Hands up if you are over 36!
HANDS UP IF YOU ARE OVER 36!
If you live in Sierra Leone, a woman and over 36 then you are lucky! Life expectancy is just 36.
This was one of the facts given at a meeting on 11 December 2008 arranged by Anne MacDonald (SIGBI’s Quadrennial Project Liaison for Project SIerra) at No. 63 with Mark Cook, Founder President of Hope and Home for Children (H+H) and Dr Roland Kargbo, Executive Director, HANCI-SL, H+H’s partner in Sierra Leone. This meeting was attended by approx 12 Soroptimists and several H+H staff.
Another fact - in the UN Poverty Index Sierra Leone comes in as the world’s poorest country.
In their presentations Mark and Roland spoke about how H+H started in Sierra Leone in 1995 with the increasing number of orphans arising with the rebel war. H+H was the only charity working behind rebel lines, which had its dangers including the threat of being considered rebel collaborators, but they would not abandon the children.
As numbers grew (from 24 to 60 in one year), H+H tried to trace families and reunite the children. Indeed, H+H stopped their residential care programme 5 years ago to concentrate on reuniting families. Some families rejected their girl children, who had been taken by the rebels as ‘bush wives’, raped them and who then had babies. They had brought dishonour to the family. These young girls then prostituted themselves to earn money to feed themselves and their babies.
HANCI has set-up extensive training courses (eg catering, tailoring, hairdressing) to help these girls. The training is undertaken in the girls’ community and sometimes in their homes. When they graduate they are given a starter pack to start them in their chosen career. Social Workers continue to visit them to support them.
Help and support is also given to street children as HANCI believes that a little help gives a future to a child. £40 gives a child a primary education for a year while £50 pays for secondary education for a year. Children will then become an asset to their community rather than a liability.
The project also supports vulnerable families to keep them in a family unit. The emphasis is on life changing rather than life saving - it is not just giving food. The local community recommends the families who need help and H+H works with a variety of NGOs to assist. HANCI believes that one reason for their success is that they have permanent staff on the projects (not people on short term contracts).
H+H said a big ‘thank you’ for SI and SIGBI’s support so far and would appreciate receiving monies as they are raised and not waiting until the year end etc; the money is always needed yesterday. They also asked whether SI or SIGBI had considered having a ‘key date’ for fund raising for Project SIerra - food for thought?
It was a rare opportunity to hear and talk with those personally involved with the project.
Joyce Boorman
SI Epsom and District
21 December 2008