The Augustinian Recollect missionaries of Sierra Leone have been attending since 2019 a small boarding school that allows 12 young people without resources to receive education and develop humanly.
It has been several months since Alice Turay and Adamsay Kargbo left their homes and said goodbye to their families to face a unique opportunity. Otherwise, they would not be able to study or have a chance to build a decent future. They now live in a boarding school with ten other girls like them in Kamalo, Sierra Leone, where they receive education and training. Most of them are in secondary school; only some are finishing the last years of primary school.
In 2019, the Augustinian Recollect missionaries of Sierra Leone decided to dedicate a space, within the St. Paul’s School Campus of Kamalo, to welcome girls from difficult families and without the possibility of going to school. It is St. Paul’s Boarding School, financially supported by the ARCORES International Solidarity Network, which aims to open a door to equal opportunities in a social context that does not understand that women can have access to education. They do not only go to school: the boarding school aims at an integral development of the person, preparing them for the future.
Josephine Memunatukamara’s case is similar to that of the other girls living in the boarding school. Her parents do not have the resources to pay her school fees. Moreover, if her family could afford to pay for her education, traveling to school would be a huge risk for her: she could be raped or kidnapped along the way. Therefore, living in this boarding school is the safest option for the girls.
Marion Saffinatu and Julliana Fatumata took the N.P.S.E. (National Primary School Examination) at the end of the last school year, in order to be able to move from primary school to secondary school. They were ranked first and second best respectively in the girls’ category of the entire St. Paul campus (55 girls). Marion was also the second highest out of the 100 boys and girls on campus who took the test. It’s an example that hard work pays off.
Throughout, families are a key part of the program. At the beginning, the parents of the candidates come to the school and learn about the proposal. The conditions of access to the program do not include religion, as Sierra Leone is a Muslim-majority country. The selection criterion is the income of their families, with priority given to orphan girls. This is the case of Marian Dennis Kamara. Despite being a very diligent student, she did not pass the university entrance exam. She is now at her foster family’s home, preparing herself again to pass it with the support of the Augustinian Recollect missionaries.
“St. Paul’s Boarding School has a positive impact on the Kamalo community,” explains Fr. Jess Marco Sanchez, head of the boarding school. “We have seen concrete benefits on the girls and their families,” he says. The objective of the Augustinian Recollects is to continue this project that allows the transmission of the Augustinian Recollect charism, favoring the development of society.