Since the Fund was established in July 1996 we have been mindful of ensuring that all donations are used to meet the aims of the Fund i.e. “the education and relief of poverty of children under the age of 21 in the continent of Africa” and are not swallowed up in overheads or unnecessary costs. The fund is organised and totally managed by volunteers and thanks to them we are able to achieve this objective.

We are very fortunate that the Salesians of Don Bosco supervise the projects in Liberia together with our local co-ordinator John Monibah and this gives us the assurance that the funds are reaching those most in need.

Sean spent 3 years in Liberia and whilst he loved all of Africa this is where his heart was. This small country on the West Africa coast is on its knees after a 14 year civil war that killed 1 in 12 of its 3.8 million population. After 14 years of civil war Liberia is now enjoying a period of peace. The years of unrest and civil war have destroyed the infra structure, devastated the country and left thousands of displaced people, especially women and children, struggling to survive. All the things the rest of us hold dear – home – job – family and physical landscape have been lost. Poverty, conflict and disease strikes their most brutal blow on the most defenceless women and children. The country desperately needs re-building. Two generations of children have never had any education, other than in the art of fighting. They have never been taught how to live and survive without conflict.

Many people believe that now that there is relative peace and stability conditions will improve but the sad fact is that it will take years before Liberia can stand on its own two feet again. The need for school feeding, education and medical support is becoming even more essential as organisations which had a presence in Liberia after the war begin to withdraw their emergency programs.

The support of the Salesians is vital to our work but it is important to remember that the Fund is interdenominational. We make no judgement on religion, race or colour. We also partner with other organisations such as Feed the Children and Mary’s Meals where appropriate to ensure that we fully utilise every penny of the donations we receive.

Whilst we help as many projects as we can around the African continent many of our projects are based in Liberia, these include:

Health Clinic in Buchanan

Buchanan is only 90 miles from Monrovia, the capital of Liberia but due to the road conditions it is about a 4 hour drive each way! The clinic is run by Sr. Carmen Nava, RN (Consolata Sisters) of the St Peter Claver Health Centre. The health centre’s beneficiaries include children, pregnant women and adults from the surrounding counties many of whom walk for hours to receive medical aid. We have sent medical goods on containers and have recently supported the building of a Voluntary Counseling and Testing centre for Aids patients and a storeroom in Buchanan. The health center’s constraints are enormous especially with severe shortages of funds to pay for medicines, cash, and salaries for the clinic’s 24 staff.

Tappita Project

Before Sean died he wrote a wish list on a scrap of paper—not quite on the back of a beer mat but almost! His dream was to be able to build a vocational centre in Tappita to benefit the whole community, with particular emphasis on young, displaced and uneducated people. Tappita is a city (by Liberian standards) of 20,000 mainly young people located in the North of Liberia.

Now that there is relative peace and stability in Liberia the Fund have begun to realise Sean’s dream with the construction of a vocational centre. The local elders donated 100 acres of land, of which 25 acres have been surveyed, on which to build the Sean Devereux Vocational Centre.

Work started in January 2008 with the clearing of the land and so far they have managed to erect two buildings – no mean feat in such a short space of time using volunteer labour and working through the long rainy season. The local community are involved in this project by volunteering their time, talents, tools and materials.

The main beneficiaries of this Centre will be ex-combatants and child soldiers, war-affected youth, school drop-outs and teenage mothers. The Centre will offer practical training to 120 young people at a time to make them marketable, meaningfully contributing to the well-being of society and the local community. Graduates will be given the opportunity to gain skills and use the skills for the improvement of their standard of living and the general good of society.

Sean Devereux Community Education Project

Amadu Sarnor was a friend of Sean’s who established the Sean Devereux Memorial School in Brewerville soon after Sean’s death. The school has been built, destroyed and rebuilt several times during the course of the 14 years of civil war in Liberia but Amadu doesn’t give up. The school is now thriving though still sorely in need of education materials and teaching support. A farm has been established and they are growing their own cassava and other crops. The Fund have helped the SDCEP to buy a cassava grinder which is used to generate income by selling the ground cassava and allowing other local groups to use the machine.

Volunteers of Sean

Sean’s former students, co workers, friends and admirers amalgamated themselves into a youth service group called Volunteers of Sean. In their own words they say…” Sean’s death news hit us all like a massive earthquake. Many did not know what to do. Others named their children after him, some founded a football club in his honor while others named institutions after him. In October 2005, Sean’s former students, co-workers, friends, and admirers amalgamated themselves into a youth service group called Volunteers of Sean. It’s motto is “Volunteering like Sean”. Their key objectives are to assist poor children go to school, to foster peace, reconciliation, and nondiscrimination among people, to provide humanitarian/relief assistance to needy, to participate in/undertake volunteer community initiatives worthy of emulation by young people.

The Sean Devereux Don Bosco Youth centre

This is another organisation that gives great hope to thousands of children It is attached to the Parish of the Holy Innocents and Mary Hope of Christians school. The children are very poor, they get food and are provided with all sorts of recreation, art, sports, and education. The place is alive with noise and life and many move on to the Don Bosco High school. The high school covers all the practical skills such as carpentry, mechanics, sewing etc as well as academic skills.

Feed the Children

We have been fortunate enough to enlist the support of Feed the Children who are based in Twyford. They have helped us to stock and ship several containers of aid over the past few years. Thanks to their support and the generosity of our supporters we have been able to send much needed food, medical equipment, educational supplies, sports equipment, generators, sewing machines, tools – the list goes on to various projects.

Mary’s Meals

For several years we have been helping Mary’s Meals who are part of Scottish International Relief. Their objectives are to provide food to encourage children to attend school. Their studies have shown that many children in Liberia still go for days without eating and the only meal that they have is often the bowl of rice provided by Mary’s Meals. This year we are supporting an entire school in Bomi County. The Moses Vincent School has over 200 pupils on its role and our contribution will provide every pupil with a meal of rice and fish each day for year.