Rhema Preparatory School

Introduction

Rhema Preparatory School is a mixed school located in the Eastern part
of Freetown Thunder in Sierra Leone. The community is set up on one of the most
beautiful mountains of Freetown; although its roads are dusty.

On the other side of the mountain is the Freetown Sea and the island-like airport. The community has a population of about 6-7 thousand people.

The Rhema Preparatory School has a
population of 298 pupils. The Rhema School is affiliated with the Rhema church in the Thunder Hill community.

Background

The eleven years ofcivil war cracked the educational system of Sierra Leone, increasing the already national problem of high illiteracy rate amongst women.

Shortly after the war ended, we felt the dire need to establish a Nursery and Primary School to serve children in the Thunder Hill community. The school was established in 2000 with 100 pupils and six teachers.

Who we need:

Qualified teacher, nursery specialists and general volunteers are all welcome.

Being able to speak French and teach French in the school will be an added advantage.

Enthusiastic, self-motivated, and patient people who have completed high school and love kids.

Anyone who is broadminded and ready to live a simple lifestyle in simple surroundings.

Couples as well as small groups are welcome, likewise either gender.

Both long and short-term volunteers are welcomed.

Teachers who will like to organize in-service training for local staff.

Volunteers with medical background to work in the school clinic.

Volunteers are encouraged to start their own initiatives and be involved in sustaining the project once they have finished volunteering. We welcome your participation and ideas!

Your job

You'll teach at the school, in coordination with the local teachers. While sometimes-local teachers teach with the volunteers, most often volunteers plan, teach, assess, and evaluate on their own with very little guidance.

You will be required to teach any of the following academy subjects from Nursery 1 to class six (grade 6) math, science, language arts reading and tutorial program, literature, history, geography, phonics, French, handwriting, computer skills.

You are encouraged to give your input and try (or share) new teaching techniques. The
children will take some time to get used to each volunteer’s unique style, but the results you will see are wonderful.

What you can do beforehand:

Check out the ideas in the Treasure Hunt and think of as many creative things that you can do.

You could try to find a school in your home country to "adopt" an African school such as Rhema and as well as class pen friends and letters being exchanged, they could also fundraise. For example we need books for our library, equipment and chemicals for our laboratory and funds for our ongoing projects.

If you don’t have much experience teaching and if you have some free time, it would benefit you to get some experience planning lessons/units, teaching, and working with kids. Also the coordinator can help you out if you have any doubts about your suitability or how to fit into the classroom.

Accomodation

Volunteers will share a bungalow with a bedroom for 2 people.

The house is located within walking distance from the school. Within the compound is another bungalow where the Project Manager lives with her husband and children. Your house mates are 3 girls aged between 12 and 14, 3 boys aged 2, 5 and 13; the sister of the project manager and the project
manager’s husband.

There is no electricity and running water presently in the house but there is community water taps, where clean water is usually fetched.

There is also a small petrol generator which may be used to generate electricity.

Accomodation and Food Costs:

Project Manager

Mariatu Kamara started this school in 2000 after having successfully run another preparatory school from 1989 until 2000.

Volunteer Coordinator

Spencer Sekyer, from Canada, is the volunteer coordinator for this project. Spencer volunteered at Rhema in August 2008.