Thursday, August 24, 2017

Sierra Leone News: Africa Notebook


awoko.org


image locating Sierra Leone from

Excerpt:
[T]he group [US-Africa 2017 Town Halls-Sierra Leone team] has sent a letter to US President Donald Trump urging him to “Restore the United States Information Service (USIS) [JB - see] library as digital online global platform which was closed in 1999 in Freetown as well as other African cities.”

Taking the lead, the group said, “restoring the library would mean that millions of African youths 11 to 18 years can have access to the educational resources in the system and will be an effective vehicle to expand its cultural and public diplomacy.”

Continuing the plea, the nog [JB - NGO?] noted that “for the past two years, US-Africa has been educating young girls and boys to have a working knowledge of economics, entrepreneurship, business concepts, public finance and knowledge of food crop farming and health fitness education.”

“We have been selecting resources from the internet to design our presentation materials.["]

“We need access to books and other reading materials to make the youths acquisition of the necessary skills, knowledge and abilities better and effective.["]

“The youths of Africa now have access to cell phones and the internet and with the existence of USIS, the skills development of these jobless young people would be increased and they will become productive citizens instead of going into crimes and terrorism.”

“It is not just in Sierra Leone the library is needed online [."]

["]But the majority of youths in Africa Are dying for knowledge of economic freedom, business entrepreneurship and necessary resources to acquire and develop personal skills to become productive citizens of Africa.”

Surely, a worthwhile request and veteran journalists in Sierra Leone would recall the role played by USIS in the development of the media in those days.

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