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Community Building in Bo now open

OWL in Bo are proud to announce that the Community Building is complete. It is a joint venture between the groups in Bo and Warwick districts with guest rooms and, in the future, an educational resource centre.

The One World Link between Warwick and Bo Districts has always been a friendship link which specifically avoided the inclusion of AID. This is still the case after 27years. So how come that there is a great big community centre in Bo paid for mainly by Warwick District citizens? The answer is that one exchanges GIFTS with one’s friends and that is what the centre is..a great big gift. This gift was given to make up for the destruction and agony of the 10 year civil war borne by Bo friends, and to alleviate the frustration and misery and fear felt by Warwick friends because there was so little they could contribute to suffering friends during that time (1990s).

Bo OWL said they needed a community centre to be a concrete symbol of the strong relationships which had built up between the 2 areas and it would be used to support skills training and community building to contribute to peace in the future. Watching the centre grow and become functional has brought equal satisfaction and excitement to both Warwick and Bo.

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Warwick District Councillors hear about the link.

Warwick District Council met on April 23rd and for the first time in its history had a presentation from one of its officers re. the exciting local council visit in November 2007, and February 2008 to Bo City Council in Sierra Leone.

Almost all 46 councillors were present together with the Chief Executive and other senior officers. Richard Hall, WDC Environmental Health Officer, led the presentation showing slides of the mounds of waste and the unsanitary drainage systems which threaten the health of Bo citizens. Nicola Cumberledge from WCC Finance dept. described the state of the Treasury dept. in Bo City Council. Cllr. Jane Knight talked about the exemplary governance practice in Bo.

Everyone described the positive experiences they had working in partnership with their Bo counterparts. They had gained a tremendous lot of personal learning and the Action Plan put together by Bo councillors and staff and themselves and the other Planning, Waste and finance officers who took part in the visit, was greeted by everyone as a major achievement. This needs now to be topped by accessing funding to implement it. The Chair of WDC thanked the OWL members present for their support of WDC involvement with Bo City Council.

Read more about the local authority link ... and see our archive of reports.

Climax to our 25th Anniversary Year

Big Africa Event

Big Africa Night
One World Link’s 25th Anniversary Year came to a resounding climax in Royal Leamington Spa Town Hall, with a feast followed by a concert of African music. The hall was packed out with an enthusiastic audience who enjoyed traditional Ugandan xylophone music, West African drumming and dancing, and then learned to dance West African style to the music of King Masco. Read more about the 25th Anniversary year...

Groups

The Kayoma Women's Development Organisation runs a group microcredit scheme kick started with funds from their sisters in Warwick District

Local Government Group - links between officials in Warwick and Bo districts. We hope that this will be the start of a three-year collaboration to the benefit of both Bo and Warwick districts.

Schools Group

Schools sub-group pages now open. Click here.