June 2021 Update
Dear Friends,
Greetings. We hope you had a prosperous spring and look forward to a more normal summer than we all experienced last year owing to COVID-19.
COVID created incredible challenges in many different ways to families and organizations around the globe since March 2020. VESA supported school Betty Memorial Institute (BMI) was primarily affected by a shifted academic calendar. BMI was on track to achieve its most significant milestone in August, the graduation of its first senior class.
However, a caveat! Passing the West African Senior School Certificate Exam (WASSCE) is a requirement for graduation in Liberia. The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) who administers the WASSCE has decided the exam will not be given until September to accommodate state schools throughout West Africa. Hence, diplomas cannot be awarded in August.
The WASSCE exam will be administered in September, scored and reported sometime before December. BMI will have its official first graduation ceremony in either December or January.
The VESA team planning to attend the graduation ceremony in August considered delaying the visit, however, the decision was made to continue to travel for the purpose of our Library team working alongside BMI Librarians to enter additional books into the BMI Library Catalogue as VESA continues to support the school’s library program development. Along with the library team, two VESA mentors, Matt Wissink and Bram Ritsema, will focus on assessing the first annual Capstone Project. They will work with the two teams to bring the project results to a level that is presentable to investors. Had graduation with all its pomp been occurring on schedule, this further development of the Capstone would not have. Both teams, Muyamaiah and Kpomann, are working on developing prototype palm kernel processing machines sized such that a village could purchase and operate. Red palm oil is a staple food in West Africa.
In other areas of VESA support, Bruce will continue to be focused on teacher training in August. BMI has added some new teachers who have not had any direct VESA teacher training so it will be a timely session.
The SmartBox that was delivered December 2020 is being well integrated into BMI curriculum and use. BMI computer teacher Cece Nonamou has completed BMI teacher computer training following an outline he developed under the guidance of VESA mentors. Additional BMI teachers will take the course in preparation for further computer courses to be formally developed at BMI.
The August Team is hopeful it will witness another major milestone in the development of the BMI campus infrastructure which is the installation and commissioning of the Solar Power Station. Most importantly the station will serve as a living lab for the electrical students. Second, it will greatly reduce the amount of diesel fuel consumed. The cost of fuel is only one aspect of running a generator. Getting fuel to campus adds more cost and complexity.
The Solar Power Station currently stands at roughly 80% funded. The install cannot begin until funds are in hand. Install and commissioning only takes two weeks. Down payment and final payment occur very near each other. Our goal is that this station be installed and operational early August 2021. If you are a prayerful person, ask the Creator to make this a reality.
May the Lord bless and keep you,
Bruce