Social Workers Sierra Leone (SWSL) on the 27 May 2017 gave new school uniforms to 45 children from Susan’s Bay. The children were among victims of a fire accident in April 2017 that affected 224 households in the slum community.
While distributing the uniforms, senior Social Worker, Malik Dawood Kamara, said the project was funded from an online site, which was set up by Australian, Anna Wilson, a social worker and associate member of SWSL.
“This woman, Anna Wilson, is worthy of commendation for mobilizing this support for the fire victims. We are not a direct charity organization; rather we influence and facilitate these kinds of assistance based on situations like the Susan’s Bay fire incident, which affected kids from deprived families,” Kamara said.
He said their major objective is to engage and work with people, families and communities to adjust and cope with social difficulties and help them find possible solutions to their problems by themselves.
“Promoting healthy lifestyle, equality and social justice is the essence of our existence as an organisation,” Kamara noted.
The beneficiary families danced and sang with their children in appreciation of the support. Yabom Bangura, a single mother, delightedly thanked SWSL for the school uniform her 13 year-old girl child received. She said despite being a single parent she provides for her three kids but she’s not sure she could continue after the fire incident.
“Many of us are the bread-winners of our families; it’s a huge challenge for us now as we try to resettle after the fire. In short, we are back to zero,” Yabom said, adding that they lost their small businesses to the fire.
As a result, many of the children in the Susan’s Bay Community who should be in school now help their parents in petty trading to make ends meet for the impoverished families.
Malik Dawood Kamara said, “The organization had established a child care and management program which is providing support to 75 kids who were identified and registered as fire victims and from deprived families in the early period of the fire incident. The first support included a package of schools bags, books, pens and crayons for all 75 kids; a donation from Anna’s ongoing fund raising drive.
On behalf of the beneficiary families, Yusuf Kamara, community stakeholder, applauded SWSL for “coming again and for their big help to our children and their parents.”
“You’ve been with us since the fire with both moral and material support. Our communities suffer from school dropouts and teenage pregnancy, which undermine the future of our children. We hope this support will make a difference,” Kamara said
By Emmanuella Kallon
Tuesday May 30, 2017.