It is with regret that I note the passing last year of the Hon Cecil Oshu-Williams, husband of Joyce, a co-opted member of our Executive Committee. I was able to join her and her family at the huge funeral in Freetown during my visit in November. Sadly I also note the passing of Mrs Rosaline Gilbert, the matron at the school in October. On a happier note we welcome the arrival last week of a baby girl, Leila, to our committee member, Bernard Ginns and his wife Reem and we send them our congratulations and best wishes.

The untimely death of the school’s matron “Auntie Rose”, as she was known, has added an extra burden to what has been a difficult year in the running of the school and we still await the appointment of a successor by the School’s Committee of Management. There are 61 pupils residing at the school, 33 boys and 28 girls. These comprise 35 primary school pupils and 26 secondary and tertiary (17 secondary, 8 tertiary and 1 job training). The new government under President Koroma has found it just as difficult as its predecessor in meeting its obligations to the school by way of paying the grant on time. The final quarter’s subvention for 2008 came through just a couple of weeks ago and only 14 million leones was received instead of the 20 million leones requested. Also I regret to note that the problems caused by some of the former pupils of the school, to which I referred in my report last year, have still to be resolved. This has led to the overall reduction of numbers residing at the school from last year as some of the trouble makers have either left of their own volition or have been expelled.

The Ministry of Education conducted a full and exhaustive inquiry into the allegations made but notwithstanding the Minister’s promise to me that the matter would be settled by the end of the year, we still await the findings of the report. I raised the matter again with President Koroma, to whom the 103 page report has been submitted. (It is perhaps indicative of the problems of Sierra Leone that the President is asked to deal with the relatively minor problems of a small school in the capital when he has so many other things to do in running the country!) The failure to release the report means that we still await the substantive appointment of Albert Sandy as the headmaster and a cloud continues to hang over the school which is having an effect on the morale of the staff and pupils. We call upon the Government to resolve this matter as soon as possible.

Notwithstanding these problems, our Association has had another busy year fundraising and disbursing funds to the school. Barbara Davidson celebrated her 17th year in Sierra Leone and we continued to fund her through the dedicated funding from Toyota Gibraltar, for which we express our thanks. We also thank them for maintaining our web-site – www.miltonmargaischool.org. Our financial support for Barbara is to be increased (there has been no increase since we started her funding 5 years ago) thanks to an additional dedicated subvention from the George Cook Foundation, another active supporter of the UKA.

The past year has seen a very fruitful partnership develop with the UK charity, Vision Charity, and we welcome its Director, Larry Davis, to our meeting. They funded the construction of two staff quarters and the refurbishment of the vocational centre on the school campus. Earlier this year they funded the building of part of the perimeter wall, replacing the front windows, improving the drainage and repainting the front of the school. Other projects are in the pipeline.

Toyota Gibraltar and Vision Charity have been our two major benefactors but I also wish to acknowledge the support from a number of other sources particularly St Helen’s Church Abingdon, Trinity Church Sutton, the Howes-Ward family in Norfolk, the Puddicombe family in Wales and the Wells Cathedral School. The Puddicombe family joined me on my visit last November. They contributed the majority of the funding in constructing a kiosk as part of a joint venture with the School for the Deaf in promoting the vocational skills training at both schools. A group from the Wells Cathedral school, led by Roland Ladley a former IMATT officer, visited the school last year and have now donated a new and much needed piano for the school and there are plans for a further group from the Wells school to visit Freetown in October, for which they are seeking some assistance from us. We have recently approved a grant to pay the air fares for up to four Milton Margai children and one accompanying adult to visit the UK in July to take part in a music/drama festival in Cardiff being organised by UCAN, the organisation for the visually impaired run by our Committee members Bernie and Jane Latham. The group will also participate in an RNIB workshop.

The programme with the Commonwealth Countries’ League Education Fund (CCLEF), which sponsors the secondary education of girls in Commonwealth countries and which started sponsoring 6 of our girls in 2007, continued last year but it ran into difficulties. 3 of the girls dropped out of school – 2 of them having become pregnant. Nevertheless sponsorship continues for 3 of the girls – Kadie Sesay, Ramatu Turay and Esther Sillah.

As a result of approaches to the Lebanese Community in Freetown, one of the local firms, Mercury International, funded the refurbishment of the school stage which has involved putting on a roof and tiling the floor. After years of lack of use of the stage which had been originally built by Standard Chartered bank, the school now boasts a splendid facility which can be put to a number of useful purposes. The formal opening took place last month during my visit and was performed by Vice President Sumana. (Initially the President had agreed to perform the opening but he was out of the country). The Vice President also cut the ribbon on our SEE HERE kiosk. This, together with all the Vision Charity projects, had been built by our very able local contractor Emmanuel Kargbo of Nebela Construction Services.

During my visit last month, in which I was accompanied by my godson Jack Latham, I visited the Blind Schools in Bo and Makeni. Much as the needs of the Milton Margai school are, the needs of the schools for the blind up country in Bo, Makeni and Kabala are even greater and I would urge our Association to consider expanding its remit to cover assistance to these schools as well. You will be aware that following both choir tours in 2003 and 2007, we donated funds to the Bo School through its headmaster, Mohammed Conteh, and I was pleased on this last visit to hand over a vehicle to the Bo school which had been donated to us by the United Nations Ambassador, Michael Schulenburg. It is hoped that the UN will also provide a vehicle to the school in Makeni. I have also submitted applications to the CCLEF for 2 of the girls at the Bo School.

Together with others, our Association is striving to give these children a good education. But it does not end there. We need to help ensure that these children, and all children with any form of disability, are able to make a full and productive contribution towards the development of Sierra Leone. In this regard it is vital we see proper legislation to assist this. I am pleased therefore to report that we have continued to lobby and assist with the current proposals to enact much needed legislation for Persons with Disabilities through a Private Members Bill, spearheaded by the Honourable Julius Cuffie, MP. I helped raise funds through the UN to pursue this.

Our Association has now been running for five years. In that time we have disbursed a total of £111,000. These funds have been used to support Barbara, to pay for the two choir tours and to undertake a number of building projects, but a continuing contribution has been made to the basic running of the school – paying for food, fuel, wages for the auxiliary staff, etc – the costs which are supposed to be met by the government. In the light of the global economic crisis and the credit crunch here in the UK, we must anticipate that our ability to continue to meet these costs may be affected. We cannot continue to subsidise the Sierra Leone government if it fails in its obligations. I have discussed this with the President and referred to the problems in my public address at the opening of the stage. Either government should pay an increased grant and on time or ways must be found to reduce the running costs by reducing numbers at the school or charging fees. If not the school may have to close.

I will close by thanking all our benefactors and supporters and I pay tribute to our various committees. We continue to work closely with the School’s Committee of Management under its able chairman Rev Henry Samuels. We would not be able to be as effective or monitor our assistance without the efforts of our own Liaison Committee in Freetown under its chairman, Alhaji Jawad. I especially thank the UKA Executive Committee. We will be shortly electing or re-electing its members. Caroline Irby is standing down and Ron Fennell is relinquishing the post of treasurer as he has now taken on the chairmanship of the UK/Tanzania Society but he is happy to continue to serve on the Committee. Richard Stowell has agreed to take on the duties of treasurer and Joanna Richards has agreed to come onto the Committee in place of Caroline. We would not have been able to achieve all that we have without all their efforts and I extend my sincere thanks to them. Thank you.

Peter Penfold
April 2009