Year of the Pencil Update: 100,000 Pencils Shipped to Sierra Leone
100,000 pencils. 100,000 opportunities.
We’re excited to share a major milestone in the Year of the Pencil campaign. With the support of generous partners and donors, we have collected 100,000 pencils for children in Sierra Leone.
Each pencil may seem small. In the hands of a child, it becomes access to learning, confidence in the classroom, and a tool for building a future.
In many schools across Sierra Leone, basic learning supplies are limited. Students often share writing tools or go without.
A single pencil can mean:
Now multiply that by 100,000.
This effort will reach thousands of students across multiple schools and communities.
On World Children’s Day (November 20), Develop Africa will distribute these pencils across several locations in Sierra Leone.
We believe this may mark a historic moment — the largest number of pencils distributed in a single day across multiple sites.
More than a record, this is about impact. It is about children walking into classrooms equipped and ready to learn.
The pencils are ready. The next step is shipping.
We are raising funds to cover transportation and logistics so these supplies reach the classrooms where they are needed most.
Your support now ensures that every pencil collected makes it into a student’s hand.
👉 Learn more and support the mission: https://www.developafrica.org

In the video above, Sylvester Renner shares the journey behind this milestone and what comes next.
Every pencil represents hope.
Every shipment represents action.
Every child deserves the tools to learn.
Together, we are putting opportunity into 100,000 hands.