On Tuesday 10th November 2020, Handicap International (HI) field worker Chernor Timbo of Susan’s Bay Community Association for Psychosocial Project has disclosed that 90 participants will benefit from their project in four years.
The theme of the project is ‘Touching Minds and Raising Dignity for Underprivileged and Mentally Ill People’.
Speaking to Awoko at the Susan’s Bay community centre while meeting participants, Timbo revealed that the project started in 2018 and is being implemented in four communities; Magazine, Looking Town, Kuntolo and Susan’s Bay.
“Most of the youths in the slum communities including male and female engage in anti-social behaviour such as drug abuse. This has led them to suffer mental and psychological problems,” he said.
He went on to say that due to this backdrop, he came in January 2018 and did a feasibility study to know the different kinds of problems the youths were faced with.
“We discovered that a lot of them were using alcohol and hard drugs which have affected their minds. We also found out that some were into prostitution, violence and crime. If you come here before as a stranger, you can easily be robbed,” the field worker attested. More so, he said through their intervention, the situation has improved.
“We counselled our participants and placed them in groups of 15 and trained them for 9 months on how to live a productive life.” Upon completion of the training, Timbo said participants will receive a financial package to start a business of their own.
“They will be paired to engage in a business while we monitor their progress. The participants we trained from 2018 – 2019 were not given their financial packages, so we will combine them with the 2019-2020 ones to let them all benefit. 90 participants in Susan’s Bay alone have benefited from this initiative which is expected to end in 2021,” he stated.
Nancy Sesay, the child protection chairperson at Susan’s Bay said since the inception of the project for mental health patients and those with psychosocial problems in 2018, they have helped them to get treatment and have followed up on the recovery process.
“We have seen improvement in the lives of those people as we even have children from 10-13 years who are suffering from mental health problems. This project has helped them greatly. The financial packages will help their care givers to ensure that they have a sustainable livelihood,” she mentioned, adding that the community is full of people with social problems such as prostitution, drug abuse, alcoholism, child sexual penetration and violence.
For her part, Sidratu Kargbo, a potential beneficiary and reformed street girl said, if she receives the money she will engage in a meaningful business venture.
“I will go to the provinces and buy charcoal, palm oil, coconuts and other products and bring them to sell in the city,” she assured.
By Sahr E. George & David Thoronka