Vocational School Fees Gift (Digital Download)
Your gift will pay the fees for a child to attend Vocational School, where they will learn a trade that allows them to make an income and contribute to their community.
We will email you a digital version of the gift certificate and provide the gift to a child living, or formerly living, on the streets in Sierra Leone.
Once we have identified which child will benefit from your gift we will contact you to introduce them, let you know what course they are doing and keep you updated with their progress.
Your gift will pay the fees for a child to attend Vocational School, where they will learn a trade that allows them to make an income and contribute to their community.
We will email you a digital version of the gift certificate and provide the gift to a child living, or formerly living, on the streets in Sierra Leone.
Once we have identified which child will benefit from your gift we will contact you to introduce them, let you know what course they are doing and keep you updated with their progress.
Your gift will pay the fees for a child to attend Vocational School, where they will learn a trade that allows them to make an income and contribute to their community.
We will email you a digital version of the gift certificate and provide the gift to a child living, or formerly living, on the streets in Sierra Leone.
Once we have identified which child will benefit from your gift we will contact you to introduce them, let you know what course they are doing and keep you updated with their progress.
How your gift has helped Laughter Africa children in the past year:
For the academic year 2024/2025, we are paying for over 155 young people to attend vocational school. In just 2024 alone, we have had 13 young people graduate from vocational schools, who are now empowered to provide for themselves and their families.
In March 2024, Hawanatu, Isatu, Jariatu, Hannah and Rebecca all graduated from GISA Vocational School in either tailoring or hairdressing. Each of them received different equipment so that they can establish their own businesses. We met them all through our mobile project in Susan’s Bay in 2020-2021.
One of the girls who graduated in tailoring was 18 year old Isatu. Isatu lived on the streets from the age of 12 for three years until Laughter reunified her with her aunt.
She went on the streets after her brother brought her from the village, promising to pay her school fees. He never paid. Instead he and his wife forced Isatu into child labour. If she lost any money- they would beat her. One day while living on the streets Isatu was stabbed in the face by a man who wanted to steal her money. She says, “𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒆. 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕. 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉.”
“𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓. 𝑰𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓. 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉.”
“𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏. A tailor. 𝑨 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏. 𝑨 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑨 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕. 𝑨 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅. 𝑰𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 3 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔.”
“𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍. 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚. 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓. 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒗𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍. 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓.”
Isatu has a special message for Laughter Africa supporters, “𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒌𝒊 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒗𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. 𝑰𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅."
Meanwhile Abdulai, Aminata, Naomi and Ramatu graduated from Use-Us Technical and Vocational Institute in February 2024. They had been studying tailoring for two and a half years. All four of them received business support last year and have since set up their own tailoring businesses. We first met them at our mobile project in Portee in 2021 and now look at them …
Life has not been easy for the four of them. Both Abdulai and Ramatu were orphaned by Ebola while Naomi lost her father to the same disease. The deaths of their families had a huge impact in them turning to the streets.
Naomi, 23, was delighted to be joined at the graduation by her 5 year old daughter, who she gave birth to while living on the street. She said, “I am so happy that I have finally made my daughter proud of me. Now she can stand up tall and say my mummy is a tailor. I want to be a role model for her and give the opportunities that I never had.”
Ramatu, 19, said, “I tell God tenki that Laughter pulled me off the streets. If not for Laughter, I would be dead by now. Thanks to Laughter I have a future. I have hope.”
Meanwhile in May 2024, Abdulai graduated in Electrics from Muraldo Vocational school after studying there for two and a half years.
What we love most about Abdulai is his kindness to the most vulnerable. For instance, he always carries Fatmata, who has a disability, from Portee all the way to the centre in Adonkia on his back whenever she needs anything. It’s about 2 hours away. Although she has a wheelchair- it’s easier to travel on public transport without it. Whenever he arrives, he is exhausted and drenched in sweat but he really puts himself out.
He also brings children from Portee who might be sick to the Interim Care Centre. He puts himself out for anyone, at any moment.
When we asked him why he shows such kindness to the most vulnerable, he said, ”I have a heart that feels sorry for those who might not have anyone to defend them. I need to help them- just like Laughter helped me. I had no one on the streets to look after me so I know what it feels like. They are my friends from inside laughter. They are my family.” He is a great example to others.
Abduali is 23 and lived on the streets for 7 years because his mum and dad died of Ebola. We are so excited to support the young people whose lives were significantly impacted by the horrible pandemic. We gave business support to Abdulai last year and his business is booming!