Love Sierra Leone Annual Report 2021 Charity Number 1157847 www.lovesierraleone.org Trustees: Richard Bayfield, Rev David Bendor-Samuel, Ian Gill, Norm Robins ## Thank you The first and most important message within this short report is to thank you, our Supporters, and our Trustees. However before going further we should remember Ibrahim Kamara and Foday Bangora who perished in the tanker fire in Wellington, near Freetown. Ibrahim and Foday were among the 100+ victims of the fire. We did pass on small gifts to their families in recognition of their work within the ministry. We are thankful to Pastor Yatta Samura for his multiple ministries to those in need, irrespective of whether they have a Christian faith or not, and to David Sandi for his ongoing dedication to Ahkom School and RightToRead. ## UN Human Development Index (HDI) – Sierra Leone 182 out of 189 The UN’s Index is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living. The HDI is the geometric mean of normalized indices for each of the three dimensions. In the UN’s latest report dated 2020, Sierra Leone finds itself at 182 out of 189! (Norway is at 1 and the UK is at 13). - - - (https://hdr.undp.org/data center/human development index#/indicies/HDI ) This is the context in which this ministry operates. ## Petrol Tanker explosion, Freetown – 6[th] November 2021 The BBC reports graphically of the horrors of the explosion. “….. a bus was completely burnt, while nearby shops and market stalls were caught up in the flames. Brima Bureh Sesay, the head of Sierra Leone's National Disaster Management Agency, said there were many "burnt corpses … It's a terrible, terrible accident". Ibrahim and Foday worked with some of the amputee football players as part of the sports ministry team. Pastor Yatta wrote: “ _Very, very sad my brother. I felt guilty because they came to visit me to collect footballs. However, they did not reach their home. They faced this fatal accident. Today they are no more._ ” Love Sierra Leone Annual Report 2021 Charity Number 1157847 www.lovesierraleone.org Trustees: Richard Bayfield, Rev David Bendor-Samuel, Ian Gill, Norm Robins ## Christmas Meals for Children Due to cash shortages at the bank in Freetown, Pastor Yatta was unable to collect the money we sent in December for a Christmas meal. He managed to get the money in January and provided a meal for about 150 children from the local community. Pastor Yatta wrote: In poor countries like Sierra Leone children look forward to a feeding program of this nature. The feeding gives us a direct connection between the children and their families. They were sure of one big meal and a take home pack. There is a cry for food in this country. Children go to school on an empty stomach. That is why some young girls ages 11 and 12 years old dropped out of school and are given into early marriage. Hunger is a nightmare. In their gift packages we put soap, face mask and hand sanitizer to prevent them from COVID 19 that has started growing again in Sierra Leone. You would have loved to see the excitement on the faces of the children when they received their gifts. We had an enjoyable time together. We played games and danced. They even danced on their way home! Meanwhile Davide Sandi organised a meal for at Ahkom Technical School in Kono where 220 children benefited from your generosity with a Christmas meal and a small gift. ## RightToRead RightToRead (RTR) is a program that uses technology to improve English language outcomes for pupils. We piloted RTR in 2015 at Ahkom school with 100 children we now have 7 schools in the program, reaching over 1200 children. Start and end-of-year assessments continue to show 10-20% improvement in children’s English skills over the course of a year. Several other schools are interested in adopting RTR but we don’t have the funds to engage them – we need to provide a laptop and in-class TV screen to each school. Adults in the Love Sierra Leone Annual Report 2021 Charity Number 1157847 www.lovesierraleone.org Trustees: Richard Bayfield, Rev David Bendor-Samuel, Ian Gill, Norm Robins community, as well as some military schools have also asked for RTR lessons to improve their English. Again, lack of funds prevented us from making any progress on this front. ## Ahkom School In late 2020 we merged Ahkom charity into LSL. Ahkom provided support for Ahkom School and this is now being provided by LSL. Ahkom donors have transferred their standing orders over to LSL (thank you!). The trustees believe that having Ahkom school within the LSL fold will allow some synergies, e.g. broader ‘Sierra Leone focussed’ fundraising encompassing education, sports and ministry. ## Financial Summary Income in 2021 was £41,382 including £7,562 in Gift Aid. We spent £37,451 and ended the year with £6,692 in our reserves. Our expenditure is listed below: ## **Christian Community Church £10,747** - Church & Sports Ministry £10,200 - Office fees (SL) £370 - Bank fees, etc £177 ## **RightToRead £7,534** - Salaries, teacher training, IT support £6975 - Fundraising / grant applications £480 - Bank fees etc £79 ## **Ahkom School £12,695** - Teachers’ salaries & sponsored kids £9790 - New classrooms £1150 - Replacement equipment from burglary £900 - Hospital treatment for David Sandi £305 - Travel for David Sandi UK visit £250 - Bank fees etc £300 ## **LSL general fund £6,475** - Travel, laptop £1000 - XMAS and Easter meals for children £5000 - Fees, etc £475 ## Outlook for 2022 We continue to support the 3 strands of Education, Sport and Ministry. The act of helping our neighbour fits with our Christian perspective, although many of us ask whether we can do more. Whilst Covid has not (so far) been as devastating as in other parts of the world, the indirect effect has been to increase poverty. Love Sierra Leone Annual Report 2021 Charity Number 1157847 www.lovesierraleone.org Trustees: Richard Bayfield, Rev David Bendor-Samuel, Ian Gill, Norm Robins We recognize we need to stabilize our support for our current commitments to C3M Church, Ahkom school and Sports Life. We consider that “stabilize” means knowing that we are able to support them for some months/years ahead. This would mean finding longer term donor commitments and a contingency fund. ## Giving If you would like to support our activities you can donate online (one off or standing order) at www.lovesierraleone.org or by cheque, payable to “Love Sierra Leone”. For further information please contact Richard Bayfield, 25 Davenant Road, Oxford, OX2 8BU, (01865 311800), email info@lovesierraleone.org. Love Sierra Leone Income & expenditure account for the year ended 31st December, 2021 Love Sierra Leone Income & Expendlture Account for tho year ondod 31st December, 2021 2021 2020 Income Donations Gift aid refunds 33,820.15 7,561.75 32,301.52 5,947.87 Totsl In¢om 41,381.90 38,249.39 endlture Donations lo overseas projects Other finance charges Other costs 36.473.90 832.74 144.00 35,847.90 655.34 144.00 Total Expenditure 37,450.64 36,647.24 Net Income 3,931.26 1,602.15 Balance as at 1st January 2021 2,760.44 1,1S8.29 Total fund¥ at 31st December, 2021 6,691.70 2,760.44 Represented by: CAF arxounts 6,691.70 1,158.29 6,691.70 1,158.29 Love Sierra Leone Independent examiners report Independent examlnerfs report to the tru8tee8 of Love Slerra Leone I ￿port on the accounts for the year ended 31st December 2021 Respgctivo r¢sponslbllltles of trustees and examlner The Charitys Trustees a￿ responsible for the preparation of the ac¢ounls. The Charity's Trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under se¢tion 144 of the Charities Act 2011 } and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to-. - examine the a¢¢ounts lunder section 145) of the 2011 Act- - to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners {under section 145(5llbl of the 2011 Act,. and - to state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basis of Independent examinerf$ report My examination was carried out in a¢¢ordance wrth the General Directions given by the Charity Commisstr)ners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the Charity and a comparison of the accounts p￿Sented with those records. 11 also includes consideration of any unusual items or disdosures in the accounts, and seeking expbanalions from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'lrue and fair view. and the report is limited to those matters sel out in the statement below. Indepgndent oxaminer's statement In conne¢tion ￿th my examination, no matter has come to my attention.. (11 whrh gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements - to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 130 of the 2011 Act., and - lo prepare accounts which accord with the accounts'ng records and comply wth the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have nol been met, or 12) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understandin9 of the accounts to be reached. Signed Name.. Professional qualrfication.. Address. Date.. P T Skinner FCCA 30 Banksid8 Court, Stationfields, Kidlington, Oxon OX5 1JE 17.02.2022