Moved the blog

I decided to restart this blog using a new, simpler blog name, as well as take advantage of newer Blogger publishing features.

Please go to  http://prosperitygirls.blogspot.com/ if you are interested in reading more about girls education and solar technology in Sierra Leone.

Sorry for the confusion.

Prosperity Girls High School Solar Powered Computer Lab Project

Imagine a world with no computers.  Can you?!  Imagine a place with no electricity.  Imagine a place where your whole town was destroyed in a brutal civil war and your education interrupted for  years.

Now imagine girls learning computer skills to help them get on with their lives and develop their community.

This blog is about girls’ education in the small town of Rotifunk, Sierra Leone, West Africa – about educating and giving girls computer skills needed to join the 21^st century economy and help rebuild their country.  Check in here to track progress on creating a solar powered computer lab for a girls school in Rotifunk from conception to start-up.

Prosperity Girls High School began its third academic year in September.  The school was started to give girls from Rotifunk and surrounding villages of Bumpe Chiefdom a safe and motivating place to get an education and develop into young women.  These girls are the less fortunate in the Chiefdom, including orphans, the physically challenged, teenage mothers and unaccompanied girls from villages who board in town to get an education.

Rotifunk is the seat of Bumpe Chiefdom, and was devastated in Sierra Leone’s eleven year civil war.  It’s about 50 miles southeast of the capital, Freetown, and sits on an old road connecting the seats of several chiefdoms in Moyamba District.  Rotifunk was hit hard by the war as rebel soldiers made their way to the capital, burning and looting as they went.  Every building in this town of then 10,000 was burned except for a church and a mosque, and its people forced to flee.  The result was total collapse of the socio-economic fabric of the community, and a once industrious town found itself in abject poverty.

But the war ended in 2002.  A democratic national government was installed with two peaceful elections, and nation building has been well on its way.  Rotifunk has been rebuilding its town and preparing for its future by educating its children – many of whom had their education interrupted by the war.  Primary schools and the original co-ed Walter Schutz Secondary School were first rebuilt, thanks to generous donors in Norway. 

These donors also constructed Prosperity Girls High School and launched the school in September 2009.  The school’s motto is “Progress for the girl child.”

Educating girls is now seen as one the best investments you can make with development dollars. Girls grow into women who invest their resources and energy in their children and their communities.  Educating the 50% of your available human capital is finally recognized as a core need for developing countries – or any country for that matter.  It’s critical for a town like Rotifunk, where the bulk of its population of 8000 is women and children between the ages of 13 and 21.

Rotifunk wants this generation of its girls to be not only literate, but computer literate.  This is one of the best means of empowering girls and giving them professional skills to work side-by-side with boys in the development of their country.

But in a town with no electricity, charging a computer is a dilemma.  Gasoline powered generators are expensive to buy and operate, and are polluting and noisy. Fortunately, practical small scale solar energy technology has made its way to Sierra Leone.  It quickly became clear this is the way to go for creating a computer lab in Rotifunk.

This seemed like an auspicious time to start this project and a blog.  Three women were just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work in promoting peace in developing countries.   A fiber optic cable for improved, higher speed internet connection has been laid underwater from France, connecting countries down the African coastline and reached Freetown late in October.   Solar powered systems are starting to pop up around the countryside.   Computers and solar power are now becoming reality for Sierra Leone.

Prosperity Girls High School started its proposal for a solar powered computer lab in September, under the able leadership of its Principal, Rosaline Kaimbay.  Follow progress of the project here step by step.  Your comments and advice are welcome - and of course, your donations.

Invest in a girl. 
Invest in Sierra Leone.