Current Projects
We
have two main current projects.
Project 1
Mobile library for rural primary schools in Sierra Leone and possibly going to Liberia.The long-term development objective of this programme is to create a generation of African Children who are mentally prepared to go through education equipped with essential skill of “reading” at an early age.
Parents and Primary school teachers will be sensitised about the need to read to young children and to encourage them to read during leisure.
The immediate objective is to acquire reading, text, exercise & supplemenary
books and computers.
To acquire and set up a Mobile library.
To recruit volunteers
Concept Statement/Background:
Reading is a vital tool in education. Yet millions of African children complete their primary school education without reading or owning a book. Many parents are too poor to afford books and governments are failing in their duties to provide educational resources including (library facilities for schools. In a recent UNICEF report it is claimed that over 300 million children in the developing world are deprived of information and therefore education in the wider sense - the majority of those children live in Sub-sahara Africa).A survey carried out in Sierra Leone before the civil war that lasted 10 years, found that 94% of primary schools in the country lack a functioning library.
It is an established fact that children who are introduced to books early in their lives have higher chances of developing a healthy reading habit and are better equipped to go through education.
With statisitics like those above what hope has the African child?
The HCP mobile library will be a resource centre on wheels, it would not
be restricted to books, it will be equipped with on line computers, teaching
and learning materials any material or equipment that will enable a school
to function will be available.
There will always be two volunteers from the UK to help promote reading,
by sensitising primary school teachers and pupils of the importance of reading
at primary school level. Schools will be encouraged to form book clubs and
reading groups.
On returning to the UK the volunteers will be encouraged to develop links between schools in the UK and Sierra Leone (particularly with library staff)
If you would like to volunteer your time in Sierra Leone please contact
us.
We
are also currently responding to a request from a rural school in Zimbabwe,
to provide them with computers to enable their students to be eligible for
public exams. Presently the school has only three computers for the 155
students undertaking computer studies, which makes a ratio of 50 students
to 1 computer (the National requirement is 3 to 1). At the same time the
remaining 550 students at the school who are not undertaking computer studies
need to be exposed to IT knowledge through general computer literacy.