Our US-Africa Sister Schools program got derailed by the pandemic, but is back up and running! We are working hard to build connections between the kids and teachers at the 16 Sierra Leone schools in our “Hands-on Reading!” (HOR) program. Now that we’ve opened We Yone Learning Centre the program has a headquarters plus ongoing support from Dauda Kamara, our Head Librarian.
Program elements include sharing community histories, exchanging personal stories, and students at sister schools reading the same books and then them discussing together. We envision communication by email, WhatsApp, and Zoom calls. With support from the American schools, their sister schools are improving their libraries and literacy programming. Also, we are expanding USACF’s Bridge Project and bringing digital libraries, greatly expanding the available educational resources and providing hundreds of African students with their first opportunities to access a broad range of educational technology. The voice of the students, on both sides of the Atlantic, is the driving force behind this program which, in the coming year, is set to reach many more kids and teachers.
