Great work was accomplished by “Weaving Networks in Makeni” last year

The voluntary inter-university project of the Universidad CEU San Pablo and the Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera, supported by the ICUSTA Fund for Solidarity Projects, realized three trips to the capital of Sierra Leone last year. In January of 2018, a trip by professors for surveying and preparation (which we reported in this previous note); in July of 2018, a trip by professors and students in order to execute the planned activities; and from January 24 to February 11 of 2019, a trip of professors from the CEU to continue the previous activities.

“Weaving Networks in Makeni” is an initiative that began in 2009 with the signing of an agreement between the Universidad CEU San Pablo in Madrid and the university of UNIMAK in Sierra Leone, which has been in turn opening up to other collaborating agents such as city councils, schools, hospitals, religious communities, NGOs, social centers, among others. In 2017, ICUSTA awarded the project Weaving Networks in Makeni an aid of ten thousand dollars, thus giving a considerable impulse to the project by financing part of the realized activities during the year 2018.

The activities developed by the project are divided into five areas: urban planning, craft industry, business projects, health and communication. With regard to the first area, the Spanish volunteers prepared a very comprehensive technical report of 91 pages for the improvement of the neighborhood of Masuba (thanks to the mapping and the collected data from the first expedition), which they presented to the authorities of Makeni and UNIMAK during the last visit.

In the area of craft industry, using the information provided on the local artisanal weaving, the voluntary students implemented projects of creative design, patterns and prototypes, with materials and techniques of Sierra Leone, which were delivered to the local artisans last July. Moreover, on that occasion capacitation in related techniques was provided and new products were developed as was a definitive sample catalogue. During the second semester of 2018 actions were performed in support of the communication and marketing of the artisanal products, with a view to the future phase of more professional and extensive sales.

In the month of July, other volunteers gave intensive workshops on tools and work techniques to students of UNIMAK, supporting the presentation and business development of their own entrepreneurial projects. Furthermore, a diagnostic was made of the commercial activity in the market zone and on the main street in Makeni with the end of realizing more profound studies and making recommendations focused on the improvement of commercial activity. A donation of chairs and desks was made to the school of Masuba. In support of the Poor Clare Sisters’ School of Professional Formation in Lunsar town, a team of volunteers analyzed the data collected and recommended assessment indicators, with the final objective to open an on-line e-commerce store to sell the products made by the students.

In the area of health, a “Health Summer Camp” was held, in three locations, which gave 150 kids from Makeni the opportunity to enjoy two weeks of recreational-educational activities, far removed from begging, abuse, or forced labor. There they were educated on healthy habits and the prevention of sicknesses and they were also given basic health care. Moreover, two professors of surgery from the Universidad CEU San Pablo performed a total of 24 reconstructive surgical interventions at the Holy Spirit Hospital. At the Magbenthé Hospital, three other doctors performed gynecological examinations on 326 women and intervened in 122 of them for pre-malignant lesions of cervical cancer (the principal cause of cancer related deaths in Sierra Leone). An electrosurgical unit was donated to the hospital in order to perform these surgical procedures, in addition to physiotherapy equipment. At the beginning of this year, the volunteers held a Posture Prevention Course for the workers and a course on Respiratory Physiotherapy for the professionals of Holy Spirit Hospital, and they also presented a proposal for on-line formation for the professionals of the new Burn Unit. Reconstructive operations were performed that had been postponed in July for lack of anesthetics, and an educational program was prepared on women’s health, evaluating the acceptability of a program on genital reconstruction and continuing the screening of cervical cancer.

The Communications team, for their part, prepared themselves all year in order to travel in January 2019 to Sierra Leone, where they filmed a documentary at UNIMAK on the different contexts of student life. They also donated technical material and trained the personnel and students of UNIMAK on their use and on the latest techniques of shooting and editing.

In the words of the team:

“The sustainability of the results obtained so far within the framework of the program Weaving Networks in Makeni, Sierra Leone, is clearly found to be influenced by a series of human and economic factors. However, the principal agents involved are setting short term goals and constructing little by little with no other ambition other than to progress together towards a common goal: the improvement of the living conditions of a town and cultural exchange.”

Source: Office of the Vice Rector of International Relations, Universidad CEU San Pablo.