It is with great sadness that we must inform you that a fire close to the Mabomboh Community Nursery and Primary School, in Mabomboh village, Sierra Leone at 11:45 on 21st June 2022, resulted in the deaths of Mrs Fatou Kargbo, her 10-month-old daughter Gbassay Sesay, and 4-year-old Nursery pupil, Soriba Kanu. Mrs Fatima Kamara, Head Teacher suffered burn injuries to her legs.
Evelyn received notification on the 21st June and at a Board Meeting of the Trustees that evening it was agreed that Evelyn should travel to Mabomboh as soon as possible for several reasons. Firstly, to offer immediate support to the families of the victims, to ensure Mrs Kamara was getting the appropriate medical care for her needs, to support the village elders in preparing vigils and memorial services for the victims, and to talk with the teaching staff, pupils, and villagers as to how the fire started and what actions need to follow because of this tragic accident.
Evelyn travelled to Mabomboh on the 24/06/22 and returned to London on the 27/06/22.
Evelyn established that the location of fire was a wooden, open sided hut with a palm thatched roof, built in the local style, that was used for the daily preparation and serving of the school meal. 5 metres long, 2 metres wide. The cooking of meals was done outside of the hut by the mothers of the school children on wood fires.
Eyewitnesses described to Evelyn that on that day the teachers had just finished supervising the feeding of the children in their classrooms when a powerful storm broke out, with high winds, lightning, and thunder. It was then that the thatch roof of the kitchen hut caught fire and collapsed into the hut. The high winds meant the fire took hold extremely quickly. Nobody at the scene was sure who was under the burning thatch until the fire was finally extinguished. It was then that the bodies of Mrs Fatou Kargbo, Gbassay Sesay, her daughter, and Nursery pupil, Soriba Kanu were found.
Mrs Kamara suffered second degree burns to both shins and burns to her left foot. On the day Mrs Kamara was rushed to the nearest Primary Health Centre in Kalangba (seven miles away) where she began to receive treatment and was then transferred to the Chinese Hospital in the town of Jui which has a specialist burns unit. She has since transferred to hospital in Freetown where she has continued receiving treatment.
Evelyn spent time with the bereaved families, village elders and the teaching staff in making the preparations for an all-night vigil on the Saturday led by the Reverend and a memorial service on the Sunday led by an Imam for the victims and for the local Reverend to also attend the school, to talk to the children specifically, on their first day back at school. Evelyn and the teachers also led the children in activities that gave them scope to express their feelings and emotions about their experience and the loss of their school friend. As the site of the fire is close to the school, we have asked the children to think of ideas as to what they would want there as a memorial to Soriba Kanu, Gbassay Sesay and Fatou Kargbo.
