An update from Alan:
Our overall impact has been to enable and empower many young Sierra
We have exposed these young people to amazing and unimagined endeavors such as starting a school, running medical clinics, managing sponsored students, contracting and constructing a school building, running school-wide drama and film presentations, interacting with young Americans who come from a vastly different perspective, and starting an environmental initiative. We continue to develop the local economy through a commitment to use only local labor. ALL our construction projects and our management utilize completely local labor in the form of contractors, nurses, teachers etc. There are talented and capable people in the village who can do much if given the opportunity.
It should be noted that this is by no means automatic or easy. No one who lived through the Blood Diamonds war has escaped its impact. Everyone has some amount of PTSD and it is usually from witnessing harrowing events that most Americans have difficulty even thinking about. To help the villages local young employees and volunteers work through this takes patience, straight talk, and sustained and consistent positive attention. Most importantly, it takes a mindset of believing that great things will happen if you learn to look forward.
Thank you for your continued support. Scroll below to see how far we have come.
Alan Chorun
President, Young Vision Africa
Watch our humble beginnings when Alan took his first trip to Sierra Leone as a volunteer teacher.
Fast forward six years later to see what the team and village have accomplished. And we are still going!
Three-Family Homes
Each of the 8 homes we built holds 3 families. How do new homes help? Over five lives were saved from pneumonia, and with consistent and safe shelter, you see increased work productivity from decreased illness and incapacitation.
Major Well Repairs
Clean well water is crucial as it relieves the villagers from drinking from the dangerously unhygienic nearby stream. All of the 750 immediate residents avoided greater exposure to parasites, schistosomiasis, and other harmful contaminants. With these repairs, we definitely saved lives and prevented debilitating illnesses.
Completed School Years
Education is a primary mission of YVA. Since beginning our classes, we have sponsored 18 students who have completed collectively about 60 completed school years.
Years of School Funding
Three years of funding 85% of operating budget of
Primary School Clinics
Two primary school clinics for 250 students, providing modeling to twelve teachers on Drama, Music, Film, Activity Oriented ESL and math, mostly from Americans who have worked professionally in these fields.
First Time Students
We provide education at our own PreK-6 school in the village of Bo for 100 students who had no previous access to education. We employ 7 teachers at our school.
Evironmental Students
To grow environmental advocacy, 4 students are experiencing quality, frontline environmental education through multiple visits through our partnership with Tacugama Sanctuary and Environmental Advocacy Center.
New Medical Center
The Medical Center serves 6 villages, 350 hygienic births, 750 infant/toddlers given Polio Vaccine, 5000 residents’ health improved/lives saved through Annual Malaria Prevention Campaigns, 2 MD led Medical Clinics focusing on Blood Pressure and STD Prevention and Treatment.
Coming Up…
Of course, our real goal is to bring leaders out of some of the toughest and lowest places. But to see our young leaders (employees and sponsored students) develop full potential, to teach them perseverance, to push 100% out of them, we want to make our foray into entrepreneurship. That being realistic, on the job leadership training. And in Sierra Leone the conditions are ripe. They have had 16 years of stability and we have seen one thing starting to reveal itself – there is a growing upper class that’s taken advantage of and succeeded in this stability.
In a rather unexpected and unforeseen move, we are looking to ride the front of this wave and start an upscale restaurant in the second largest city of Bo. If other people are making money in Sierra Leone, then why shouldn’t we do it for a better reason than them! Our restaurant will employ our villagers and revenue will be used to sustain the economy and services of the village.
