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S L V P ’ S T H I R D P R O J E C T I N G O F O R O N T R A C K F O R C O M P L E T I O N

We are excited to announce our next project, the con-struction of teacher’s quar-ters in the remote northeast-ern village of Gbendembu (pronounced Bendembu). This is SLVP’s 4th project, and least expensive to date, with approximately 25% of the total budget coming from the community. Gben-dembu is one of the largest villages we’ve worked with, its population exceeds 5,000 people and the secondary (high) school for which we are constructing the

teacher’s quarters has more than 850 students. The gross inequality here lies in the fact that in this village of 5,000 and school of 850, there are only 12 qualified teachers. Before the Rebel War, when Gbendembu was even smaller, they had quarters for 12 teachers which allowed them to attract qualified teachers to their remote vil-lage. But all of these and nearly ½ of all the houses in the village were destroyed by the Rebels, leaving no place for qualified teachers from

outside the village to live. The community of Gben-dembu has taken great ini-tiative in rebuilding its school and community, even reconstructing four teacher’s quarters, but this remains insufficient for its sizeable student population. We are very excited to help them build more teacher housing and in effect, bring more qualified teachers to provide the students of Gbendembu with a proper high school education.

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S L V P N E W S

U S E O F G O O D S E A R C H T O R A I S E M O N E Y F O R

S L V P .

Everyone can help SLVP meet its

goals by using www.Goodsearch.com

to search on the internet and when

purchasing products online. Here's

how: Go to the website

(www.Goodsearch.com) and under

"Who do you goodsearch for?" type

Sierra Leone Village Partner-

ships. Then, every search you do

generates .01 for SLVP. Addition-

ally, you can assist SLVP by buying

products online. Go to the good-

search.com webpage, go to

"Goodshop," and click on "shop

now." A variety of corporations

donate a portion of your purchase to

SLVP, usually 1-3%, but up to

37%. Thank you for helping SLVP,

and spread the word!

______________________________

If you wish to donate to

SLVP please visit our web

site: www.slvp.org

More Projects Ahead

SLVP has a long list of potential pro-

jects. We are looking forward to

continuing to help rebuild Sierra

Leone in 2011. We will keep you

informed as we finish Gofor School

and begin on Gbendembu teachers

quarters.

With the rainy season finally over the Eastern Region village of Gofor has been able to begin the final phase of construction of its new school. Sheku Kamara, the Project Manager, reports that the village workmen have completed plastering the building and hanging the classroom doors and are about to apply the first coat of paint. The community also plans to dig a drainage ditch around the building's foundation to maintain it's structural integrity when the rainy season begins again in April. Sheku reports that the hope is to open the school after the school holidays in De-cember. The New Year will bring new hope and a new school for the children of Gofor. The Go-for School Project is the third completed project for the SLVP.

O U R N E X T P R O J E C T I S I N T H E V I L L A G E O F G B E N D E M B U

99% of the donations go

directly to our projects.

If you wish to donate

please visit our web

site at www.slvp.org.

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A T H A N K Y O U F R O M F A D U G U F O R T H E I R N E W S C H O O L !

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S L V P N E W S

What Is Our

Mission?

To create and implement grassroots

development projects in communities

within Sierra Leone. Projects may include

but not be limited to the refurbishment or

building of schools, health clinics and

potable water systems. Resources for

projects may include financial aid, educa-

tional and construction materials, medical

equipment and other related items for

distribution that have been identified by

the Board of Directors or its designated

representative.

Projects shall be community based, and

shall take place with the full cooperation

of community leaders and representa-

tives. All projects shall take place in the

form of a partnership between SLVP and

the Sierra Leonean community receiving

aid and assistance.

To give you an idea of how much your donation helps, we created this estimation based on our experience across several projects. Please keep in mind that due to the constantly fluc-tuating cost of building materi-als, exchange rates and rising Sierra Leonean inflation rate, these are only approximations and are subject to change.

W H A T W I L L Y O U R D O N A T I O N P A Y F O R ?

The Completed Fadugu School

Above the destroyed teachers

quarters in Gbendembu.

Through SLVP's assistance the Fadugu community applied for and received a grant for classroom furniture for its new school building. Recently the US Am-bassador to Sierra Leone visited Fadugu to commend the community in its suc-cessful completion of this self help grant.