Beacon of Hope During Global Crisis - We Yone Child Foundation Opens New School for Underserved Children

Sierra Leone leader returns to village he was forcefully recruited from as a Civil War child to open a new school

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May 13, 2021, 14:28 ET

KAMABONKO VILLAGE, KAMAKWIE KARENE DISTRICT, Sierra Leone, May 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- We Yone Child Foundation (WYCF), a nonprofit with unique beginnings, today announces the official opening ceremony of its new school in partnership with Wegdam Foundation. The recently constructed six-classroom building provides a robust educational and welfare curriculum to an underserved community in rural Sierra Leone.

The school's unveiling ushers in a period of hope for Sierra Leone's future generation of leaders, eagerly awaiting it's opening mid-COVID pandemic.

The beautiful and new school, constructed in Kamabonko Village, Sierra Leone. WYCF exclusively partners with local builders to promote local economic growth and sustainability. Inside, young students excitedly await the opening.

Young girls and new students unite at WYCF Kamabonko School's Grand Opening. They clutch backpacks and school supplies gifted via WYCF.

Development is led by WYCF founder and CEO Santigie Bayo Dumbuya, a catalyst in igniting change in his country. Kamabonko School represents a milestone achievement as the fourth WYCF established school. Mr. Dumbuya states, "For the future belongs to those who prepare for it today, education is the gateway to the future. This is why we are building sustainable educational institutions for the poorest communities in Sierra Leone - to overcome social and environmental problems that deepen and perpetuate the cycle of poverty."

Why this location:

One of the most impoverished regions of Sierra Leone, local children walk four to eight miles daily to school.
The area lacks effective roads, water, sanitation, educational infrastructure and requires significant repair from Civil War damages.
Children face overwhelming barriers to access education: forced into low-paying labor, and vulnerable to sexual molestation.

"WYCF grants children and their families unprecedented opportunity," US Ambassador Emily Addicott explains. "Santigie's vision is profoundly innovative - he established WYCF to not only provide exceptional education, but to alleviate poverty, child trafficking, and gender inequality with a comprehensive strategy. WYCF is a shining example of conscious upliftment that resonates worldwide."

WYCF's programming includes:

Sport for Social Change; Women and Girls Empowerment Vocational Skill Center; Family Business Scheme (420 families representing 1,260 dependants supported with micro-enterprise grants). WYCF is also creating a bicycle library to reduce student's travelling time.

History: In 1996, twelve-year-old Santigie was one of several boys taken from Kamabonko Village to soldier for Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during the Sierra Leone Civil War. Fighting near the Guinean border, by age fourteen Santigie sustained multiple bullet and shrapnel wounds. He went to Freetown to recover from the war, complete his education and founded WYCF in 2009. Appalling conditions demanded action and no other organization was producing results. Since then, We Yone Child Foundation has improved hundreds of children's lives.

'We Yone' means 'our own' in the local Krio dialect. Perfect description for the way WYCF feels about the children it works for every day.

For more information and to support WYCF, visit weyonechildfoundation.org. Unite with us on Facebook: @WYCFSL, Twitter, Youtube: @WeYoneChild.

501(c)(3) tax-deductible donations can be made to WYCF online: http://www.weyonechildfoundation.org/donate-2/.

Contact: Emily Addicott
WYCF US Ambassador
(650)716-8608
[email protected]

SOURCE We Yone Child Foundation