Computer networking and hardware courses are becoming increasingly popular in universities, polytechnical institutions, postsecondary colleges, and private training institutions worldwide because of the high demand for people with computer networking and hardware skills. The DASL Computer Lab is now offering a computer hardware & networking course. The learning-by-doing approach is an essential component in courses on computer networking and hardware fundamentals.

Thanks in part to your support, Sahr, a talented artist in Freetown received quality paint and paintbrushes.   Sahr is full of potential and loves to paint on canvas, however, good quality paint and paintbrushes are scarce to non-existent for purchase in Sierra Leone.

Sahr was delighted to receive the paint and paintbrushes. The photo below shows the canvas painting that he is working on using the paint and brushes that you helped provide. In this video, he sends a word of appreciation to you.

Thanks in part to your ongoing support, the Develop Africa Sierra Leone (DASL) team along with African Girls Code launched an eight-week pilot program to provide free coding. 

The purpose was to introduce African girls to the male-dominated world of programming and encourage young women to pursue a future in computer science and other STEM-related fields.

31 secondary school-aged girls in Freetown, Sierra Leone participated in the pilot program. 

The goals for this pilot launch were to:

Volunteer, Breyden Stanton, shares her experience as a volunteer the past couple of months at Develop Africa.

Nearly 1 in 4 girls of primary school age are out of school in sub-Saharan Africa.  There are currently 5.5 million more out-of-school girls of primary school age than boys, worldwide.

The barriers that deter children from attending primary school vary across and within countries but are often associated with poverty, geographic remoteness, armed conflict, lack of school infrastructure, and poor-quality education. Moreover, these obstacles often interact with gender inequality to intensify learning disadvantages for marginalized girls.

One of the future leaders that your generous donations have helped support is Franklyn. Franklyn has been a part of the Develop Africa sponsorship program since he was 9 years old in class 5.  His father has not been a part of his life since he was very young, and his mom struggled to send him and two older brothers and one younger brother to school. 

Thanks to your ongoing support multiple vocational trainees, like Mariatu, are getting the training they need to empower themselves and become self-reliant because of your support.  

Mariatu is a current vocational trainee and expresses why this opportunity to receive this training is important to her saying

Thanks in part to your ongoing support, the Develop Africa Sierra Leone (DASL) team held another girls’ mentoring program on the topic of entrepreneurship (part two).  Twenty-six young ladies between the ages of 10-20 years old in Freetown attended June's mentoring session.

The topic of entrepreneurship was covered by speakers, Luz G. and Diana K. C.

One of the young ladies that your generous donations have helped support is Geraldine. She tells us in her words how she is doing now- 

I am a final year student at the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM) studying Banking and Finance. In June 2021, I wrote my final exams in college. I will be graduating in October 2021. I have learned many things about academics and social life and experienced some of the challenges of adulthood. I am prepared and eager to explore the opportunities that the universe presents. 

Thanks to generous donors, more youths and young adults in Sierra Leone are getting the computer training they need for success in today's technology-driven environment.

There are currently 49 students attending computer training at the Develop Africa Sierra Leone (DASL) Computer lab.  The current computer classes at DASL Computer Lab have three classes. One class is covering Microsoft Excel, one class is covering Microsoft PowerPoint and one class is learning Microsoft Access.