Miriam
Mason-Sesay, Country Director EducAid Sierra Leone, awarded an MBE in
Her Majesty’s 2013 New Year’s Honours List for her outstanding
contribution to education and charitable work in Sierra Leone
EducAid Sierra Leone, a UK registered charity, has been providing high quality education to some of the poorest children
in Sierra Leone since 1994. Miriam Mason-Sesay has lived in-country since 2000, initially visiting in 1998 to work with
the Guinea-based refugees fleeing the horrific civil war.
Originally from Banbury in Oxfordshire where her parents still live, Miriam was educated at Blessed George Napier
secondary school and then attended Goldsmiths College, London to read French. Subsequently she trained as a teacher
at Homerton College, Cambridge.
Prior to moving to Sierra Leone, Miriam taught in the UK, including the Salesian college in Battersea, London and St
Edmunds College, Ware, Herts – primarily focusing on modern languages.
Since
moving to Sierra Leone, EducAid, under Miriam’s close
direction, has established a network of schools which are successfully challenging the national culture of under-performance. Restricting intake to the very poorest and using a
robust, success-focused curriculum, EducAid has achieved the best exam results in the country year after year.
EducAid Chairman, Dr James Boardman, said that he was delighted for Miriam.
“She
deserves the recognition for her unique and selfless
contribution. She has both delivered EducAid’s programme
and personally raised the bulk of the necessary funds to do so. The personal cost to Miriam has been significant: it is
terrific to see public acknowledgement of her work”.
EducAid students were affected by the war in so many ways: a significant number live permanently in EducAid facilities –
for want of dependable family. Many are rejected by, or have no family to look after them. EducAid provides daily food,
education and medication through their academic life at a cost of approximately £180 per student per year.
EducAid is predominantly funded from private resources in England: individual philanthropists, schools and churches
provide
EducAid’s ongoing funding base. In addition EducAid has,
when requested, provided
services through funding
from a range of international bilateral donors – including the UK’s Department for International Development.
Further information on EducAid’s work can be found at www.educaid.org.uk or contact Dr James Boardman
(james@educaid.org.uk)
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/new-year-honours-2013
If you want to
make a donation please go to www.educaid.org.uk and click on the
mydonate button. Remember it costs £15 per month to educate and feed a
child, that is a pizza and a drink in the UK. The best Christmas present
you could give us is to sign up for a direct debit of £15 per month.
You can keep up with the currrent news and activities at the EducAid Face Book website: FB page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/48572325218/
EducAid Sierra Leone is a charity helping to improve education in Sierra Leone. Registered charity no. 1048012