The
Classroom Survey --Getting to Know You!
A. Name of teacher: Mendy Kanu
B. Grade level: 4-6
C. Class favorites (List your class top 5 favorites in each category):
1. Music groups: Jungle leaders, Young positive music, Dry yai crew,
Rapture Kids and sensational youth.
2. Authors: William Shakespeare, Chinua Achebe, V.B Coker etc
3. TV programs: wan pot, children’s programmed, we yus, Salone start
parade and cotton films.
4. Foods: cassava, foo foo, beans, rice and Gari
5. School subjects: mathematics, English, social studies, science,
literature etc
6. Sports: six-cups, tennis, football, Norty and 24 rounds.
7. Video or computer games: None
8. Favorite Websites: iEARN website and our school webpage.
PART II. INTRODUCING THE SCHOOL
A. School information
1. Name and address of class and school: 7c Cementary Road Congo town,
Freetown Sierra Leone.
2. Number of students in class and school: 48 students this year
4. School emblem, colors or mascot: our school is color inside with
blue, white up the ceiling and green outside. That is our country flag
color. Green, White and Blue.
5. Type and number of computers: None (Break down)
6. School history:
The Empowering Children School was founded on April 5, 2009 by Ibrahim
A Kamara. It is the school’s mission is to minimize the high level of
illiteracy and to offer a free education to children in poverty who
cannot afford to further their education. The school started with
just two 2 students who previously had dropped out of school and today
there are 42 students attending and it is our hope it will continue
growing.
Education is valued in Sierra Leone; but the children face many
overwhelming obstacles to a good education. In Sierra Leone, the
majority of children who are attending government schools are coming
to school hungry and are learning with very few materials provided
for them.
Although our school presently faces many challenges, we have been able
to play a vital role in the improvement of children lives. Our
children embrace this new digital age . We would like to share our
world and learn about the world outside Congo Town, Sierra Leone. It
is our hope to interact, collaborate, and publish with our peers
around the world using a variety of media. We believe this will help
all of us develop cultural awareness and global awareness.
At the Empowering Children School, almost all the children are
homeless and they are all fighting very hard for their survival. Most
engage in petty trading [small scale business] and others are doing
other odd jobs to make their living. After students put in many hours
working, they then attend school.
Ibrahim started this school "because the conditions here for our
children are desperate and I felt I needed to do something. I am not
happy with the way many of these children are living their lives or
earning their living, but how can I stop them when I am not strong
enough to provide for them? I encourage them to become educated. It
is the gift I can offer them.”
Here is a link to learn more
http://web.me.com/margaret_hoogland/Site/About_One_Brick_at_a_Time.html
PART III. INTRODUCING THE COMMUNITY
A. Your community
1. Name of your community: Congo Town Community
2. If not a city, name and size of nearest city: it is inside the
capital city of Sierra Leone that is Freetown.
3. Location of your community: it is located in the west end of Freetown.
B. Special characteristics
1. List 3 reasons why people come to visit your area.
The Congo town community is located in the western Area of Freetown.
This community is divided in to different segments:
Upper Congo town: The people in the upper area of Congo town engage
in petty trading, fishing, carpentry, and other local jobs to earn
their living. The upper Congo town is where we have the government
Primary school, the community hospital, community water pumps and
markets. For this reason, the upper Congo town is more considered the
prestigious area in the whole Congo town community
Down Congo Town: In the west north part of down Congo town, is where
we can find the Peace Bridge. East of Down Congo Town is where we can
find the Congo Town Bridge. The Peace Bridge is where the rebels
struck during the war and where they finally lost the battle with the
help of the CDU [civil defense unit], a force that was formed by young
people in the community and later supported by The United Nations.
The Down Congo Town Bridge was built by a group of UN forces after the
war.
The Down Congo Town was founded by displaced refugees after the war.
Here the river runs into the Atlantic Ocean and it is here that the
refugees built huts and shelters. this area is prone to flooding
which can be an additional hardship on the people in this area.
The people in this community engage in wood selling, sand mining,
petty trading, fishing, charcoal selling and river banking.
This part of Congo Town is where our school is located.
C. Industries
Carpentry, fishing, welder, etc