Author Talk

Yesterday was my 3rd (or is it 4th?) author talk to a group of junior secondary students reading The Heritage Keeper as a novel unit in school. There were about two dozen students in rows, probably around 11-13 years old. We started out talking about writing habits (mine and theirs) and I encouraged them to think about becoming children’s book writers.

The kids were very present and fun. They knew the book well and were eager to talk about it. I loved listening to what their favorite parts were. What a wonderful guide for an illustrator or dramatist, in case we had need for them in future editions!

The students’ questions led into a few things I wanted to enlarge on. One was how difficult it would have been for Liberated Africans like Fima to return home. A second was how far you can stray from the truth in writing a historical novel. A third was what we know about the ethnic composition of the Liberated Africans in the mid 1800s. All fascinating topics to me so I have to restrain myself from diving in too deep for young listeners; keep reminding myself that what they asked is what they want to know! I do wish more schools in Sierra Leone would take advantage of the opportunity to teach about writing and Sierra Leone history in such a fun way.

We had a book signing at the end—a new experience for all of us!

The Seli River Writing Project

Let me share my fundraising campaign on GoFundMe Charity, in support of Sentinel English Language Institute writing activities in Sierra Leone.

Give if you can, and do share in any way you can think of! The Seli River Writing Project means a lot to both the teachers and students involved in it. Several of the teachers have confided that their writing facility brought about by experience with process writing in the club, has earned them peer respect and in some cases, senior positions in the school.

 

 

When and Where was the Annie Walsh Memorial School founded?

There is certainly a lot of conflicting information about the founding of the Annie Walsh Memorial School on the internet! Filomena Steady’s article in Hafkin and Bay’s Women in Africa: Studies in Social and Economic Change states that it “was founded in 1849 by the Church Missionary Society [CMS], succeeding the Female Institution established two years earlier.” (p. 218)  Hadi Bah’s posting on Sierra Leone 365 asserts that the school was founded not in Charlotte (as some people seem to be claiming) but in Freetown, and includes interesting information about its foundation stone.

However, it is stated both in Walker’s book from 1847, The Church of England Mission in Sierra Leone, p. 575 and on p. 174 in Sibthorpe’s The History of Sierra Leone, which first appeared in 1868, that the CMS Female Institution opened in Regent with eight pupils in 1845 under its first superintendent, Miss A.C. Morris. CMS schools at that time were only for those born in the colony; that is, they would accept (among others) the children of Liberated Africans, but not Liberated Africans themselves, whose education was the responsibility of the Government. When Miss Morris married Rev. Smith in 1845 and took up duties in Bathurst where he lived, the wife of the resident missionary at Regent, Mrs. Denton, filled in for her part-time until her replacement, Miss M. Sophia Hehlen, arrived at the end of December, 1846. In 1850 the Institution moved to Kissy Road where the present parsonage stands. Miss Julia Sass soon became superintendent (she is referred to as carrying on, or continuing, the charge of the Female Institution but not initiating it) and was looking for more suitable accommodation for the school when she left temporarily for reasons of ill health.  It was during her absence from 1853-55 that construction began on the school’s current site, paid for by the Walsh family for whom it was eventually renamed.

Regarding Charlotte, there is documentation that the linguist Hannah Kilham began a school for Liberated Africans in Charlotte in 1830, two years before her death. There was also a long-standing coeducational Government school for Liberated Africans in Charlotte. We know that at least two teachers previously connected with the CMS Female Institution (Mrs. Clemens and Mrs. Hehlen) later took charge of the school of Liberated African girls at Charlotte. The answer as to which school’s ruins can still be found at Charlotte must lie somewhere in this information; one thing we know, however, is that the answer is not the Female Institution / the Annie Walsh Memorial School.