On To the Next One

Contributed by: Dave

The rain that lasted all day was appropriate. After saying goodbye to the kids, we were all feeling rather gray. We spent it finalizing some travel details, packing and generally feeling down.

Thankfully, we had something to look forward to. That night, Joseph Lamin of the Masanga Children’s Fund had offered to take us out to dinner. We hadn’t gotten much time to know him, so we were looking forward to it. Even prior to arriving in Salone, most of our communication with him was second hand, passed on by Schools for Salone’s Cindy Nofziger.

Joseph is a force. With Schools for Salone, he’s built 16 schools in 6 years. He’s responsible for overseeing all the projects on the ground—no small task in any country, let alone Sierra Leone. He guided our school to completion. For that, we’ll be forever grateful.

We were anxious to talk to Joseph. During the opening ceremony of the school, several of the speakers mentioned the need for a number of things now that the primary school was open. They ranged from a laptop, to a vehicle, to a secondary school to an orphanage. Joseph is a man who we could trust. We wanted his input.

His answer was surprising. He said that if we wanted to do anything, an orphanage would be the most valuable. But, he said, we shouldn’t feel obligated to do anything. What we had done was enough. On that point, we disagree.

We mention this farewell dinner for one reason: our work with Sierra Leone is just getting started. We’ll be moving on to other film projects that most likely won’t have anything to do with Salone, but these kids and this country are embedded deep within our hearts. As long as there are kids like the ones we know and people like Joseph that can help us help them, we’ll do whatever it takes to get it done.

Don’t be surprised when you get an email from us announcing our next fundraiser.