Welcome to Mabomboh Education Project
Providing nursery and primary education to children in Mabomboh, Sierra Leone.
Over 100 children in Mabomboh started school again in September 2024; this will be our third full year!
We wanted to share this video with you about our journey so far and to thank all those who have generously given their support; we certainly would never have come this far without your help, so thank you!
We believe education is power and are dedicated to ensuring that the children of Mabomboh receive free, quality education to enable them to reach their full potential.
We would love as many people as possible to partner with us on this exciting, life-changing project in Mabomboh.
Donations can be made via our GoFundMe Page. You can follow us on Facebook, or if you would like any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us via email, thank you!
The Charity
Mabomboh is a small farming village in Sierra Leone, home to 101 children between 2 to 16 years old. The nearest school is too far away for the younger children to be able to attend, and as a result the children of Mabomboh have been deprived of their right to education for decades.
The Mabomboh Education Project was started and initially funded by Evelyn and Iain Maclean in January 2021 as a result of a discussion with Evelyn’s father.
Their involvement was because of Evelyn’s family links to Mabomboh. Evelyn’s paternal great grandfather was born and lived in Mabomboh.
Following an approach to Evelyn’s father by village elders who were looking for support in providing education to the children in the village. After talking to Evelyn’s Father, Evelyn and Iain committed themselves to establishing a nursery and primary school in Mabomboh. Evelyn had the benefit of a nursery and primary school education as a child and recognised the detrimental impact of that lack of early learning on the future outcomes for the children of Mabomboh.
With your support and help, we want to promote education in this community and change their lives for generations to come by building a non-fee-paying nursery and primary school in the village of Mabomboh.
In January 2021, we had started the building project with no idea of where funds were going to come from, or whether we would have teachers willing to relocate to the village. We are pleased to announce that the Mabomboh Community Nursery and Primary School opened its doors to our first intake of children.
- complete the manufacture of classroom chairs and tables
- provide school uniforms for the children
- complete building the toilets
- install solar panelling at the school that can also be accessed by the villagers
The project faced various challenges, mainly with recruiting suitable and qualified teachers. This meant our initial opening date of September 2021 was not feasible.
The Mabomboh Education Project is a registered charity in the UK and in Sierra Leone. The UK Charity Number is 1197537. The Sierra Leone Charity Number is BDC/BR/2021-155.
The Board of Trustees of the Mabomboh Education Project wish to thank everyone who has donated so far. Individual donations and our two fundraising events come to a total of £19,920. This is an incredibly generous response that was beyond anything we could imagine.
A special thanks to Reverend Duncan MacBean and the congregation of Chislehurst Methodist Church who have committed £9000 a year for three years (ringfenced for teachers’ salaries).
We are also extremely grateful for all books, toys, musical instruments, and educational equipment that has been kindly donated. On behalf of the Board of trustees, and the children and parents of Mabomboh Village we thank you all.
As of 1st March 2022, the Mabomboh Nursery and Primary School started a School’s Meal programme, serving the children one hot meal a day. The School Meal Programme has been generously funded by Reverend Duncan MacBean. This meal is the first meal of the day for some of the children and so it is a programme we are committed to sustaining. The parents have shown real community spirit by voluntarily cooking these meals for the children.
Founders
Iain and Evelyn Maclean live in London, and both work in the social care field, Evelyn with children and their families and Iain with adults.
Evelyn and Iain have three lovely daughters, Sien, Sira and Aminata, who are also very active in the charity’s success.
‘We think education is power, and we are dedicated to ensuring that the children of Mabomboh have free quality education to enable them to reach their full potential.’