One of the easiest and effective means of communication is through drama; against this backdrop Save the Children, UK in Sierra Leone has organized a drama seminar for children to expose challenges faced in their localities.
Mohamed Bangura, Education Programme Officer Save the Children, revealed that “the essence of this exercise is to let children become aware of some of the violations that are taking place in their respective communities.”
“We are targeting five Communities namely: Magbela, Kroo Bay, Susan’s Bay, Rokupur and Grey Bush,” he said.
He explained that these targeted Communities are the most marginalized as they are highly hit by poverty and that children living within these localities are the most vulnerable to abuse.
He stressed that in these Communities, parent are unable to take care of their children; “some of the teachers are not well trained or qualified,” he said.
“We are here to see how best we can help these children and their teachers so that they would be able to promote education in their various localities,” Bangura maintained.
The objective of Save the Children is to protect children; “our aim is to ensure that children have the best in life so that their future would be brighter.”
As 20th November marks the launching of the Child Rights Act in Sierra Leone, the Programme Officer said they intend to collaborate with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs to honor the day, “we want children to be aware of the fact that they too have rights which should not be abused because of their vulnerability,” he said.
The four schools in these slum Communities who were invited to the drama seminar were Kulafai Rashideen Primary School at Susan’s Bay; United Muslim School at Magbela; Jasmine School at Crab-Town, Ascension Town and FAWE from Kroo Bay.
He pointed out that at the end of the seminar they expect children to be aware of the violations that are taking place in their Communities.
The glaring picture that was shown from the drama, which was well attended by Parents, Teachers, Councilors, School Supervisors and other stakeholders was that children are often abused, trafficked (mostly rural-urban trafficking), exploited and left at the mercy of the cruel streets.
Councilor Sembeghia Johnson said she was touched by the plays “this is a serious situation that needs to be addressed urgently, if not it is going to affect our developmental process,” she said.
By Ophaniel Gooding
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