Tumba Primary School Project

Tumba is a small costal village in the Port Loko District and Koya Chiefdom in Sierra Leone, which was founded in the 1820s by a farmer named Daddy Dove. After a few years, some Portuguese fishermen anchored and also settled in Tumba. The Portuguese built clay block houses for dwelling anda community school. Other families moved into the community so that their children could have access to the school. After the Portuguese left Tumba, the school became dilapidated and non-functional, and many of the inhabitants left the village and moved to others communities.

However, on April 9, 1926, five former habitants of Tumba, now in adulthood, pulled their resources together and built Elemerne Camadiam A. M. E Church for the community, which was also used as a school. After the death of the caretakers, the local inhabitants were unable to maintain the church and school. Consequently, the building was abandoned and became dilapidated. In recent years, the community built a school with mud brick and a thatched roof, which was not conducive for learning. When it rains, water pours through the roof, resulting in a muddy floor and school closures.

Ninety percent (90%) of the inhabitants of Tumba are illiterate. Knowing the value of an education, the parents want their children to be literate and to have better opportunities in life; they pulled their extremely limited resources together to make notable progress toward constructing a safe and sound school structure. However, they fell short of resources. Education for Hope stepped in and provided the financial support to complete the Tumba primary school, in collaboration with the community. The community co-invested their resources and took ownership of the project. The men helped clear the land, and provided unskilled labor; the women fetched water and cooked meals for the workers; and the children helped carry the bricks to the building site and cleaned the site.

In December 2012, Education for Hope handed over the Tumba primary school to the community after the completion of a three-classroom structure with four toilet stalls, and also provided 21 sets of tables and chairs. There were initially 80 children enrolled in the school, and after completion of the school there has been a 50% increase in enrollment.