To celebrate the success of our schools’ Connecting Classrooms work, we’ve had a video made to tell the world about what the partner schools are achieving. In fact, local video editor Mark French has compiled two videos – a long version and a short version – illustrating the work the children are doing, particularly in relation to their Zero Waste initiatives and the Schools Farm Project. While these videos were initially designed to satisfy the grant requirements of the British Council, they have developed into much more than that.
They are a true celebration of everything that makes our link with Sierra Leone so special.
The short version (2 minutes 42 seconds) gives you a taste of the projects and partnerships that we have built up over the years.
Hastings Sierra Leone Friendship Link Promotional Video from Reel Connection Films on Vimeo.
The longer video (16 minutes) gives more details about how the schools partnerships were set up and how they work:
Hastings Sierra Leone Friendship Link – Community Celebration from Reel Connection Films on Vimeo.
It’s packed with live footage of children from both Hastings talking (and singing!) about their shared projects and about the pleasure they get from making friends 4000 miles away.
We couldn’t include every child from every school, but we think the videos give a good idea of the wonderful work that is being done by the staff and students in all the schools, with the help of the British Council and, of course, fundraising by the parent-teacher associations and the Link members and supporters. Now, with Covid restrictions easing, it should be possible to resume fundraising again. Please pass on the links to these videos to anyone you think might be interested in supporting the Link’s work – friends, colleagues, businesses in the town, etc. We want to make serious and urgent improvements to the water supply and sanitation in our partner schools, and that will be our biggest project yet!