Last night we had a superb fundraising event! Friends in Inkberrow hosted a beef supper for 61 guests and £750 was raised for Waterloo! Our thanks to them and all those who came along.

Laurie has just spent three enjoyable but hectic weeks in Waterloo where our three schools are doing well, thanks to the dedication of the teachers and the help of all our supporters in the UK. The high point was a visit to the Peninsula Secondary School by eight students, three teachers and Paul Leather an independent TV film director for 10 days. Everyone had a great time and all felt their eyes were opened to the reality of life in Sierra Leone. The visit is part of the developing partnership between our secondary school and the Great Barr School in Birmingham. Having seen the need Great Barr is going all out to raise funds to supply, set up and maintain a computer lab for both our teachers and children. You may think this a bit over the top but Sierra Leone is changing rapidly and our children face the challenge of being ready to cope with a future that will include as much IT and technology as here in the UK. Moreover the use of these computers will enable them and their teachers to learn from world wide sources at present unavailable to them. This will be a valuable addition to the 5,000 book library which is a great success already.

Last night Lichfield Cathedral was filled with wonderful African music. Zimbe! written by
Alexander L'Estrange was brought to life by over 200 singers from Great Barr, Lichfield and
St Chads. Photographs of Waterloo in Sierra Leone were projected onto large screens during the concert and the congregation of 500 joined in with hand clapping and some singing of the chorus. The concert was to support Great Barr's "True Colours" project whereby they are raising funds to set up computers at Peninsula Secondary School, with the necessary generators and satellite dishes.

We have had some wonderful donations - including one for £500 recently - these all make it possible to continue to help the schools to progress. Two car boot sales last weekend (18 April) raised another £500. Thank you Laura!

There are 17 students at Peninsula Secondary School receiving £25 a year from sponsors in the UK who make this possible - either as a one off £125 payment or on a monthly direct debit basis. The scholarships for 2009 will be allocated in September and we have to date four new scholarships - just one more needed and we will have the annual five that we need to run the scheme! Please let us know if you would like to sponsor a student.

On 23rd January Jacqui Smith MP opened the exhibition - "True Colours" at the Three Whitewalls Gallery in the Mail Box, Birmingham. The walls were covered with stunning photographs taken last November when Dan, Neal and Alex - teachers from Great Barr - visited the Waterloo Schools in Sierra Leone. They gave a presentation explaining their plan to drive two 4x4s down to Waterloo from Birmingham to deliver 150 donated computers - Ewan McGregor style! We wish them good success with this exciting project which will make such a difference to the students at Waterloo.

Laurie, Becki, and three teachers from Great Barr School in Birmingham have just returned to the UK from a visit to Waterloo. Great things are happening there! The new nursery school building is in use, the libraries at both schools are up and running, the science lab/vocational training unit is up to first floor level. We are now working closely with Great Barr School which is twinned with the Secondary School through Global Gateway and they plan to fundraise and finance the installation of computers, satellite dish and generator at the secondary school in 2009. Have a look at this YouTube video and you will see their commitment!

Excellent news from the secondary school today! Living Water have visited the school and repaired the broken pump, cleaned the well and 1,800 secondary students now have clean water. Thank you so much Living Water!

We have had some wonderful donations of used school furniture and books which are in store. We need to raise £5,000 to pay for a container to ship these items to Waterloo. Can anyone help us to raise this amount - please phone Sue on 01386 793222 or email ssn_read@yahoo.co.uk. Thank you!

Kitchen Tables Charities Trust - started by John Humphries (of Radio 3) has made us a wonderful donation of £5,500 so that we can install a rainwater collection system to provide the children of Waterloo Schools with clean water. Laurie is going to the schools in early October and will be able to commence the installation of the equipment so that for the very first time the children at the primary school will have toilets and clean water.