Baptist Primary School, Magburaka Group

Since its inception in 1974, this school lacked a formal building of its own. The school depended on renting one unfinished house after another. But thanks to the government, through a World Bank-sponsored programme they had their first building constructed in 1993 with only five classrooms. This was not enough, however, to host the growing number of pupils in the community; the school was, and still remains, the only primary school around the Back of Police Community. Thus in 2000, the United Nations Observers' Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSL) built them another five-classroom building.

Today, they are proud of two buildings with a well trained and qualified staff of eighteen. They have a very good record in terms of public examinations. They always achieve a record of 100% at the National Primary Schools Exams (NPSE).

This is their second loan from Kiva through SMT (Kiva’s Field Partner). The previous loan was a great success for these teachers. Some used their loans to attend to their children's schooling; others invested theirs in businesses or agriculture; and others used them for personal expenses, like purchasing furniture. Still others used their loans to start or finish the construction of a house.

Their head teacher, Mr. Henry S. Kamara (at the back left, in green), was one among those who invested their loans in building a house. That loan (Le 1,000,000), though small he said, helped him to start the construction of a house. With this new loan (Le 1,500,000), he will now be able to push the building process to another level. This is a great help to them, said Mr. Henry, who has been a teacher for the past 35 years. With a loan, each of the teachers will be able to handle a large sum of money in bulk, invest it in something great, and then repay gradually out of their meager salaries.

Mr. Henry is now 55 years of age. He was born in a village called Bumbuna, about 30 miles from Magburaka, the Tonkolili District head-quarter town, Northern Sierra Leone. He is married with three children, who are all still in school.



About Group Loans
In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a group of individuals bound by a group guarantee. Under this arrangement, each member of the group supports one another and is responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members if someone is delinquent or defaults. Learn more