Books for Schools in Sierra Leone

Please take a few minutes to watch the video above, because if that doesn't convince you of the value of this project, then nothing will.

I'm looking for just a few pounds to help to educate some of the poorest children in the world.

A few years ago I was privileged to meet Miriam Mason-Sesay, who runs EducAid Sierra Leone – a UK charity which provides the only free secondary education in a country where adult illiteracy runs at over 50%. Having recently come through a harrowing civil war (you’ve read about child soldiers? Miriam has helped some of them get an education and turn their lives around - and you can't put a price on help like that), the country is now dealing with the aftermath of the Ebola epidemic, during which all schools were forced to close. Sierra Leone is among the poorest nations in the world and its citizens are desperately in need of education if things are going to change.

If, like me, you have always taken your western education for granted, please stop to help those who have never known the luxury of that complacency.

Those nice people at Usborne Books have - not for the first time - offered a very generous discount on 100 childrens’ encyclopaedias for Miriam’s schools, and I want to help to get them to her. I am looking to raise GBP1,000 to cover books and shipping. Please help with a donation, however small. Any extra money raised will go to EducAid directly as a donation (it costs about GBP16.50 a month to keep one child in an EducAid school, so even what you and I would spend on a couple of coffees and a croissant really does go a long way).

You can read more about EducAid Sierra Leone here .

Thank you for helping me to help EducAid.