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Fatu is my name.  As a young girl I had so much ambition to go to school. Unfortunately at the age of 14, I was forced into an early marriage by my parents. I had no experience of life.

Michael from Shetland designed and built a Noah’s Ark with animals for the children at Shieldra School. Naminatu an assistant classroom teacher at Shieldra School worked, studied and dreamed about becoming a fully trained teacher.

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When we are unable to travel to Sierra Leone and visit our friends and projects it is exciting to receive photographs showing progress and good news. Jane sent some very encouraging photos.

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Afri-Scot is a small shop sitting at the junction at Amputee Village, Sierra Leone, West Africa. Its purpose is to meet the needs of the community. Originally the shop was stocked with basic provisions but like most ARET projects in Sierra Leone it has grown.

It was inevitable that Covid 19 would eventually hit Sierra Leone. Lockdown, health and safety measures, social distancing, emergency food supplies, housing and income support that were available to us in UK were either not practical or simply not available in Sierra Leone.

We, Chris, Rachel and myself, planned this trip in November 2019 not knowing that a global pandemic would be declared by mid-March 2020.  Before we left Scotland, travelling via France, we were asked by our hosts about the virus. There was, at that time, nothing to report. The focus was not on Europe. Sierra Leone was the country most badly hit by the Ebola crisis in 2016 and had learned from the experience and knew how to respond. As we stepped from the plane the precautions and screening in place were visible. Temperatures taken, details registered, hand washing, hand washing, handwashing.

Shieldra, the school that started under a mango tree. Shieldra the project that grew wings and flew. Shieldra, the project that shouts, ‘I am not finished yet.’

Arriving we were delighted to recognise faces from our previous visit. Abdulai and his team certainly went out of their way to entertain us. After the introductory speech we were very touched to receive a plaque from the Adonkia Adult Community Education Trust thanking ARET for the support and the opportunity to develop not only in basic skills but also as a supportive community.

Rogbonko, the place in the forest. This was my third visit, Rachel’s second and Chris’s first. We knew it would be a long drive and we had planned to make a stop at Amputee Village in the Western Area Rural District to drop off two large bags of supplies. Amputee is a village some 20 miles out of Freetown and from previous experience I did not expect a comfortable drive

Not every story from Sierra Leone and ARET is happy. Sometimes it is hard not to sit down and put your head in your hands and cry. There are examples of human suffering and tragedy in both the Adult Education Class in Adonkia and also in Shieldra. Sometimes we can help; sometimes help is a little too late; and sometimes help is not at all.