by Monty Domingo
The Sierra Leone Community Association, Ottawa-Ontario was established in 2007 and has been a registered Not- for- Profit organization since November 2013.
The main aims and objectives of the Association are to provide settlement for Sierra Leoneans within the National capital region, build a formidable working relationship with the Sierra Leone embassy in the United States covering Canada; and to help alleviate poverty in Sierra Leone through educational support. We also provide cultural education to Sierra Leonean children born in Canada. Membership is open to residents of Ottawa with Sierra Leone heritage and friends of Sierra Leone. Membership registration fee is Twenty Five dollars ($25.00) and monthly subscription of Ten dollars ($10.00) per member.
Projects:
In 2010, the Association focused on helping needy children in Sierra Leone especially in the area of education. We funded a Back pack project that benefited four Primary schools within the four regions of the country. There were a total of two hundred and fifty (250) primary school children from: The Asbury United Methodist Church Primary in Wellington (Western Area), St. Charles Luanga in Kenema (Eastern province), Roman Catholic Model Primary School in Bo (South) and Da- Esalam Primary school in the North.
In 2014, we provided grants to Junior and Senior Secondary school students within the Western area. This project focused on the areas that other NGOs don’t consider when helping with ensuring basic education in developing countries-to help with external examination fees for Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE). We believe that many families within the country find it difficult to pay this all important fees for their children to move to the next academic level. That is why we as Sierra Leoneans are in to help out. In 2014, we provided funding for 20 children, 10 from the Freetown Secondary School for Girls (FSSG) and 10 from Government Model Secondary School. Each child who met the criteria set for the grant received Two Hundred Thousand Leones ( Le 200,000). The criteria for this grant were: Three (3) students in good academic standings, Three (3) Girls who are disadvantaged academically, and Four (4) Children with financial difficulties.
Our next priority is female education in general. We stress the importance of girl child education because we believe that, if you educate a woman, you have educated the whole society. Moving ahead, we also plan to expand by increasing the number of beneficiaries within the country by next year.
In addition to what we continue to do in Sierra Leone, during the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone in 2014, the association was able to raise Seven thousand seven hundred and ninety five dollars ($7795.00) in support of MSF’s effort with the eradication of Ebola in Sierra Leone. We made two media representations to create awareness of the epidemic to the Ottawa community.
Awards and Recognitions:
Sierra Leone celebrated fifty (50) years of independence in 2011. The Associated was awarded recognition by the embassy for being very engaged in helping to support education in Sierra Leone.
Website:
The Association now has a functional website: www.sierraleonecommunityottawa.com. It has features such as – Home, contact, News, Photo, membership registration form, donation/payment, events and projects. Looking ahead, we have the community elections coming up this year.
Upcoming Events:
Our future dates for activities are:
Independence Celebration: April 23, 2016, and April 29, 2017.
Christmas Event: December 24, 2016 & December 23, 2017.
There will be also a reintroduction of the annual back to school picnic on June 24th. The venue will be determined later.
Board and Executive Committee:
The Executive, Board and Members of the Sierra Leone Community Association, Ottawa-Ontario Canada
Board Members:
Chairman/President- Monty Domingo
Secretary General- Ibrahim Conteh
Director- Ronald Elliott
Director- Moses Batema
Director/Treasurer- Francis Konah
Executive:
Chairman- Monty Domingo
Vice Chair/Treasurer-Francis Konah
Secretary General- Ibrahim Conteh
Organizing Secretary- Irene Cummings
Assistant Org. Sec- Margaret Vandy
Ex-officio – Patricia Domingo
About the writer
Monty Domingo is Chairman/President of the Sierra Leone Community Association, Ottawa, Canada. He can be reached at: [email protected].
I am a former Canadian teacher at the Girls Methodist Secondary School in Freetown. For years I have been sponsoring a student with tuition (now in university). Unfortunately for the past few days Western Union and MoneyGram stopped the transfer. Does anyone from your Association know of other means of safe transferring. Unfortunately my bank CIBC doesn’t transfer to Sierra Leone.
Is there an up to date calendar? I am new to Ottawa and I would like to know if there are any gatherings taking place.