Change Lives in Sierra Leone!

April was a busy month for Sierra Cares Foundation.  We helped law enforcement track down and convict traffickers from the largest criminal sydicate in Sierra Leone!  This syndicate was primarly responsible for the recruitment and transport of women to the Middle East. They skirted the 2022 migrant refugee laws to help potential "buyers/employers" gain access to Sierrra Leonean women. We worked with law enforcement to convict the leaders of the syndicate to justice.  As part of their sentencing, the traffickers must pay restitution to the families of the victims and serve prison sentences in compliance with Sierra Leonean laws. 

This was a tremendous undertaking as SCF covered the costs for reunifying victims with their families.  SCF will also create and fund a universal training system for political leaders, law enforcement, judicial servants and the public.  This is a huge step forward to preventing and educating  all Sierra Leoneans on the realities of being recruited and what happens to victims.  We also had to ensure the safety of the victims who were brave enough to identify the traffickers and give us their whereabouts as well as the endure the safety of our staff involved.

 The SCF HOPE Community Center has been open since January, providing programs for our returning migrants by offering medical, job, housing and food support.  We have been able to expand our community well water and electricity to serve about 20 homes in the surrounding area. Migrants are truly grateful, as providing light at night makes them feel more secure.  The community center bathroom was also completed and now serves as a safe place to wash up with clean drinkng water and a flush toilet. 

We are actively working to breaking the cycle of child marriage by providing education. We are also providing tangible resources for our boys as a viable alternative to keep them from being recruited as child soldiers.  We are focused on breaking the generational trauma rooted in poverty and a lack of hope.  We are revolutionizing a mental health service program that is the first of its kind, not only in West Africa, but the entire continent. This program will serve as a model for other non-profit and governmental organizations to provide long-term, sustainable support for our migrants and their families as they navigate the trauma of being held in captivity overseas.  We promoted Samuella Isha Hamilton, who recently received her masters in clinical psychology, to lead mental health director.  She will work directly with the University of Makeni to establish a program to meet the needs of our returning migrants and their families.

 Sierra Cares Foundaton could not have done this work without the generous support of GlobalGiving donors. As always, we thank you sincerely for your support!

Kusheh usay Makeni, Sierra Leone!

2022 was a big year for Sierra Cares Foundation!  Since 2019, Sierra Cares Foundation has helped to recover and repatriate nearly 650 women who were trapped in the Middle East.  Together with our partner organizations around the world, we worked to bring them home and provide after care resources and support to help them reunify with their families and reintegrate back into their communities.  Our community center will provide wholistic mental health resources which are crucial to healing communities.

Sierra Cares Foundation currently has 258 women in our program whom we support with various resources from mental health, medical, job training, housing assistance, food security and many other needs.  We also have 69 Children in our Makeni school, many of whom are parentless and would not be able to attend school without you.

 In the past year, with your generous support, we have built a bakery to feed the 69 children in the Makeni School, to serve as a tangible way for our adult survivors of exploitation to learn a trade and earn gainful employment; and to nourish a community and provide food to the community. With the GlobalGiving funds, we were able to provide bags of rice, cooking oil, flour and other staples to many disabled and blind citizens of Makeni, who would not have had food otherwise for the Christmas season.  We strive not to turn anyone away who is hungry and this season, we do not have to. 

Our community center will open in January, that will serve as a central place for gatherings, community events for education and connection and for job training on various trades for long-term sustainability.  It will be used for mental health services and medical preventive care and assessments, from eye exams to maternity care, for family education, sustainable integration programs, orphan care and so much more. We at Sierra Cares Foundation believe preventative education is the best way to combat trauma and a lack of hope with the main goal of reducing reduce the vulnerabilities in this community that lead to human exploitation and abuse of children and women.  We are working to educate the community on breaking the cycle of child marriage and to educate and provide tangible resources for our boys, so they are not recruited into being child soldiers.  We are focused on breaking the generational trauma that lies within many communities that is rooted in poverty, trauma, and a lack of hope. 

We are revolutionizing how resources and collaboration are bridged to create a mental health service program that is the first of its kind, not only in West Africa, but the entire continent. Lastly, as we enter the rainy season in Sierra Leone, one of the greatest medical emergencies for our children is malaria.  We are shipping mosquito repellent to the community center and bracelets that the children can wear to repel malaria carrying mosquitos.  We are also shipping lemongrass, eucalyptus and citronella essential oils that can be used to resoak the bracelets in for continued protection.  This is an easy way to prevent malaria related medical emergencies and continue to provide protection for our children and participants in SCF. Thank you for all the support! We are looking forward to 2023 with Sierra Cares Foundation!

Links:

• website for Sierra Cares Foundation
• from the Idealist
• https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064329086249