Village Hope is still much less than a year old, but we have many people to thank for their support during this critical fledgling period.
Village Hope was founded by Jonathan Bart, Susan Earnst, Craig Wolford, Sonny Humphrey, and Victor Bangura.
The Idaho City Schools were an early and energetic supporter of Village Hope, providing tee-shirts that we took to Sierra Leone to the delight of the school kids there and the amusement of several high-level officials, including the Vice President.
In Sierra Leone, Father John D. Tarawali, head priest of the Catholic Mission in Lunsar, provided food and lodging and accompanied us on many trips to the villages thereby lending his considerable prestige to the Village Hope work.
Father John also agreed to provide day-to-day supervision for Stephen Gibateh, our employee in Lunsar.
Victor Bangura contributed funds to retain the Rev. A.F. Kamara in Freetown. Rev. Kamara’s help has been essential in arranging the meetings we needed to have with high-level government officials.
Several people have contributed to Village Hope financially including Victor Bangura, Mike Earnst, Al Earnst, Julie Schrader, Gayle Detweiler, Sandy and Allen Dalton, and Willow Hahn.
John McFarlane, Larry Niles, and Jennifer and Steve Thomas played critical roles by agreeing to coordinate fund raising efforts for Robonka, Rokholifa, and Robomp respectively.
Steve Thomas, Director of Global Logistics for SuperValu Inc. – Grocery Retail and Supply Chain Services – arranged for SuperValu to provide us much needed warehouse space in Boise. Our main contact there was Roger Ohlhauser.
Many people have collected educational items for our schools including Rhonda Dart, Elena Vasquez, Debbie and Dave Shorthouse, Julie Schrader, Gayle Detweiller, Nick Parker, and many students from the Idaho City School and Garden Valley School.
Sara Beckmann and Linda Peterson prepared some very special artwork describing the Village Hope program and complementing the many photographs we took in Sierra Leone.
John Hester allowed us to use his photos for an earlier version of the website.
Emil Loza and Les Bock provided legal services at a reduced rate. Jesse Neilson, Roland Rocha, Joe Stipell, and Cory Webster of the Engineers Without Borders – Boise Chapter provided expert engineering assistance. Cece Gassner helped us develop our fund-raising strategy.
Father Anthony Guiotto and Moses Thollie advised on establishing an internet connection in Lunsar. Keith Pettyjohn obtained quotes for shipping to Sierra Leone. Daniel Turay of World Hope in Makeni, Sierra Leone, provided critical training and advice to Stephen Gibateh.
The Village Bicycle Project has pledged to provide mountain bikes and training in how to maintain and repair them.
Barb Briggs wrote a summary of school lunch programs which had a major impact on our thinking about health programs. Many other helpful suggestions were received from our families and friends.
We also acknowledge our intellectual debt to Mark Grashow of the US-Africa Children’s Fellowship for encouraging us to start Village Hope, Inc. Those conversations are how it all began.
And finally, we want to thank the hundreds of people we met in Sierra Leone for their friendship, help, and tolerance as we struggled to understand a new language, culture, and environment. When difficulties arise, it is the thought of continuing to work with them that keeps us going.
