By: Ilyasa Baa
Having ended their camping series due to the rainy season, the Rawlings Foundation-Sierra Leone has engaged over forty thousand school going pupils since the start of the camping series in 2016.
This disclosure was made by the Director of Rawlings Foundation, Abdul Mohamed Conteh, during an interview with press men on Saturday 21st May 23, 2022 at their facility in the Western Area.
He said the purpose of the camping conference was to speak to the children about honesty; Integrity and Morality which he said have impacted positively on the lives of school going children in the country.
He added that a good number of the campers have accepted Christ as their personal savior and have started practicing good principles at school as well as in the homes.
“Over thirty thousand have changed their lives, considerably, we have the records”, said Abdul. He noted that they are catching them young at this time of their lives so they grow up to be responsible and hard working citizens for the benefit of society.
“The bottom line is I don’t have to teach my five years old boy how to lie or steal; it comes automatic, it’s natural, we have to teach these kids how to be honest and sincere”, he said, adding that they will continue to target the young ones teaching them good principles for the good of his birth place which is Sierra Leone.
Abdul was born in Sierra Leone but did not grow up in the United States. He hailed from a Muslim background but changed and accepted Jesus Christ as a kid.
Skip Crowell is a live band musician who flew to Sierra Leone from Florida eight times to entertain school children during the camping conferences organized by the Rawlings Foundation.
He told this medium during an interview that his highlight is the high level of progress he saw in the camp.
He recalled years back when the foundation was struggling during the inception stage of the camp. He said he uses his music to touch the lives of the pupils as well as to entertain them during the camping.
“It gives me great joy seeing the kids singing and dancing in joy and in praise of the Lord”, Crowell admitted.
Abdul said the fact that Principals of schools that benefited from the camping have been calling on the foundation telling them about the change the camping has impacted on pupils, “i feel gratified and wish I can be here every week to interact with more kids in Sierra Leone”, he blasted.
He noted that Sierra Leone is a special place and the country is hard not to love.
“Seeing the kids so polite and obedient singing this afternoon, I feel like giving them more songs”, Skip Crowell concluded.
Over five hundred school kids comprising ten buses from the Rokel Agriculture Secondary School and the Rural Academy Secondary School benefitted from that camping with some bagging prizes for partaking in the quiz competition. The children expressed their satisfaction over the things they have learned during the program. They commended the Rawlings Foundation for spending their resources on them and for teaching them good principles in life.
Mabinty Kabia of the Rokel Secondary School said henceforth she would not tell lies or steal. She thanked the foundation for the new things she learned during the camping program. As for James Nbakeya, JSS 1 pupil from the Royal Academy Secondary School, he assured that he had learned about honesty, integrity and morality.
He said what he had been taught such as not to lie and steal would be put into practice through-out his life.
