Five miles from school. No reliable way to get there. A family that couldn’t afford the cost of an okada(motorbike taxi) every day.
For Sonnah, a Junior Secondary student at FAWE Secondary School for Girls in Kabala, simply getting to school was the hardest part of her day, before she’d even opened a book. She was late almost every day, crammed multiple subjects into a handful of shared notebooks, and like many girls her age, was navigating puberty without menstrual hygiene resources or anyone she felt comfortable talking to.
Then things changed. A bicycle got her to school on time. Notebooks gave her the tools to organize her learning. Menstrual hygiene support and honest health education gave her one less thing to worry about. And her teacher was gaining formal certification, sponsored by Schools for Salone through Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Education.
Last year, Sonnah came first in her class.
“Schools for Salone transformed my educational experience. I am going to work even harder this year.”
Her story opens our new 2025–2026 Academic Year Impact Report and it’s the same story playing out, in different forms, across every community we work in.
A Proverb, and a New Chapter for Schools for Salone
In her letter opening this year’s report, Executive Director Allison Sinning shares a Mende phrase her neighbor taught her during her Peace Corps service: “Klo klo mia ja ve” — small drops of water make a mighty ocean. It’s become a guiding question for SfS: What small investments, made consistently and intentionally, add up to something larger over time?
This was the first full year putting that philosophy into practice through SfS’s newly finalized 2026–2030 strategic plan— a shift from simply building schools to asking harder questions about what happens inside the classrooms.
What we Built This Year
- 8,322 students enrolled across SfS supported schools, with 3 new schools and classroom additions in Koinadugu and Falaba
- 501 bicycles distributed across four districts for students like 14-year-old Mary in Bo, who once dreaded unsafe okada rides and now says simply: “Some of the riders made me feel uncomfortable. A few tried to touch me or asked me to come with them after school. I was afraid but felt I had no choice,” she recalls quietly. “Now, I ride myself to school. No more asking for lifts. No more fear.”
- 95 teachers completed a three-level literacy training program, with 33 sponsored for formal Ministry of Education certification
- 841 students in after-school reading clubs across 18 schools, progressing from letter-recognition to full sentences
- 5,815 students and 2,746 adult family members reached through sexual and reproductive health education, alongside nearly 2,900 menstrual hygiene kits distributed
- Girls’ enrollment now exceeds boys’ at the junior and senior secondary level across SfS supported schools.
A Milestone Year for Schools for Salone
In 2025, our annual revenue crossed $1 million for the first time in SfS’s 21-year history, with 75% of every dollar spent going directly to programs on the ground. It’s a moment of real momentum, paired with an honest acknowledgment that our donor community was smaller than 2024’s record year.
Why Our 2025-2026 Impact Report Is Worth Reading
Sonnah needed a bicycle. Mary needed a safer way to get to school. Idriss needed new tools to teach. Aminata needed a safe space to ask questions. Their communities needed schools, teachers, resources, and conversations that made education possible.
None of these things, on their own, solves every challenge facing education in Sierra Leone.
But together, they begin to change what is possible.
That is the meaning behind “Klo klo mia ja ve”—small drops of water make a mighty ocean.
Our 2025–2026 Impact Report is a reflection of those drops: the students who showed up, the teachers who learned new ways to teach, the parents who changed their minds, the partners who kept building, and the donors who made it possible.
Read the full 2025–2026 Impact Report and see what your support made possible.
And if you believe every child in Sierra Leone deserves access to a quality education, consider becoming part of the next drop.
Small, small, we are getting there.
