Sierra Leone

In the spring 2006, Ingibjörg Kristjánsdóttir, landscape architect, and Ólafur Ólafsson, chairman of Samskip, donated 500,000 USD to an education programme in the war torn country in western Africa, Sierra Leone.

Over a period of four years they have donated 116 million ISK to the project.

60 schools have been built, almost 200 teachers have been trained and over five thousand children, 6-9 years old, go to school today because of this generous donation. In a country were only 41% attend primary school, this is a very important contribution.

Ingibjörg and Ólafur visited Sierra Leone in February 2006 to see with their own eyes the results from their community school project. They were impressed with the use of their contributions. It was also a ruling factor that children in Sierra Leone live in one of the worst circumstances in the world.

Community schools in Sierra Leone

Almost 300 thousand children in the rural areas in Sierra Leone miss out on school because of the distance from their homes. The civil war, which ended five years ago, destroyed the country’s infrastructure and school system. In many areas, children have not been able to attend school for over two decades.

The situation is especially crucial in the rural areas, where almost no schools can be found. It is difficult for small feet to walk a long way to school, therefore UNICEF decided to move the schools closer to the communities by building community schools. The donation from Ingibjörg and Ólafur has helped to increase the number of these schools.

The donation will be used to build 50 community schools for children aged 6 to 9, in 12 districts in Sierra Leone. It will also provide schools with books and other supplies, water and sanitation facilities and provide training for 100 teachers.

Icelandic Minister of Education opens one school in Sierra Leone

The donation from Ingibjörg and Ólafur raised a lot of media and public attention in Sierra Leone. Likewise, Sierra Leone awoke their interest and attention. The couple travelled back to Sierra Leone in November 2006 to see how the project was progressing. The Minister of Education in Iceland at that time, Ms. Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, (now an MP) was with them and inaugurated one of the schools which was built with the Icelandic funds.

In an article Þorgerður Katrín wrote in Frettabladid newspaper she describes the deep impression Sierra Leone had on her, especially to see how much the Icelandic donation had accomplished and how it touched the daily life of thousands of people.