What have you learnt about your partner school in Sierra Leone? What have you learnt about yourself? How were the partnership lessons different from what you regularly do at school? Here are some reflection essays written by the students.

“The partnership lessons differed very much from the regular lessons. We spoke about the situation of the other country and watched pictures of it so it was not a regular lesson.  I learnt some important things about Sierra Leone. The first is that it is unfortunately a very poor country, the second is that there is very much rubbish and the third is that a lot of children could not go to school because they cannot pay it.I realised that the students in Sierra Leone do want to study hard and they are happy for what they have.I learnt about myself that I am very lazy, sometimes I want more than I have and I do not like to go to school but if I could not do that I would be very unhappy because I will be nothing in my life.”

“ The partnership lesson really differed from the original lessons we had. They were more funny and creative than the others. We were also able to improve our communicative skills by them. We learned that Sierra Leone is located in the western part of Africa. There is a season where it rains a lot. People are not that rich there as in Western countries.They are very helpful and they do a lot for their environment. They are also very funny and talkative sometimes.

I learned that I can draw as a kid as well as an artist. I can talk a lot in English even if I don’t talk that much in Hungarian. I learned that I can work well with other people if I communicate with them”

“The partnership lessons differ from other lessons I have had regularly. In partnership lessons, I could sink into this. I've learnt about another culture. In other lessons not so much. The first most important thing I learnt about Sierra Leone is the toughness. People, children never give up their dream. They're learning despite the environment. It is remarkable. The second is waste management. We must heal the World by rubbish collection, saving on and recycling. The third is culture. I learnt these about students. Love, helping and learning are the three most important things I have learnt about myself.”

“What I learned about students in Sierra Leone is that they are really hard-working, they are full of life all the time and they want reach something in life and for me it is really inspirational. I think my opinion has changed about my life goals. I'll never be the best but I will do that I can that's what I have learnt from them. What I have learnt about myself is that I can be changed by others even if they live in a completely different world from mine; they could influence me and I think this is a great thing.”

“It was very useful to learn about other people’s life. We don1t learn talk about like this from other subjects. The water and streets look very polluted. The food looks unusual to the food we eat. Life is much different than here. They probably appreciate things more because they have to work much more to get what they need which makes them very hard working. I feel very spoiled, because i get almost everything I want. I learned that I don’t know hardly anything about the world and what’s outside of Europe.”