Giving a fresh start to those just starting out

During the long years of internal conflict in Sierra Leone, many young women were forced into lives as laborers, combatants and prostitutes. We rehabilitate and reintegrate these young women (ages 10 to 18) back into society and then provide them with the vocational skills to find work, even start their own small businesses. Our program, called “Sealing the Past and Facing the Future,” has helped these alienated young women return to their families and their lives.

Once these children are back in society, giving them security is our next goal. Our Child Well-Being Committees, composed of parents, youth and local leaders, help protect the rights of these children and take action against child abuse. In conjunction with UNICEF, we have established Drop-In Centers, where children can go for clothing, food, school supplies, informal education, skills training and counseling.  Primarily focusing on street children, Drop-In Centers provide these children a sense of safety and have helped reunite many with their families or have found them foster care as well as transitioned them into formal education settings.

Because Sierra Leone is host to many Liberian refugees, we joined forces with the UN Refugee Agency to aid women and children in the refugee camps in the Bo and Kenema districts. Our seven Child Centered Spaces have provided a safe haven for almost 70 percent of all vulnerable children in these camps.

These children also need to learn; however, 59 percent of Sierra Leone’s school-age children do not attend school. We first work to raise the communities’ awareness about the value of education and in partnership with UNICEF and ChildFund Ireland, we have established non-formal schools to give every child access to education. We also work with the local government and the World Bank to rebuild community schools, providing teaching and learning materials and training educators.  

Helping people live healthier lives

While Sierra Leone has the highest annual rainfall in West Africa, the people still have a shortage of safe water to drink. With support from the Sky Siegfried Fund, we constructed 26 hand pump wells in health huts to give almost 16,000 children and family members access to clean, safe water. The Community Action for Sustainable Health (CASH) program also uses these health huts as a means of supplying more than 80,000 women of reproductive age, adolescents and children with essential health services and products as well as training to birth attendants and community health workers.

Educational programs about malaria prevention have been conducted in 11 communities. We also are working to educate the community about HIV/AIDS, not only to help prevent the spread of the disease but also to eradicate the stigma.  Home-based care is offered to infected individuals.

Food security also is critical to maintaining the health of these people. Our initiatives in the Port Loko, Tonkolili, Bombali and Kenema districts help improve food security for the families in these areas. In the Tonkolili district, the Youth in Agriculture project not only brings youth ages 18 to 25 together and equips them with marketable products and skills, but it also serves as a community development tool by proliferating small businesses.

A boon to the economy of rural areas such as Koinadugu and Bomabli, our Salone Microfinance Trust (SMT) gives families the resources to build small businesses and earn better incomes to support their children. Women are SMT’s primary target, but it also serves displaced families, unemployed youth and former soldiers.

A helping hand is all this country needs to improve and grow. Help us give the people of Sierra Leone a fresh start.