yebeh (cassava stew), singing Auld Lang Syne and dancing together to see in the new Year. Isata & Jane had a cooking competition and I think the UK Yebeh won this time.........

My nest news is that my chicken has hatched 11 chicks whoohoo.......cockledoodledoo : )

We are now looking forward to the New Year and we have developed a program over the holidays to work with the girls to build upon the their strengths, encourage them to plan ahead so that they are able to achieve more in school and build their confidence and self esteem for the future.

We are also starting adult literacy classes in the village so that the parents and children can learn and grow together to build a stronger community, Maronka is already a hugely strong community, in fact I believe it is one of the strongest I have ever worked in.

Ok so the girls are starting on a plan for the new year and so is most of Maronka village and we know many of you will be too! How many of you are thinking of getting fit and being more healthy, probably even joining the gym, please please do not spend your money on gym membership we have a much more exciting way to get you back in shape for 2012.

Start training now to join us for..........A Bike Ride, yes a bike ride from Hoek Van Holland to Belgium via Amsterdam. On the 31st August, 1st & 2nd September . More details will follow later so you can join us in this fantastic fun and fundraising opportunity.


We wish all your hopes & dreams come true in 2012

Ann, Isata, Jane, Miriam and all the Maronka girls xxxx

If you ever do any online shopping, or even if you think you don't (because you might in the process find it is cheap and easy to do so) please do sign up.  We will be most appreciative and you will definitely be making a difference to our work in Sierra Leone.

http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/educaidsierraleone

Why not buy a special gift for someone this year? EducAid Calendars for 2012 are £9:99.  Please contact annbeatty@educaid.org.uk to order yours.  All monies go to EducAid.

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young people, please go to http://www.educaid.org.uk/ and http://www.educaidsierrleone.blogspot.com/

You can keep up with the currrent news and activities at the EducAid Face Book website:

     FB page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/48572325218/

Merry Christmas Everyone

Merry Christmas from Binta, Aisha, Fatmata, Namina, Marie and all the Maronka girls xxx


Thank you all so much for supporting our project,  we wish you a joyful and peaceful Christmas and may all your dreams and hopes for 2012 come true.


Love to you all from Isata, Jane, Ann & Miriam 

Why not buy a special gift for someone this year? EducAid Calendars for 2012 are £9:99.  Please contact annbeatty@educaid.org.uk to order yours.  All monies go to EducAid.

If you ever do any online shopping, or even if you think you don't (because you might in the process find it is cheap and easy to do so) please do sign up.  We will be most appreciative and you will definitely be making a difference to our work in Sierra Leone.

http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/educaidsierraleone

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young people, please go to http://www.educaid.org.uk/ and http://www.educaidsierrleone.blogspot.com/

Easy Fundraising

This is for all you online shoppers...... If you register online by clicking on the link below, the Easy Fundraising website will send us a cheque periodically with money that gets generated on the side of all your online purchases.

Please do.  I just did and it takes only moments.  As most of you are aware, things are difficult all across the non-profit sector at the moment.  This is not different for EducAid and recently we have had to cut into some of our core activities in order to keep our heads above water. e.g. We are looking at shortening the school day as of January as we are no longer able to feed the day students. ..... so every bit helps!

If you ever do any online shopping, or even if you think you don't (because you might in the process find it is cheap and easy to do so) please do sign up.  We will be most appreciative and you will definitely be making a difference to our work in Sierra Leone.

http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/educaidsierraleone

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young Sierra Leoneans, please go to www.educaid.org.uk and www.sierraleonegirls.blogspot.com

Latest news from Maronka Girls 2

We have great internet access at the moment so I thought I would send you more of our news and photos while I can, 37 girls now. We have been doing some fun things like taking the children to the beach and we had our 1st EVER birthday party in Maronka village on the 17th November for Sumaila which was greatly enjoyed by all, with popcorn, prawn crackers and pineapple drink all round. As there are so many of us we have decided to celebrate all the monthly birthdays on one day each month.

Jane is our newest volunteer and came to stay with us at the girls house on Sunday. Jane has been a Lecturer in Higher Education for the past ten years where she has enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm of her young students and helping them achieve their personal and academic goals.

In her spare time Jane loves to travel and meet new people. She also loves walking the hills of Northern England and cooking for her  sons, Tom and George.

For a number of years she volunteered for a young person's drumming and dance group, enjoying playing Afro-Brazilian rhythms, singing and dancing (when nobody is looking :).

Jane is looking forward to using her experience to help the girls and young women feel strong to take steps towards a brighter future.

Diana has booked her ticket and is coming out to volunteer on the 22nd January for 3 months. If you would like to volunteer or know of anyone else who wants to volunteer from April next year, please put them in touch with us.

As many of the children stayed on site for the half term we took them to the beach, I have never seen so many happy children and so well behaved too. Most of them had never seen the sea before and they were shouting the sea is slapping us and had the most delightful day.

the children buried the teachers and Isata in the sand

then the teachers got their own back

I mentioned the challenge of the washing previously, the other challenge is 37 girls plaiting their hair on the weekend, heres my favourite before and after shot of Isatu. Isatu was selling palm wine every day, living an appalling existence and not attending school. Her parents left her with us in October and she is now doing very well. Our newest girl Mariama came to stay on Thursday from Freetown bringing the total up to 37.

Happy days


Love Ann, Isata, Miriam, Jane & the Maronka girls

Why not buy a special gift for someone this year? EducAid Calendars for 2012 are £9:99.  Please contact annbeatty@educaid.org.uk to order yours.  All monies go to EducAid.



If you ever do any online shopping, or even if you think you don't (because you might in the process find it is cheap and easy to do so) please do sign up.  We will be most appreciative and you will definitely be making a difference to our work in Sierra Leone.


http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/educaidsierraleone

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young people, please go to http://www.educaid.org.uk/ and http://www.educaidsierrleone.blogspot.com/

Latest News from Maronka Girls..........

Thank you to all those who have kept in touch via this blog, the Facebook page and email and who have also responded and generous purchased gifts from the wish list.

Life continues to be mad busy in Maronka with the girls. And with Miriam fundraising in the UK, I have been extra busy with all sorts of things.........delivering supplies for all the schools, managing the teacher training centre construction site, general mediator......... I am enjoying it very much but am very pleased to have Miriam back now.

The girls are happy & contented and there is a real family atmosphere in the house now as we have got to know each other. The girls have become very caring and and look out for each other and for me too. Theresa ran after me the other day as I had not strapped my sandals up and she did them up for me. We have also settled into a routine for activities and Isata has been invaluable in settling the girls into the house. There are still a few ups and downs but with 36 girls there are bound to be......

We had a great half-term break here in Maronka as 99% of the home boys and girls stayed on site so we had an eventful week keeping the children busy with a lots of activities, we had puzzles and games, computer workshops, reading & handwriting, film nights with popcorn and we did sports every afternoon.

Catherine a volunteer from Liverpool came to stay with us in Maronka during half-term and she ran computer workshops for the teachers and carried Ibrahim to sports day as he had hurt his leg falling out of a palm tree. Catherine & I cooked pumpkin stew for the teachers, apparently there was not enough pepper but they enjoyed it still and now believe that I CAN cook.

We had our first community meeting in the girls house attended by Chief Obai and others and the feedback is that the girls are doing well, they are behaving well and they take their turn in village activities such as cooking and clean ups.

We have had another new addition to Maronka Obai's daughter had a baby girl, Obai is a very proud grandfather and we girls have another baby to cuddle.

Life in the UK is not so good and the economic crisis is affecting funding of EducAid so we are finding it really hard to meet the day to day running costs as the cost of living rises in Sierra Leone and while costs rise the income is not keeping up.

Although Miriam has been fundraising in the UK we are still in need of as much support as we can get. If you are in a position to increase your regular giving, start a regular donation, please do think about doing so - the forms are attached.  If you know a school, a club, a church, an organisation or institution that might be willing to fundraise for EducAid or make a donation, please do put us in touch with each other.

There is of course suffering in the UK because of the financial difficulties everywhere but if it is true in the UK, it is even more true in Sierra Leone.  If we do not invest in these youngsters now, they will only be more of a load on society in the future and we all lose out.

We promise that all help that is given will be used well to help some of the most vulnerable young people in the world.

Thank you in advance for all your generosity.

Why not buy a special gift for someone this year? EducAid Calendars for 2012 are £9:99.  Please contact annbeatty@educaid.org.uk to order yours.  All monies go to EducAid.


If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young people, please go to http://www.educaid.org.uk/ and http://www.educaidsierrleone.blogspot.com/

Life is good in Maronka and we're still excited!

Diana Mears spent a week with us and has just returned to the UK. She was very impressed with our work and is coming back in January for 3 months to volunteer. Diana enjoyed reading with the little ones and we worked together with some of the teachers on the Hummingbirds, Sparrow and Kingfishers class assembly in which the children sang a selection of songs with great enthusiasm and very confidently. We are already working on some new songs and we all miss you Diana...hurry back!

Diana also helped us sew our mosquito netting into curtains for the verandah and sleeping areas. It was wonderful when baby Mohammed Obai came to visit (isn't he gorgeous) and us girls took time out for cuddles...

...whilst the men got on with hanging up the curtains.

Life is busy here with the girls and every day is different, teaching them life skills like teethbrushing and basic values, like I must not beat my friend. The girls have agreed their own rules for the house and supporting them to stick to their rules is a 24 hour job for us.
We are loving every minute of the challenge and one of our biggest at the moment (as we mentioned last time) is THE WASHING! This is a special challenge in itself and its still growing especially as the planet still thinks its rainy season here some days and we cannot get it dry.

We saw on facebook the other day that many people have started their Christmas shopping and some have even finished it...amazing but seemingly true! It got us thinking that we should get some stockings together for the girls and we thought we would ask our wonderful supporters to help us by purchasing a small item off our Amazon wishlist.

If you would like to send a gift, all you have to do is click on the Amazon link http://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/8SU8SDVN5IDO  (and the link is also to the left of this page). Just choose your gift, pop it in your basket, pay and it will be automatically posted to us! How easy is that?...but please do this before 10th November to ensure it reaches the girls for 25th December. As a big thank you we promise to send you all photos of Christmas Day excitement in the girls house.

And if you are struggling to find the perfect gift we can also help you! We have EducAid Calendars featuring our beautiful students who put on their biggest and cheesiest smiles just for you and your friends to share all year round.  At Only £ 9.99 they are a bargain present and helping a child as £10 covers the monthly cost of 1 child at Educaid.
If you would like 1 or 2 or 3 please email me at btwoman@hotmail.co.uk


p.s The girls are loving their teddies, they go everywhere with them.

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young people, please go to http://www.educaid.org.uk/ and http://www.educaidsierrleone.blogspot.com/

Girls House Opening 1st October 2011

The girls house opened successfully on Saturday, 1st October, with much ceremony, noise and palm wine. The girls looked beautiful in their dresses and sang and acted with great confidence. It was a great day.

The celebrations started the night before with the men taking up position outside the house with their percussion instruments and the palm wine was flowing. The women and children joined the party and the drumming, singing and dancing carried on into the night.

The chief, Obai, and his sister Zainab did the honours of cutting the ribbon and blessing and opening the house.

We currently have 33 girls, ranging in age from 4 to 14 years. We lost 3 girls, last week, who went off to the Women's Project and the beginnings of secondary school, resulting in lots of tears all round on the morning of departure.

Life in Maronka is very in your face.  Following the opening we had to attend Obai's father-in-law's funeral the next day. A few days later, Yenken gave birth to a baby boy and myself and Miriam were holding the baby within seconds of Mohammed Obai being born. It was just in time really as Yenken had asked Miriam for a lift to the hospital and Mohammed could have been born in the vehicle. I am not sure Miriam would have enjoyed that at all, so it all worked out right in the end and Yenken and Mohammed are well.

The girls are busy telling myself and Isata their life stories and some are so tragic. There is hope now for all these girls, though, they have a chance to develop their confidence, self esteem, values and education and they are part of a family that will share love and care for each other

Story time for 13 little girls is very different from reading a bedtime story to 1 or 2. I always seem to hype them up not relax them ready for sleeping. The other night I was bundled by them all with hugs and kisses, they nearly strangled me.

Washing at the weekend is a major feat, 33 pairs of knickers times 7 days a week is more than enough washing, let alone all the rest............more washing lines are definitely needed.

If you are interested in knowing more about EducAid's work with vulnerable young people, please go to http://www.educaid.org.uk/ and http://www.educaidsierrleone.blogspot.com/