A Charitable Organization Extending Help to Those in Need

For the last two years, Pastor Julie worked hard to build and furnish the school “Light of Life Academy” in Waterloo, Sierra Leone. Her sister assisted her financially. The school successfully opened in October 2018. Currently, we have 110 students from Preschool to 8th grade with 11 teachers including the principal by the name of Alpha S. Kamara, three members of the support staff, and two officials from the administrative staff.

Our goal is to add more classrooms up to 12th grade. We are also working on building a science lab, so that students can use more computers for their classes. While working on this project, we expect that this will continue to increase the quality of IT education as early as teaching it in the preschool level.

While we want to provide free education to students with at least one meal per day, it will cost us huge amounts of money. We will still need to finish paying off the debt that we incurred for its establishment. The school was built in a very poor community and it still lacks some of the basic amenities like electricity. Running a generator is way beyond our means. However, despite having insufficient funds, our goal is to provide electricity to help students improve their learning experience.

Pastor Julie built a second church in Waterloo, Sierra Leone as she continues to get actively involved in providing assistance not only to her congregation but to all of those in need. When her sister visited their home in December of 2016, she attended their church and was moved not only by how the congregation happily praised and worshipped God, but also on how they were willing to give wholeheartedly despite struggling on their own to feed themselves and their families.

The story that Jesus told of the poor widow was very evident to me. My sister’s generosity in providing assistance left me in awe. What has struck me the most was the fact that more than half of the children who attended the church did not have the opportunity to go to school. This is because their parents cannot afford to send them to school.

Before returning to the United States, my sister and I had a discussion regarding social issues affecting women and children. We have agreed that education serves as not only the key to understanding the Bible and becoming a good Christian, but also as a powerful tool for empowering the whole community. Building a school and providing children and their parents with quality education will impart the greatest impact to help us meet our goals. The organization is looking forward to initiating the other projects. We focus on educating children from preschool to 12th grade as well as providing education for adults.