Sulaiman Sengeh, principal of Centennial Secondary School in Mattru Jong, Sierra Leone, recently spent two days at Northwestern Lehigh School District as part of an exchange program.

Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Holman and science teacher Peter McKnight visited the Centennial School a year ago.

Sengeh attended an April meeting of the school board.

He told the board the visit was assisted by Engineers Without Borders and the Rotary Club that went to Africa to help put the school back on its feet after a civil war.

The school had been started originally by missionaries so there is a connection between the two countries.

Sengeh said his visit was very wonderful and he had a host of experiences from the school system, having spent a day in the middle school and another in the high school.

“I will borrow much of what I learned for my own school,” he said.

The engineers provided solar electricity for the school.

Jeremy Smoyer, advisor for the Maker’s Club, made emblems for him to take home.

Sengeh said the teachers, students and administrators were all helpful and he hopes his visit will help education in his school.

He terms what Engineers Without Borders did as resurrecting the school as it was about to die.

“I will tell everyone in Sierra Leone how helpful everyone was,” Sengeh said. “They were all very welcoming. Thank you for this opportunity.”

Sengeh has been principal for three years. The school has an enrollment of 1,700 students.

He had a full schedule while he was visiting and he would like to do some sightseeing while he is in this country.

The middle school prepared a video of his visit that will be on Tiger TV.

After the day at the high school he met some students in the library who still had questions.

They do not study geography at Sengeh’s school but it is one of the subjects he considered a good idea.

Sengeh then left the meeting as he was scheduled to be in Bethlehem the next day.