By Joanna Howarth | Communications Lead
Since we last wrote to you, Sierra Leone has been firmly in the press for all of the right reasons – on 7 November, following 18 months, the country was declared Ebola free.
With your support, AdvocAid was able to keep operating throughout the whole period, and ensure that there was no outbreaks in the courts, police stations or prisons – all of which were extremely high risk due to the high turn-over of people (over half of whom have not been convicted of any crime).
We also campaigned hard against human rights violations that resulted from the new laws imposed under the State of Emergency. Read more about this in one of our previous reports.
We wanted to use this report to provide a glimpse of our reach during the 18 month Ebola epidemic. Over this period, AdvocAid has…
Our social worker has led a lot of AdvocAid’s Ebola response – her monthly reports provide feedback on the receipt of the Ebola prevention materials over the course of the epidemic, including:
“At the central police station, the L.U.C received us and was very happy to receive the Ebola prevention materials.”
“In the provinces, I presented Ebola prevention items in Bo and Kenema at the same time as conducting monitoring. I met with the Judges and Magistrates in Bo and presented the Ebola prevention items to the Magistrate at the Magistrate Court. They were pleased with the presentation and encouraged us to be visiting and sensitizing the women in the Provinces.”
“We donated the items to the Kenema Court officials. They were also pleased to see us and received the items with thanks.”
“At the Correctional Centres and Remand Home, inmates and officials were pleased to welcome us. We were welcomed with a song at the Kenema Correctional Centre. The inmates received the welfare items sent with appreciation”
In the spirit of Sierra Leone’s colourful and vibrant character, we say ‘Bye Bye Ebola’ with hip hop!
Thank you all for your support during this incredibly difficult period for Sierra Leone; a period when we have lost 3,955 people to the disease. Sierra Leone needs public support as much now, as it did during the Ebola epidemic.
We’d be grateful if you’d consider making a donation to our Legal Aid project, to ensure we can continue providing support into the New Year. We are anticipating an increased number of women will need legal interventions in 2016, with so many households losing their main income earner to the disease, over 12,000 orphans created, and ongoing human rights concerns - particularly that of pregnant girls being refused access to school (school-age pregnancies increased during the epidemic).
Thank you.
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