Maandag (11 maart 2024) heeft Marie-José een interview gehad met Patricia Conteh, de Director of Communication van Koinadugu College.

Transcript van het interview

Marie-José

My name is Marie-José, that’s my first name. I’m from the Netherlands and I’m from a foundation in the Netherlands with seven other people.

In 2017 we started our foundation to support young people in Kabala.

Patricia Conteh

So today you came to Koinadugu College with some beneficiaries. What was it like?

Marie-José

It was great, it was more than we expected because some of our beneficiaries are now with us and they are sitting with wassce.

Up untill now we didn’t look further than that because there was not much in Koinadugu or in Kabala to go to.

I saw this Koinadugu College on Facebook, on the internet. I followed it and I have been talking to our beneficiaries. But I saw there was no initiative of them.

Even today when I ask them where is Koinadugu College, they don’t know. I, a Dutch woman, have to explain it to them.

So I thought it is a good idea to come here, watch and see the environment. And I’m sure they are enthusiastic now.

Patricia Conteh

So what would you like to say to some of the kids you sponsor in the entire Koinadugu and Falaba districts in Sierra Leone about Koinadugu College?

Marie-José

Like Mr. Abdullahi said, he went to Makini and faced the challenges of leaving your hometown. Every student here, that’s my experience, wants to go to university, to Freetown, to Makeni.

But you see, now you have this great college. You have the opportunity to go there. They have a lot of like ICT, like laptops, like online lecturers.

I saw them, I saw them on the internet, online courses, lecturers, it’s great. So please, you can stay at home, you can stay with your family, that is what Africa is.

And you can also learn. You can be a great leader. You can change this district. Like we saw in the presentation of students about sanitary and hygiene.

These enthusiastic students we saw, they are the start of this college.

Patricia Conteh

Thank you so much.