November 16, 2016
Raising Sierra Leone
Born in Sierra Leone, educated in Norway and the U.S., Joseph Kaifala created the nonprofit Jeneba Project to rebuild schools and libraries in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea—an impoverished region whose educational infrastructure was destroyed with so much else during years of brutal conflict and civil war. Here, Kaifala is shown meeting with Bishop George Biguzzi at the dedication of the newly-constructed secondary school in Masoila, Sierra Leone. The Jeneba Project also promotes literacy and raises funds for scholastic supplies and scholarships for girls—a critical factor in a society inclined to send its children onto farms rather than pay the expense of school. Speaker of six languages and recipient of two advanced degrees, Kaifala sees education, not foreign aid, as the key to long-term prosperity in western Africa