Dear Friends of Sierra Leone,
Abbeyshrule,Keenagh, Ballinahown, Clonmacnoise, Drumherriff, Moydow, Drumshanbo,could be lyrics from a Brendan Shine song, or a Kavanagh poem, and maybe they are. But they all sent people to Yengema Secondary School (YSS) in the 60’s and 70’s,and those people have remained deeply connected to the school through the war, and Ebola, to this very day.
I hope you will be able to go to the fundraising concert for YSS at St Mel’s Cathedral, Longford, on Friday 25th of October, at 8pm. Tickets are €25 and can be ordered from John Flavin at flavincssp@gmail.com. The cast is: Liam Lawton in concert, guest Eimear Barry, with the St Mel’s Cathedral & Longford Cathedral Choir.
All the places recorded above, are in the diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, of which St Mel’s is the cathedral! The Archbishop of Freetown and Bo, Edward Tamba Charles, is a past pupil of YSS. And, the Irish/Sierra Leonean daughters of, another of YSS’s brightest and best, Tommy Garnett, are at the cutting edge of Art/Soul music. Sally and Emma Garnett (performer names Loah and Fehdah) can be followed on Loah@musicbyloah andFehdahFoli@FehdahFoli.
The funds raised will be presented to Bishop Henry Aruna, the bishop of Kenema, when he visits Ireland for the Sierra Leone Ireland Partnership (SLIP) conference on Education in Sierra Leone, in March, next year. The funds will be used to rebuild the school and restore a high level of education to local school children.
I look forward to seeing you there.
Finally, the 2019 AGM of the Sierra Leone Ireland Partnership (SLIP) will take place at 44 Belgrave Square w, Rathmines, Dublin, D06V5X0 on Saturday 19th of October at 3.30pm.
Best wishes,
Martin