2005 Press Releases

Building Bridges and Connecting People

 

September 27, 2005

Freetown

Tel: 226481

 

Tuesday September 27^th was a great day at the Bo Regional Library as United States Ambassador to Sierra Leone Thomas N. Hull inaugurated the first American Corner in Sierra Leone. American Corners are partnerships between US Embassies and host institutions. They provide access to current and reliable information about the US via book collections, the Internet and through local programming to the general public.

A total of $17,700 (over 51 million leones) from the US Government was used to set up the American Corner at the Bo Regional Library that is equipped with Reference Books, Educational Advising materials, magazines, educational posters and an Internet facility. The corner is designed to make information about the US available and accessible to citizens of the township.

During the ceremony, Ambassador Hull remarked that: “Today, I am opening the American Corner, a sort of bridge for the mind into the world of research, reading and the Internet.” 

Also at the opening were representatives from the Ministry of Education, the Resident Minister for the Southern Province, District and Town Councilors, and members from the National Library Board.

En-route to Bo, Ambassador Hull, on Monday, stopped at Konta village in the Tonkolili District to dedicate a bridge that was built with $8,046 (over 23 million leones) from the Ambassador’s Special Self Help (SSH) fund. The bridge was built to serve as a means of a safe and quick access root for traders and school children while also connecting neighboring villages that were previously unreachable.