Before Sean died he wrote a wish list on a scrap of paper – not quite on the back of a beer mat but almost! His dream was to be able to build a vocational centre in Tappita to benefit the whole community, with particular emphasis on young, displaced and uneducated people. Tappita is a city (by Liberian standards) of 20,000 mainly young people located in the North of Liberia.

Now that there is relative peace and stability in Liberia the Fund have begun to realise Sean’s dream with the construction of a vocational centre. The local elders donated 100 acres of land, of which 25 acres have been surveyed, on which to build the Sean Devereux Vocational Centre.

Work started in January 2008 with the clearing of the land and so far they have managed to erect two buildings – no mean feat in such a short space of time using volunteer labour and working through the long rainy season. The local community are involved in this project by volunteering their time, talents, tools and materials.

The main beneficiaries of this Centre will be ex-combatants and child soldiers, war-affected youth, school drop-outs and teenage mothers. The Centre will offer practical training to 120 young people at a time to make them marketable, meaningfully contributing to the well-being of society and the local community. Graduates will be given the opportunity to gain skills and use the skills for the improvement of their standard of living and the general good of society.