Help Mohamed build a home for his retirement

Hello and thank you for visiting our page!

Who are we?

We are Jo Corlett and Mohamed Conteh, longstanding collaborators and friends, based in London, UK and Bo, Sierra Leone respectively.

How did we meet?

We first made each other's acquaintance in 2007 when Jo volunteered for a week to assist the UK fundraising tour of the choir of the Milton Margai School for the Blind, Freetown. Mohamed was headteacher at the Paul School for the Blind in Bo which is a few hours' drive from Freetown.

On the tour, Mohamed - who is blind and a talented musician - accompanied the choir mostly on keyboard or percussion. He was also a supervising adult on the 3 week trip around the UK with 60 children.

From Wales to Hull to Westminster to Kent, the choir performed, amazing adventures were had and lifelong friendships were forged. It was one of the most memorable weeks of both of our lives.

Our last fundraiser together

A year or so after the choir trip, Jo travelled to Sierra Leone and visited Mohamed at the Paul School for the Blind. The extremely basic facilities at the school - including kitchen and latrine - were an eye opener, and prompted Jo to arrange a fundraising event at the Royal Geographical Society in London. Jo's father - General David Richards - was reunited on stage with BBC journalists Fergal Keane and Allan Little. All 3 had been involved in SL since the bloody armed conflict there in 1999-2001. Award winning journalist Sorious Samura and the SL High Commissioner, His Excellency Melvin H Chalobar, completed the conversation.

We were thrilled at the turnout and money raised, which went a long way to improving the facilities for the children and staff at the Paul School.

To explain Jo's connection with the blind schools

Jo's dad David had met the then British High Commissioner, Peter Penfold, in 1999 when he was sent to SL to evacuate British nationals during tense and very troubled times. (In fact David decided not to follow Whitehall's orders and managed to defeat the rebels, preventing an all-out civil war, but that's another story..).

It was Peter who introduced David to the blind school on Wilkinson Road, which - being on the edge of the city, near the jungle - was vulnerable to the armed rebels camped nearby. Peter launched a charity to support the Milton Margai School for the Blind which Jo has volunteered with since 2009. The website is: https://www.miltonmargaischool.org/milton.htm

We would like to pay tribute to Peter who died earlier this year. He was a lifelong friend of Sierra Leone and worked tirelessly for the blind schools especially. He is sorely missed and his legacy and memory will live on.

What are we raising funds for now?

Mohamed has been headteacher at the Paul School for almost quarter of a century. As he approaches 60 years old, Mohamed is retiring in the face of health difficulties for himself and his amazing wife Francis, who is visually impaired and suffers from diabetes. It will be a great loss to the school, but they won't be moving far thankfully. And Mohamed has appointed a wonderful new headteacher who is a former pupil and current teacher at the school.

Mohamed is building a house for himself, his wife and their family including some of their grandchildren. Retirement benefits in Sierra Leone are not guaranteed, and are very difficult to obtain. It would be amazing to help them retire in comfort.

Can you contribute a little for their home?

The immediate needs for the house are plumbing, plastering, electrification and digging a water well (photos below of current state). The budget for this work is $3000. Every little helps and we are so grateful for any support you can offer. And in this world which feels full of strife and suffering that we seem to have little power over, it will feel good to know we are having a direct impact on the lives of such extremely deserving people.