Koromasilaia, Sierra Leone:
Watch as a new school is built

In a small, rural, way up-country community -- in one of the world's poorest nations.
Day-by-day photos and videos show the process and progress, start to finish.
(Work started on April 3, 2025 and was completed in 2 months & 4 days, on June 8, 2025!! A library building was added in September and I traveled there in October for the community celebration of the new school).
Map of greater West Africa showing location of Sierra Leone (click to enlarge)
Map of Sierra Leone showing location of Koromasilaia and population density of districts
Drone shot of village of Koromasilaia and surrounds -- school buildings and playfield at bottom left.
Short video (please watch) from celebration for opening of completed Koromasilaia Senior Secondary school.

Koromasilaia is a rural community in the far northern part of Sierra Leone, a little off the main road north of Kabala, in the Falaba District, the country's least densely populated district. I contributed, through the wonderful non-profit, Schools for Salone (SfS), to have them build this new school, to replace a building that was falling down (described as a 'death trap' for the students). I will provide additional ongoing support (also through SfS) for teacher training, books, and educational supplies.

This new Senior Secondary School (high school level) joins the Junior Secondary School that Schools for Salone built in Koromasilaia in 2020 (adding to a primary school that was already in the village) so that students in the 14 surrounding communities can continue their educations. Access to quality education is a globally-recognized solution to the cycle of poverty.

One of those communities is the nearby hamlet of Madina, where I contributed several years ago to build a primary school. Now the kids from that Madina primary school can go on to secondary school in Koromasilaia (the closest Junior Secondary School and now Senior Secondary School), ensuring a full 12 years of education for those Madina kids.

I was able to travel to Sierra Leone in October, 2023, to visit that primary school (and made a YouTube video of a celebration of the school's opening). The trip, and getting immersed in Sierra Leone, was an intense, profound, and amazing experience. Returning to Sierra Leone, for the second time, in October, 2025, for the opening of the Koromasilaia school, magnified even more the place Sierra Leone now holds in my heart. Seeing first hand not just how little they have, and how much of a difference we can make, but also how much having that chance to get an education meant to the children and their parents, has inspired me to continue to contribute as best I can. 

With other donors chipping in, in September (after the SSS building was completed in June), we were able to entirely rehab a small structure on the site to be a safe, usable library, complete with solar powered lighting (which went to the school buildings, too -- with lights in the buildings, they can now be used for reading, study and teaching after dark, which comes early near the equator).

If you would like to donate to help Schools for Salone continue their important work of furthering education in Sierra Leone, go to the SfS donation page. SfS builds schools throughout the country (47 since they started 20 years ago) -- but they don't just put up buildings and leave -- they also provide ongoing support, through partner organizations inside Sierra Leone. This includes providing school supplies, books, reading & literacy help, and teacher training, and also providing reusable menstrual pads to keep girls in school and reproductive health education for both the girls and the boys. Last year, a new program began providing bicycles to help those children from villages further away get to school on time (as they often need to walk over an hour each way). Bicycles also greatly increase safety for girls, keeping them from having to hitch rides. I can assure you that any and all donations to SfS will be spent wisely and do a huge world of good for children in Sierra Leone.

Koromasilaia and Madina are just two of many villages destroyed during the nation's 11-year Civil War, which ended in 2002. Twenty-three years later, the country is still healing from the atrocities committed and wide-spread destruction of schools, hospitals and other essential services and resources.

You can learn more about Schools for Salone at their linked website and go to their YouTube channel  to learn, see, and hear even more. Tenki (many thanks)!

~Ken Lans

Week_1

April 4-10. Digging trenches for the foundation and erecting steel rebar for pillars.
Photos, videos, & comments from Clinton Caulker, SfS's Sierra Leonean partner in charge of the project.

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Week_2

April 11-17. Mixing cement, forming cement blocks, and working on the foundation.

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Week_3

April 18-24. Completion of foundation and walls start going up. Community pitches in and dances.

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Week_4

April 25-May 1: The walls go up, the columns and pillars are concreted, lintels on windows and doors are constructed with iron rods and concrete, and reinforced tie beams are poured.

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Week_5

May 2-8: Arches are formed and concreted, gables built, and boards ripped for the roofing.

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Week_6

May 9-15: Work starts on the roof, fascia boards are added, and the roof is completed! Work starts on the ceilings.

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Week_7

May 16-22: Ceilings inside and over the veranda and walkway outside are installed, walls plastered, windows and doors installed, and skilled carpenters begin to make classroom furniture onsite.

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Week_8

May 23-29: Windows & doors installed, walls plastered, reveals of windows/doors/pillars finished, floors screeded, coping & drainage around building put in, railings installed, and classroom furniture built.

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Week_9

May 30-June 5: Railings installed and finished, veranda screeded, final painting of classroom furniture, white washing inside & out, painting starts in classrooms. 40 fruit trees planted.

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Week_10

June 6-8: School construction completed -- 2 months and 4 days after begun!!!

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Library

Special project to renovate an existing building, to be safe and usable as a library, and add solar lighting -- important additions for the school community (Sept. 7-30, 2025).

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Opening Celebration

October 22, 2025: We join in as the community gathers, sings, dances, and dignitaries give speeches to celebrate the opening of the new school building & library.

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Modified 12/30/25, 1:38 PM
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