Recommendations

Schooling for Life is very grateful to all the people who support us. Each and everyone of you contributes to a better future of young people in need of support. Together, we can improve the future prospects of Sierra Leonean youth!

We can never have enough supporters; the more people who become involved in our mission, the bigger the difference we can make.
Do you want to know how you can help? Click here to find out.

Babah Tarawally

Babah Tarawally: Sierra Leonean columnist for OneWorld, a magazine that focuses on International development and relations. Furthermore, Babah is a novelist and journalist with 7 years experience in executing development programmes in Africa.

“I am endorsing the Schooling for Life foundation because I believe in education as the engine for development. Education is power, get the power and be free.

In the struggle against unemployment, poverty and inequality the Schooling for Life foundation underlines the importance of the development of human capital, by providing vocational education and scholarships for youths in Sierra Leone. By doing so, I believe Schooling for Life will provide a structural solution to both the lack of trained personnel on the labour market and to the large number of unemployed young people in Sierra Leone. This, I believe, will help the youths not only in Sierra Leone but it will help them be able to face the challenges of the global world.”

Bahram Sadeghi

Bahram Sadeghi: TV-director and writer of “Why Are You So Poor?”, a book about the causes of poverty in the poorest country in the world (at the time of writing), Sierra Leone.

“I guess it was in 2011 when I heard Sjierly talk about the project she was trying to build up in Sierra Leone. I remember being struck by the simplicity and the concreteness behind the general idea of Schooling of Life. But then I thought: Young, white Dutch girl with a plan that’s too ambitious. We will see… I was wrong with my skepticism. Because in March 2013, I found myself acting as the master of ceremony during the launch of Schooling for Life in Amsterdam, The Netherlands! So, dear Sjierly and all the volunteers of Schooling for Life: keep going with the wonderful work you are doing.”

Linda-Mae Short

Linda-Mae Short: Sierra Leonean business developer and management consultant in Sierra Leone.

Spanning over ten years of experience between Hitachi, Shell, and Complinet, Linda-Mae built extensive experience in the design and deployment of business solutions.

In the past two years back in Sierra Leone, Linda-Mae focused on developing a change management programme that builds capacity of the local workforce. Together with consulting partners, Linda-Mae developed a holistic approach to the problem, creating a transformational model consisting of mindset change workshops, basic skills training embedded with sector specific requirements as the foundation for further vocation or academic training.

In that light, Linda-Mae feels that Schooling for Life offers a unique solution to the years of ‘hopelessness’ experienced by the youth of Sierra Leone today. “In a challenging environment where the traditional ways of mentoring and education have been torn by war and conflict, it is refreshing to see the comprehensive needs of the youth being addressed. Where previously talented youths missed out on education due to a lack of funds or access to institutions, they are now raised outside of the family structure and provided a space to nurture the social skills and mentors who encourage the next generation to dream.”

“Without a vision there is no desire to move forward, without leadership there is no growth, without mentors there are more mistakes to be learned, without support we are unable to stand and with more organisations like Schooling for Life; we can dare a nation of youths to be counted, empowered and self-sufficient.”