Paris to Istanbul Bicycle Tour

John Waterhouse's
Paris to Istanbul Bicycle Tour

What I'm doing to make a difference:	I am riding my bicycle from Paris to Istanbul, a total of 4,000km between June 4 and July 25. The tour is organized by the Tour d’Afrique (www.tourdafrique.com). There are three levels of sponsorship: copper, nickel and silver. Sponsor at one cent, five cents, ten cents or more per kilometer. All donations are tax deductable and all funds go to financing the Sierra Leone Teachers Resource Centre project. I will pay all of the trip costs so the entirety of your pledge will go to fund the project.
What is the Teachers Resource Centre?	It is a building where educators can access learning and instructional resources, information technology, teaching instruction, and a community centre for local education learning, teacher training, and study. It will be located in Koinadugu, Sierra Leone.
Why:	40% of Sierra Leone’s primary school teachers are untrained. In Koinadugu District, where there is no teacher training institution and the majority of communities are remote, community teachers staff the great majority of classrooms. Community teachers have no formal training and are not paid by the federal Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Instead, local residents pay community teachers, often in the form of food, housing, and farm labour when money is in short supply. Despite this financial insecurity, community teachers work in classrooms where the average student to teacher ratio is 66:1. The issue in Sierra Leone is a lack of support for these individuals to become and develop as professional teachers, especially in remote rural areas like Koinadugu District. The current lack of support directly and negatively impacts the quality of education available to children.
Who will operate the Teacher's Resource Centre?	CAUSE Canada, an NGO which has been operational in Sierra Leone since 1988, will operate the Centre. CAUSE Canada has a long history of operating schools, medical facilities, micro credit, and women’s empowerment programs in Koinadugu District
Why am I involved?	I believe that education is the most important factor in development. I have been to Sierra Leone and seen firsthand how keen people are to learn and how scarce are the resources. I am working with another NGO, AHED, (www.ahed-upesed.org) to increase the capacity of the University nearest the Teacher’s Resource Centre, Makeni University, to train teachers. These two projects are complementary.