Wesley Old Students Association: The Power of Community Organizing

WOSA Chairman Dr. Sandy A. Bockarie
Breaking Ground on Wesley Super Complex

Wesley Secondary School is securely nestled high above Segbwema in the hillside settlement of Kabalahun, a surburb of the Segbwema township.

Multipurpose School Complex

Though it has a relatively short history compared to other institutions in the area, it has been a formidable institution in the development of remarkable young men and women from that area of the country. Having produced its own share of medical doctors, economists, lawyers, entrepreneurs and educators, the school has played an essential role in supplying the public and private sector of Sierra Leone and international organizations such as the United Nations with formidable intellectuals who have played no small role in bringing progress not only to Sierra Leone, but to the world as a whole.




Owen M. Kaicombey Wosa Vice Chair

Today Wesley Secondary School products are working as far away as Darfur and Mogadishu and contributing to the wealth of world knowledge in every continent of the world. In the Eastern Region of Sierra Leone, Wesley has always played a major role in the development of the manpower in the area. Most of the major schools in the Eastern Region are staffed by teachers who are products of Wesley, a school that benefited from a strong link with its Methodist Heritage and a solid relationship with the peace corps and British academic missions. A good number of medical professionals at the Nixon Memorial Hospital Segbwema, passed through the doors of Wesley. Last week a random fellow on media accused me of intellectual arrogance. I went to Bo School, Wesley Secondary School and Sierra Leone Grammar School, what is there not to be arrogant about?

New Trombone

During the decade long civil war in the country, Wesley like most schools in the rural areas of Sierra Leone were destabilized or destroyed and at the peak of the crisis, the entire school; teachers, students, and even the blackboards were displaced to Kenema and continued operating as a displaced school. The school premises were looted and vandalized, but fortunately the main school building was not burned down due to its strategic location, way off Segbwema town center. The massive building became a shelter and source of refuge for the displaced. Years after the war, the school has moved back to its old Kabalun location and has started the slow process of regaining and hopefully surpassing its former glory.

New Saxophone

The main catalyst for the rapid rehabilitation of Wesley has not been the government, but the hundred of formidable old students of the school who have committed themselves to ensuring the use of their limited resources to rebuilding the school infrastructure.

The Wesley Old Student Association (WOSA) is slowly becoming one of the most formidable Alumni organizations in that part of Sierra Leone. As a testament to their perseverance and benevolence, they were able to acquire a brand new Brass Band for the school and now have the best school band in the region.

Golden Jubilee

This year Wesley Secondary School celebrated its Golden Jubilee at which the Brass Band was unveiled. The formidable Inter-Methodist Schools competition that gave rise to the discovery of many formidable soccer stars from the area including Vannie Bockarie and David Banya was reintroduced at the jubilee which ran from Monday March 25 to Monday April 1, 2013.

The most exciting part of the new developments at Wesley Secondary School is the commitment of the Alumni, staff and major stakeholders in the town to the construction of an ultra-modern Multipurpose Assembly Hall Complex that is conservatively estimated at approximately 600 million Leones. The Complex will house a two-story Assembly Hall, two classroom blocks, a staff room, two offices for the schools principals, the laboratory rooms for Biology, chemistry and physics, with a host of other facilities.

Wesley Today

Over the past year, detailed plans and budgets were drawn up for every aspect of the super modern complex by ex-students of the school and the groundbreaking ceremony for the project was done during Golden Jubilee.

Wesley Old Students Association under the dynamic leadership of Dr. Sandi Bockarie, Principal of the Eastern Polytechnic and Owen Momoh Kaicombey, a young man with surplus enthusiasm and energy have really brought hope to the Segbwema Community. Assisted by hundreds of Alumni too numerous to mention, they have engaged the Paramount Chief PC Sheriff Coker Jajua, the MP Hon. Abu Jajua and a lot of dignitaries in and around the country to make their old school an educational force to reckon with.

Wesley Before the War

But the WOSA executive cannot do it alone and they are making appeals to ex-students to chip in and donate generously, especially those in the diaspora. If you attended school in Segbwema, it is your chance to step up to the plate, stop blaming government for neglect and be a leader in your own development. Thanks to all the wonderful men and women of WOSA who are blazing the trail for others to follow. Thanks to all the segbwema people in the diaspora who will soon be sending their pounds. euros and dollars to WOSA for such a great venture.

Segbwema Town Sports