Penelope Sharman, Honorary Life President

I once told the village folk in Koiva, Sierra Leone, that ‘I have been going to school since I was three and now I am over 70!' This, at that time, was part of a national promotion to keep girls in school.

Yes, I have been in education all my life, pupil, teacher, headteacher and inspector.

The reason being that I love children and want the best for them.

On my first visit to Sierra Leone, accompanying a group of teachers visiting their link schools, I realised that there was a lot of work to be done. This was just after the rebel war had ended.

I continued to take teachers from the UK, but after talking with headteachers in schools in Sierra Leone I realised that there was a lot more to be done – hence ‘Education West Africa’.

We are working in Sierra Leone as it is in the most need in West Africa. We now have four projects on the go, one to provide furniture for classrooms, two to provide uniforms so that more children can attend school, three to facilitate improved teacher training through financing conferences and four to provide a printing press so schools can print their own exercise books. We also help repair school buildings where the need is urgent.