The Byseee School and Community Project
Since 2020, Catholic Women Speak has been supporting the Byseee School and community project in Freetown, Sierra Leone, run by CWS members Yema Jusufu and Edita Fofana. We send money every month, which helps to provide the children with one school lunch a week, as well as contributing towards salaries, maintenance, supplies, and running costs. Find out more.
November 2024 Update
CWS member Yema Jusufu left religious life in the United States to continue the work her mother started in establishing the Byseee School and Community Project, which aims to support children through a holistic Catholic education, especially girls, so that they are able to contribute to the rebuilding of a country ravaged by civil war, violence and poverty.
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Since May 2020 we have sent a monthly contribution of £300 (raised to £400 for a few months), which is entirely raised by donations from our members and friends. This goes towards a weekly lunch for the children, who often arrive at school hungry, and it helps with the purchase of supplies and uniforms.
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However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to raise this amount, so with some reluctance, and after discussion with Yema, we have agreed to reduce it to £250 a month from 1st November, 2024 for three months, and to £200 from 1st February, 2025. This still provides significant support for the school and community, but makes it more viable for us to continue with our support.
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Thank you again to all our supporters, whose generosity has enabled us to express our solidarity through financial support for this project. ​
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A holistic Catholic education for girls
The school, which comes under the auspices of St Peter the Rock Parish in Calaba town in Freetown, offers a wide range of educational and care facilities to women and children, particularly orphans, girls from broken homes, and single mothers. While the school takes some boys as well as girls, its main focus is on educating girls to give them a sense of personal dignity and self-esteem after the traumas of war and amidst the ongoing challenges of poverty, violence and abuse.
Why Byseee?
When asked to explain the puzzling spelling of the name "Byseee", Yema wrote that their late mother was asked to start a girls' school by parents in the community. She had six children - three girls and three boys - and she used the initials of each of her children to name the school:
Bernadette - Yema - Sydney - Edward - Elis - Edita = Byseee
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A well for drinking water
In addition to helping with salaries, maintenance, and learning materials, our monthly contributions have funded the digging of a well that provides clean drinking water to the school and the community.
School lunches
The children often arrive at school without having eaten. We fund one free school lunch a week. If we could attract more donations, we would increase this to two lunches a week.
Our Partnership with Ursuline High School, Wimbledon
Thanks to generous funding from Ursuline High School in London, Wimbledon, we have been able to provide the school with computers so that girls can learn IT skills before going to high school.
