2019: A new chapter in a new building
2019 has been a year of change for the Dorothy Springer Trust.
In May we made the difficult to decision to move from our offices in Pultney Street, at the centre of Freetown, where it has been for five years.
We celebrate our time at Pultney Street: it was initially a dilapidated building, but after £11,000 of investment, it became a modern model office with a state-of-the-art equipment, accessibility and modernity. The office was officially opened in 2014 with great fanfare, and it was from Pultney Street that we began to deliver training directly by DST, rather than relying on an outside training provider. Within three months of opening, 40 members of the local community had been trained. The office has served the disabled community and the public well; through IT training course, employment creation, advocacy and other services.
Despite this, a significant increase in rent has led to the decision to move to new offices on the East side of the city, co-located with the Freetown Cheshire Home (FCH) and school. The shell of a new building existed, but a lot of work and money was involved in turning it into offices that can be used for training, as the base for the DST Employment Bureau, and other operations of DST.
There are many benefits to moving:
• Larger offices, giving DST the opportunity to expand operations
• A new building in an excellent state of repair
• Located in a part of Freetown which has a high incidence of disability, so is close to the community DST serves
• A reduction in annual rent, freeing up money to invest in further education and courses.
DST started using the new building almost immediately, as a base for running a FCH project with One Family People (OFP) and Dutch Lilliane Fonds, supporting university women and children with disabilities. See the photo below.
The equipment we used at Pultney Street has been transferred to our new offices. This includes the laptops generously donated by the UK company TRL.
The building has been appropriately named “DST Opportunities House”.
In late November, DST celebrated with a grand opening of the new offices. This was supported by Chief Komrabai Peter Penfold (former British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone), with the unveiling of the plaque by His Excellency Simon Mustard, the new British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone. The cutting of the tape before people went in to inspect the new building was officially done by Rev. Mrs Linda Koroma of Regent Road Baptist Church.