By: Ibrahim Mansaray
Freetown, 12th January 2026- Sierra Leonean entrepreneur and beauty queen Hawa Turay, alias Hawawa, has called for support in her quest to build a decent school at Gbanworia Village, a rural community over 50 miles from Koidu City in Kono District.
In a Facebook post, the modelling coach said she discovered the school when she spoke about the deplorable conditions of schools across the country in a previous post. When her attention was first drawn to the school, she set out to “assess the situation on ground”.
The claims were found to be true. “There are no proper classrooms, no access to clean water, no toilet facilities, and no trained teachers,” Turay’s team reported to her.
A “makeshift and unsafe structure” is what the children have known as a school. Basic facilities to ensure the children’s dignity are also absent. “There are no proper classrooms, no access to clean water, no toilet facilities, and no trained teachers”
Turay said the reality on ground revealed one thing: the children are desperately in need of support. In responding to the dire need, she has made some donations to help ease the hard conditions the children are learning under.
“A few months ago, I sent learning materials, including books, about 200 school bags, blackboards, and other essential items,” she said. While she noted that “this helped”, the entrepreneur noted “it is far from enough.”
In a startling revelation, Turay said no child from this community had ever sat the National Primary School Examination (NPSE). Through her support, seven girls and three boys were sent to neighbouring villages to take the exams for the first time in their history.
Her discovery shows an important reminder that while school enrolment has improved and education is now widely accessible under the government’s flagship Free Quality School Education (FQSE) programme, there are still kids, especially in remote and underserved communities, unable to access it or at least going to school in undignified, discouraging conditions that are counterproductive to their dreams.
Turay narrated the grim reality of the children, who, despite their ambitions, their prospects die in the farms they toil or the homes they are sent to as child brides.
“Without access to education, many girls are married off or become pregnant as early as age 12, while boys are pushed into mining or farming,” she added.
Turay has a bold mission – one that could restore hopes, change realities and safeguard futures.
“My mission is to support Gbanworia Village by helping to build a six-classroom primary school, with 2 staff rooms, toilet facilities, and access to clean water,” she stated.
“The community has already contributed one acre of land, and some materials, including cement, shovels, and head pans, have already been sent to begin. However, we need much more support to make this vision a reality.”
She has made an impassioned plea, particularly to those who believe in education and a brighter future for children, to support the cause in any way possible. “Together, we can give them a chance at a better future,” she said.
