At the end of May 2002 - shortly after the first free elections and the end of the rebel war - Stefan Klenk travelled to Sierra Leone to get a picture of the situation of children and adolescents after more than 10 years of civil war. On his trip he visited the village of Forikolo, in which a provisory elementary school was built. 2 weeks after the visit a storm destroyed the school entirely. Klenk later learned that the school is destroyed every year during the rainy season. That is when it has been decided to build a more solid and permanent school in the village of Forikolo.

Hence was the association “Forikolo” founded in December 2002.
At the end of November 2003, Stefan Klenk finished his master’s thesis about the education project in Forikolo at the University of Leipzig. A copy of the master's work can be sent on request.

Forikolo eV is a non-political, non-confessional and non profit-oriented organization. It is entirely dedicated to alleviate the plight of children in Sierra Leone, where the rebels of the RUF (Revolutionary United Front), while more than ten years of war, have perpetrated inhuman atrocities. This includes the support of the parents of these children, based on the concept of self-help assistance. The aspiration of Forikolo eV is a sustained promotion of education, health and the agricultural sector, as well as to fight the plight of the people of Sierra Leone. The cooperation of the first chairman of Forikolo eV (Stefan Klenk) with partners in Sierra Leone started in May of 2002 by a study visit to study the situation of children and young people after the rebel war in Sierra Leone. The study, whose results are in the form of a Master’s Thesis at the University of Leipzig, shows the plight of children in Sierra Leone clearly. A remarkable to note was that almost all children from Forikolo want to go to school, but that often is not possible because of a lack of or inadequate school infrastructure and lack of financial resources. For this reason, Forikolo eV helps children in Sierra Leone access to education and educational institutions.