Sierra Leone: Small Waldorf School in former civil war country.

Shannoh Kandoh started his initiative under most difficult conditions. In 1995 during the civil war in Freetown he began to teach poor children from refugee families. As the conflict reached the capital and the public schools were closed he had up to 80 children in his evening school. Shortly afterwards he had to stop his work. Among the victims of the war were 17 children from his school.

As the country began to return gradually to peace in 2000 Shannoh founded a small proper school starting with 53 children. He managed to find some teachers and he himself left for England to undertake a Waldorf teacher training which he concluded in the summer of 2004. At then Shannoh was 33 years old...

Gradually the numbers of children in the school rose to over 100, when the school had to move. For a short time there were only 40 children remaining - most of them refugees from there home regions and all traumatised by the war.
The school received no state support and Shannoh asked the parents to contribute about 50 cents a month but even this was difficult for most of them. In 2005/6 the state demanded that the teachers be qualified and Shannoh was able to find a few better qualified teachers but that only increased the costs.

With the help of many WOW-Day donations we could support the running costs since 2005 beginning with 500 Euros and now with more than 900 Euro per month. Now the school has more than 200 pupils in six classes.

More Infos:
Homepage
July 2008: Two short films >> 7min and 5min.
July 2007: Shannoh Kandoh sent us a >> lively report about the poverty in his country and its consequences for the daily life and the school community.
May 2006: Nana Goebel and Barbara Schiller visited the initiative. >> Report from Sierra Leone.

A single destiny

Alpha is 15 years old. He is an orphan. When he was 7 rioting rebels killed his family and forced him to become a child soldier. Only after three years in captivity was he freed through the intervention of a humanitarian organisation, along with 3000 other children. We wonder what he feels. He couldn’t locate any members of his family and so Alpha became a street child like so many others. Then he met Shannoh Kandoh’s Organisation "Action for child Protection". Now he lives with a foster family in Goderich. In November 2004 he joined Class 2 of Shannoh’s small Waldorf School. Alpha said of his future, "I want to become a doctor so I can help the street children. " Then he said that he is so happy to be in the Waldorf School which gives him the feeling of being respected and loved.

More details

1991: The civil war began

1995: Shannoh Kannoh begins to teach refugee children (29 primary school age children in Calabu, Freetown)

1997: The government is overthrown by the military, the schools are closed; many new children and voluntary teachers join Shannoh’s evening school.

1998: Following the intervention of West African states the conflict became worse. Shannoh had to temporarily stop his project.

1999: The rebels enter the capital, kill thousands of people and burn most of the houses down.

2000: As the situation becomes more stable, Shannoh and his co-workers found a small Waldorf School beginning with 53 children.

2001: Due to the poor condition of the garages which served as a school building the project requests the use of another building in a neighbouring community. In the beginning of October the children move into the new building. Shannoh himself starts a Waldorf Teacher Training in England with support of the Friends of Waldorf Education.

2002: The school now has four classes with 70 children from 4 to 14 years old. In September Shannoh completes his first year of training and returns home to see his daughter who had been born during the winter for the first time.

2003: The financial situation remains serious. Most of the other founding members have moved away and without proper salaries it is hard to motivate the right people. Shannoh travels to London to attend a seminar and decides to complete the second year of the training. The school now has 100 children in 4 classes.

2004: In July Shannoh returns once more. His colleagues have worked hard and many poor families want to send their children to the Waldorf School. By the autumn there are 150 children and six classes. Then the school is forced to leave the poor quality building that has housed it and took the risk of moving with 40 children in classes 1 to 3 to make a new start in Goderich at the west end of Freetown.

2005: An application for state recognition was followed by two successful inspections by officials of the education ministry. The only criticism was that the teachers lacked appropriate qualifications and Shannoh was forced to appoint some new teachers. By September a new class1 was started and the school once more had 60 children in four classes. Before the holidays there was a very successful "peace meeting" between the parents, many of whom were still alienated from each other because of the civil war.

2006: Shannoh’s closed colleague Abu Mansaray is able to go to England for a one-year-training. The initiative finds a plot of land where they can stay long-term and erect a proper school building.

Future plans: In september the school building should be completed. For a long-term financial perspective the initiative will then prepare a sponsorship program.

Contact

Goderich Waldorf School
Off Laurence Street
Goderich Village
Freetown
SIERRA LEONE

Email: waldorfsl(at)yahoo.com