These are teachers of the R.E.C. Primary School, Bassa Town Group. R.E.C. Primary School Bassa Town was founded in 1945 by the Rural Council to give education to the children of Waterloo. R.E.C. Bassa Town is divided into Lower Primary School (Classes I – III) and Upper Primary School (Classes IV – V). The Lower and Upper schools have a total number of 731 pupils and a total number of twelve staff. R.E.C. Primary school is proud that their pupils are able to make good grades at the National Primary School Exams (NPSE).

Over the years, the school has grown so much that it now lacks adequate classrooms. Staffing is also a problem facing the school. It lacks enough trained and qualified teachers to meet the growing number of pupils.

This will be the first loan for teachers of the B.E.C. Primary School from SMT/Kiva. This loan will certainly be of immense help to these teachers. Since salaries are usually small in Sierra Leone, especially for people in the teaching profession, they could not use their salaries to buy or do anything great. But with a loan, they can now buy or do something big and then repay over a period of time. Some of them will use it to begin or continue building a house, others to pay either for themselves to pursue further studies or pay for their children’s education. Some will use it to invest in businesses in order to complement their monthly salaries. Still others will use it to buy furniture.

Irene M. C. (back row third from left) is the head teacher of R.E.C. Lower Primary School. She was born in Waterloo, twenty miles (thirty-two km) from Freetown. She is fifty years old and married with four children. Two of her children are grown, one is in college and the other is in Junior Secondary School III (JSS III). She has been a head teacher of this school for over five years. Irene will invest this loan in her business. It will enable her to expand her business. She sells cigarettes, sugar, soft drinks, rice and so on. With the loan, she will be able to buy these items in wholesale.