Our story
We first went to Sierra Leone in 2011 as part of a team conducting free medical clinics. Doctors and specialists treated people who had gone years without care. Others registered patients, kept the clinic running, and sat and prayed with those waiting to be seen.
More trips like this followed.
During those early trips, we met loving and dedicated pastors, incredible servants who were doing all they could for their communities in conditions that most of us would find unimaginable.
Pastor Saffa in Rokel, Pastor Fayia in Lungi, and Pastor Marvin at Wilberforce Barracks shared their stories, and through them we saw the beauty of their people, their deep faith and trust in God. And as the Spirit led, we began to see needs that lined up with our own capabilities and educational backgrounds back here in the States.
Those needs were great.
A village school in need of a suitable building. Teachers who wanted training and certification and had no way to get either. Young women facing abuse and exploitation in desperate need of an education and a better life.
So we went back again and again, with builders, teachers, anyone willing to lend a hand.
In 2015, we incorporated as Signpost MissionWorks and that same year the first school we funded broke ground in Lungi. Over the next few years, our work would expand to the village of Rokel with the building of the Godwin Vocational Training Center.
Our charter, really our passion, is education: building and expanding schools, training teachers, and providing all that’s needed to give children, teens, young women, and their teachers promising futures.
Fifteen years after our first trip to Sierra Leone, children in Lungi have a new school building along with teachers who are trained and certified. On the other side of Freetown, the first class of graduates from the Godwin Vocational Training Center in Rokel are thriving in their careers. Lives transformed.
Thanks to God, the generous support of our Community Presbyterian Church family, and donors like you, the work continues.
We’d love your help.
Our board
“Signpost MissionWorks allows me to continue to work with children and families through education and projects like getting clean water into a community. Most of all, it gives me many opportunities to show the love of God to a hurting and broken world.”
— Jean Stiles
Jean is a retired special education teacher and speech pathologist who still enjoys teaching and helping children meet their full potential.
“I was attracted to education because it is a giving profession and I love to work with people. I’m excited to be part of Signpost MissionWorks and look forward to the continued opportunities to give to the people of West Africa and wherever else our mission leads us.”
— Joe Vaughan
Joe is a Ventura, California native, a U.S. Army veteran, and a retired teacher and coach with over 40 years’ experience in education.
“I love sharing God's love with all of my students by showing them their worth in the class, their families, and in their communities.”
— Sandra Kunes
Sandra was raised in Tijuana, Mexico, and has been a preschool teacher for more than 21 years in both Mexico and the US. She is a board member of Signpost MissionWorks and Dos Pueblos Relief, Baja.
“Telling stories for the screen is what took me to West Africa in the first place to capture an amazing ten-day medical mission trip to Sierra Leone. And now Signpost MissionWorks, with its emphasis on education and infrastructure projects, brings me back.”
— Steve Stiles
Steve has spent his career in non-profit work with Youth for Christ as a Campus Life Club Director for 10 years and Focus on the Family as Executive Director of the Film Department for 11 years.
In memoriam
“My core belief is that all children, given the opportunity, can achieve at the highest levels. If that opportunity includes a safe school, engaging curriculum, and clean drinking water to promote health, all children can succeed.”
— Tim Weir
Tim was a retired public school educator and administrator. During his first trip to Sierra Leone in 2011, he found a second calling and devoted himself to improving the lives of children in developing countries.
