After eight months of closed doors in Sierra Leone, schools began to reopen across the country in mid-April. To ensure that children were able to return to clean and safe classrooms, thousands of volunteers embarked on a gargantuesqueschool cleaning exercise, reading about 8,000 schools across the country. Their reward? Much needed food. All thanks to WFP's Food for Work proramme.
The Food For Work programme participants - about 20 volunteers per school - have just started getting their food rations for their school cleaning work. An important exercise since some of the schools were used as centres for Ebola patients. People from all walks of life - traders, teachers, parents - stepped up to make sure the schools were cleaned, decontaminated and ready for the opening. In exchange, they received a one-month supply of rice and oil, and had the satisfaction of helping to rebuild their communities.
Josephine Kaikai
“I am a small-scale merchant, with three children in school. As we approach the lean season, the food from WFP could not have come at a better time for us. Now I can feed my family, even as a single parent."
Steven Boima
“As a teacher, I volunteered to clean the schools not only to get the kids safely back to school, but also to return to my job - which I have missed for the past eight months! Food from WFP gives me a happy start in the school year."
Saffie Kaba
"Cleaning the schools was definitely not an easy job, but my children are back to school and we have our food - what else could I ask for?"
Mabel Macauley
“The food incentive from WFP is the first of its kind for me. It’s a good reward after working so hard to clean the schools for the children - and now they will be able to benefit from education too.”
Across the Western Area of Sierra Leone, which includes Freetown, about 5,000 volunteers have already received their ration for helping to prepare the schools.
WFP is preparing to resume its school feeding programme, aiming to reach about 300,000 children with a daily meal.