These are teachers at the St. Raphael Primary School. It was established in 1923 by the Catholic Mission to spread education and religious doctrine. The school has a total number of 570 pupils and a staff of thirteen teachers. The school produces good results at the National Primary School Exams (NPSE). They also organize sports and thanks giving every academic year for the pupils.

Some of the major challenges facing this school are the late receipt of school fee subsidies from the government, the belated arrival of the teaching materials and the inadequate seating accommodations for the pupils.

Teachers and other professional workers come to SMT to seek loans for different reasons. Since salaries are usually very small, they are prompted to engage in businesses to supplement their meager salaries. Some cannot run a business for themselves directly; rather, they will invest whatever little they have into their wives’ businesses. Others seek a loan in order to pursue further studies or to pay school fees for their children. There will also be some who will want a loan to buy pieces of furniture like chairs or a bed, and some will want to either start building a house or continue with a house building project they have already begun. It is for some of these reasons that teachers at St. Raphael have come to SMT to seek a loan.

Sylvanus A. K. (left) is the head of this group. He has been in the teaching profession for thirty years. He was born in Waterloo, twenty miles (32 km) from Freetown. He is fifty years old and married to a businesswoman. They have seven children between the ages of seven and twenty-one. With this loan, Mr. K. will buy house-building materials such as doors and windows. He has already started building the house and only the doors and windows are lacking for the completion of the house. This loan will certainly enable Mr. K. to achieve his dream of completing his house.