UKA for Schools for the Blind in Sierra Leone
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Sam Campbell, M.B.E.


Sam Campbell contracted cataracts at the age of 9 and, as there was no access to advanced medical treatment in Sierra Leone in the 1940s, by the age of 11 he was completely blind.

However, this did not stop him from pursuing his ambition to be a teacher. In 1959 his dream came true when, after graduating from teacher training college in Ghana with the highest mark in the country, he returned home to Sierra Leone to take up a post as head of the Milton Margai School for the Blind in Freetown.

The work of the school focuses on developing students in 3 key areas. They learn to speak excellent English, they learn to read Braille and they learn to touch type.

Given this right kind of training, the students then have the opportunity to go on to achieve goals which would otherwise be beyond them. Several students have gone on to become teachers and one is currently studying to be a lawyer.

Music has always played a very important part in the Milton Margai School for the Blind. When in 1998 rebel soldiers stoel or destroyed the school's stock of musical instruments, the full musical attention of the school was turned to the choir.

Every Sunday the school choir sings in a different church and this in turn has led to the choir recently "going on the road" to sing in Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Sam Campbell's contribution to the success of the school and its recent international recognition cannot be underestimated. He has been the inspiration behind the love of music which has been so successfully developed at the school over the years.

 
 
Freetown
Bo
Makeni