Category Archives: Events

Sierra Leone School featured in Oxford United Football Club Match Programme

The Westminster Group Foundation and Oxford United Football Club partnered together in February to provide one school in Sierra Leone with 15 OUFC football shirts and prepared a quiz for local schools to compete in for the shirts.

17 entries were received from 4 different schools, and the winner came from Bullom Ahmadiyya, Muslim Junior Secondary School in the Masoila area of Lungi.

Oxford United Football Club were made aware of the winner and included the story in their match programme on the 29th of February. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were only recently able to send the programme to Sierra Leone.

When it did arrive in November, Neil Fowler, the Aviation Security Manager at Westminster Aviation Security Services, presented the programme to the school alongside the headmaster, Umar P Bangura, during their morning outdoor assembly.

Mr Bangura thanked both Westminster and Oxford United on behalf of the school for the quiz, the football shirts and now the inclusion in the match programme. The children were visibly excited by the inclusion, as they all cheered when the programme was handed over.

Westminster have had a presence in Sierra Leone since 2012 and will continue to provide support in whatever way they can throughout this pandemic and beyond.

Westminster Foundation supports the Sierra Leone Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary.

Westminster Foundation recently made a donation to the Sierra Leone Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary to assist with education support programmes in schools.

Sierra Leone’s chimpanzee population is rapidly declining and facing a serious risk of extinction, over the past 24 years the chimpanzee population has drastically reduced by more than 80% as a result of poaching (despite this being illegal), loss of habitat and habitat fragmentation due to human activities.

The Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary is working on many fronts to prevent the extinction, they do this by awareness education programmes in schools, producing and circulating posters with the chimpanzee’s new status as Sierra Leone’s national animal and that it is illegal to eat bushmeat

The Tacugama team target is to protect as much as possible the chimpanzee population in Sierra Leone and the rest of the biodiversity. But despite their efforts, baby orphan chimps keep arriving at the Sanctuary, unfortunately changes in attitude to the wildlife will not happen overnight.

 

 

 

 

Ebola Crisis Appeal

Ebola Crisis AppealThe Ebola situation in West Africa is now creating a humanitarian crisis on a scale far greater than most people realise with millions now at risk not just from Ebola but from the widespread effects that this crisis has had on the countries concerned.

Whilst many thousands have fallen victim to the Ebola outbreak this is only the tip of the iceberg. The fact is that the healthcare and emergency services in these countries are doing a heroic job with many brave healthcare workers giving their lives to try and help treat/contain the outbreak, but the truth is the system is at near collapse. This has, in turn, led to major problems in dealing with other serious health issues and killer diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and of course HIV/AIDS, all of which dwarf the current mortality rate of Ebola, together with the many other day to day health issues that require medical support that is no longer available. At best people who need such medical assistance may get cursory care but more likely there is no help available or worse they may end up alongside an Ebola patient.

Add to this the effects of all these deaths on families and communities who have been left devastated by their losses, coupled with a breakdown of civic structures, major loss of employment from the many foreign companies that have shut down or reduced operations, and the widespread hunger, and it is easy to see how this humanitarian crisis is unfolding.

Whilst Britain and other countries are now providing much needed aid and assistance much more is needed. The various charities and NGO’s operating in the region are equally doing a good job but the scale of the problem is huge.

We have therefore launched our Ebola Crisis Appeal Fund to help alleviate suffering in the region caused by this crisis and provide much needed support to the local communities. Donations can be in the form of monetary gifts, with 100% of all monies received going to the charitable cause, or donations can be in kind (clothing, blankets, non-perishable food, toys etc.) which will be distributed utilising Westminster’s extensive infrastructure and networks.

Please consider this appeal seriously and mention this request to your family, friends and acquaintances – the more we can raise on this appeal the more we can do to help alleviate the suffering.

HOW TO DONATE:

Details of how you may donate can be found on the Donate page available in the menu above.

Or by email to ebolaappeal@wg-foundation.org

Or call +44 1295 756300 and mention Ebola Crisis Appeal and you will be put through to someone who will assist.