October 2015: DST Autumn Newsletter is out now
Find out all the DST news from August, September and October 2015: Flooding hits Freetown, a new DST course begins and TRL donate computer equipment. Find out more.
July 2015: Learning and looking to the future in Galway
Our CEO Dr. Abs Dumbuya attended the Human Rights and Disability-Inclusive Development 2015 International Disability Law Summer School at NUI, Galway, Ireland in June. It was a great opportunity for thinking about disability law, policy and development and Dr. Abs was able to gain knowledge from a number of case studies and presentations. Dr. Abs hopes to be able to apply some of the learning to our work in Sierra Leone. He said: "I want to say a huge thank you to Irish Aid, the Irish Embassy in Sierra Leone (who are doing a fantastic job) and all the staff of the Centre for Disability, Law and Policy who put on an excellent 5 days with over 20 countries represented."
May 2015: A marathon effort
On May 4th 2015 DST volunteer ran the Milton Keynes Marathon raising over £3000 for DST. This was the first time Laura has run a marathon and said, "I found the training really difficult but knowing I was running for the excellent work of DST in Sierra Leone really drove me on. I have met the students of DST and know how determined they are to study hard and better their lives and so 26.2 miles and tired legs seemed well worth it at the end of the day!" If you want to fundraise for DST find out more here.
March 2015: Super fundraisers at Westcliff High School for Girls!
Over the past few months the amazing students of Westcliff High School for Girls in Essex, UK have been raising money for DST. Their fundraising efforts have included running a talent show, a quiz night and a range of fun activities within school. The dedicated sixth form team stired up a lot of enthusiasm for DST and we are delighted to report that the pupils raised over £10000 for DST's work!.This is fantastic news and we look forward to reporting how this money is used in Sierra Leone over the coming months. Well done WHSG!
March 2015: Our first graduates of 2015
On Friday 13th March 2015 nine students from St Joseph's School for the Hearing Impaired graduated from DST. We were grateful to our special guests HE Sinead Walsh, Kitty Fadlu-Deen and Sister Mary Sweeney for assisting us on the day. A graduation ceremony is always meaningful but we think that our DST graduations are extra special as so many of our students have faced real adversity in their lives and have overcome this to work hard and gain a qualification. Well done graduates!
January 2015: Good news and congratulations in January
2015 has got off to a very good start with the birth of baby Issac Peter Abdulai Dumbuya on 10th January 2015. His father, DST's much loved CEO Dr.Abs Dumbuya, and his wife Mabel were overjoyed with their new arrival and as to be expected with a new baby the first few weeks of their new year have been hectic! A few days ago Issac was welcomed to the world by DST staff and students when they attended the traditional naming ceremony ('Pull-Nar-Doh'). Here are some images of our current DST students greeting Issac on this happy occasion:
January 2015: An insight into Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis
Peter Penfold (DST Patron and former British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone) recently visited Sierra Leone and found, with the current Ebola crisis still very much a feature of life, things to be quite different in the country. He also saw hope in sight though and encourages reinvestment in what will be a fragile economy post-Ebola:
"One hopes that when this Ebola country is Ebola free, the world will not think that the job is finished. It may be then that the most help will be needed to get this beautiful country full of courageous people back on its feet."
Click here to read more of Peter's excellent reflections (orginally posted on www.africanarguments.org)
