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Dedication of Hope for Lives Computer Lab at St. Anthony's School

Dedication of Hope for Lives Computer Lab at St. Anthony's School

We've been working on the Hope for Lives Computer Lab at St. Anthony's School for over a year now. We built the structure right next to the Hope for Lives Library and have been working on installation and configuration of the computers with the help of our IT guy and trainer Kemoh Tarawally.

Father Bassey of St. Anthony's Parish officially dedicated the computer lab in late September to coincide with the beginning of classes. We have to thank Jimmy Bruzon and Action4Schools for making improvements to the roof over the last two months as our lab building took a beating during the rainy season.

The Hope for Lives Computer Lab building (and the library) is on the boys side of the school, which is why most of the pics here are of the boys. Be assured however, that the girls and all of the school kids have regularly scheduled access to the computers. Our plan to make the computer lab sustainable is to allow the general public paid access as an internet cafe and to offer printing and other services. Public access will be scheduled around the school kids, who get first priority.

Bobby Smith Visits Sierra Leone

Bobby Smith Visits Sierra Leone

It's late February and Bobby Smith returned to Sierra Leone to oversee the completion and installation of the computer lab at St. Anthony's School. As you may know, the Hope for Lives Computer Lab is conveniently located a few steps from the Hope for Lives Library at St. Anthony's School.

Our recent shipment has arrived in Sierra Leone including the 7 Hematology Analyzers and Immunoassay machines, a variety of specialized cardiology equipment, a lot of medical supplies and whatever else we could fit into the shipping container. We don't know yet the destination for all of this equipment, but with all that has been collected, we could probably open one of the best equipped hospitals in West Africa. We'll just have to wait and see how this plays out.

As of this writing, Bobby has yet to return to to the U.S. to regale us with stories of his activity in Sierra Leone. He travels to Africa with a general idea of what he has to accomplish, but things often expand to include time with the St. Anthony students, feedings, health screenings, distribution of shoes, visiting the amputees and other activities. I can't wait to post the photos.

For now, we'll just encourage you to donate to Hope for Lives. Unfortunately, much of the funding for these projects and travel associated comes out of Bobby's tiny pockets. We are ever grateful to our donors of medical supplies and equipment, particularly Suburban Hospital Johns Hopkins and Bobby's cardiologist friends. Your monetary donations are what pays to ship these valuable donated goods to Sierra Lone, so please help us keep up the pace of relief and opportunity.

B-CC Rotary Club Grant

Hope for Lives in Sierra Leone is happy to announce that we recently received funding from the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rotary Club in support of fighting the spread of Ebola in Sierra Leone. 

The grant will directly support the acquisition of HAZMAT protective suits that include a hood and boots. These suits are critical for Ebola operations in Sierra Leone and there is a tremendous demand for more.