Child Protection Sierra Leone Project #19252

Kidsave Sierra Leone: Reuniting Orphan with Family

by Kidsave International

Project Report | Mar 23, 2023
After Years in an Orphanage, Reuniting with Grateful Kin

By Rachel Cvitanovich | Development Coordinator

Bernard and his aunt

Kidsave reunited 15 older orphans with relatives this month. The children and their families were elated to be reunited!

It started with clues about potential relatives’ locations. Sometimes the kids remember a town where they might have a relative – even many years later – and Kidsave’s social workers check these leads out. It’s not always easy to get to mountain villages, some accessible only on rugged roads or paths. Yet the value of returning children to family and their ancestral villages is so important. Here they can be part of a family and a community.

Like many kids during the Ebola breakout of 2014-2016, Bernard, now 13 years old, was brought by health workers to Emmanuel Orphanage at age six. His aunt was gleeful to see him again and said, “no amount of words” could express how grateful and she is for “bringing smiles to the family and for reuniting Bernard with the family again.” She promised to do all she and her husband could to bring Bernard up with love and care.

Another boy, Prince, spent nearly nine years at the same orphanage after losing his mother to Ebola in 2015. He was reunited with his stepmother, Makanneh, who vowed to provide the care and love Prince deserves as he joins them again. Makanneh said, “Today, God has answered my prayer to have Prince with us again.” Prince was thankful for Kidsave and its team for reconnecting him with family.

After a reunification ceremony attended by village leaders and many villagers, a large group of family and community members received the free training Kidsave requires adoptive families to take, through which they learn about standards of childcare and protection, children’s rights, and home management.

Kidsave in Sierra Leone has moved than 1,200 orphans out of orphanages since its work began there in 2010. In most cases, the children move in with relatives. If not, then with a new family that opens their heart and home to kids in need. Recently, a girl described being in an orphanages like “being in prison” because she had so few freedoms and choices. Kidsave gives kids a voice and a choice in who becomes their family.

Prince and his stepmother Makanneh

Training family and community members

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Nov 25, 2022
Radio Plus Community Events Lead to Families for 8 Orphans

By Bonnie Williams | Kidsave staff member

Day One, Lubehun event to introduce kids to public

When the Love One Another orphanage in southern Sierra Leone closed in March of 2022, 170 children suddenly needed new homes and had just four weeks to find them. Previous GlobalGiving reports shared the good news that nearly all 170 found new families. But eight of the older children did not find families. Until now.

Thanks to the creativity, personality, and perseverance of Kidsave program manager Ibrahim, a collaborative two-part plan evolved that proved very successful.

Part one was a radio conversation with Ibrahim and an officer of Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Gender and Children Affairs. The people of Kenema district who tuned in that day learned about the importance of children growing up with a family and in a community instead of an orphanage. Ibrahim mentioned the eight children who still needed families, displaced by the closing of an orphanage, and that these kids had been living in a hotel for seven months because they had nowhere else to go. Ibrahim told listeners they could come to an event, meet the kids, and learn more about the organization that is helping children find permanent families.

The radio show was immediately followed with two days of public events. Hundreds of key stakeholders and community people came to the Kenema district and Lubebu halls, where children were introduced, and their stories shared. Ibrahim described Kidsave’s reunification model that gives kids a chance to get to know those who might become their permanent family and gives them a voice and a choice.

The Ministry representative appealed to those present to share their love and concern for the eight kids and asked them to find a place in their homes and hearts to host the kids. He promised that the children would be monitored until a loving and permanent home is found.

As the event ended, four people decided to host six of the kids in Kenema township; and two other families in nearby Gofor decided to host the remaining two.

After the event FID and the Ministry representative visited the new families’ homes to meet with them and be sure children will be safe and well cared for. They found all the homes to be safe and gave the kids a few days with the families to be sure they are compatible and happy. All is going well at this writing, and soon a reunification ceremony will take place. The entire community is invited to join in, witness and help the children feel welcome and a part of things and begin a better chapter in their young lives.

Former orphans pose with their new families!

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Aug 1, 2022
Bringing Hope and Joy to Orphans in Sierra Leone

By Bonnie Williams | Staff Member

Orphans at Smith Sam's Orphanage

The war in Ukraine is having a ripple effect around the world, hitting even the small West African country of Sierra Leone. In late July, the Smith Sam Children’s Home, an orphanage in southern Sierra Leone and home to 153 orphans, felt the pinch of covid and, with it, dwindling donations to support its work. Then the war in Ukraine began, and prices rose while food supplies diminished. This combination of tragedies led to reduced daily food rations for the children and forced the orphanage to close its doors to new orphans.

The nearby orphanage of Cynthia’s Children’s Home, where 101 children live, suffered the same situation. The children reported that it was becoming unbearable to live there and that their fellow orphans were leaving to find a better situation.

Thirteen children at Cynthia’s were thought to have relatives they could reunify with and leave the orphanage. At Smith Sam’s they believed there were twenty-eight such children.

Kidsave program manager Ibrahim K. was then called in. His experienced manner took the thoughtful, sensitive next step of bringing together the orphanage directors, staff, and children, in a meeting he said, “brought so much love and happiness to these children” who were not having their needs met. “The staff and kids told many stories about their life in the orphanage and how they hoped other children would find an institution to lead their reunification in the future. Many still remember their villages but not a living family.”

With Kidsave to trace, find, vet, reunify and train families on the rights of children, his small team of social workers has set out to find suitable living relatives or other families who can raise these children well, making sure they go to school. Their track record is impressive. So far this year, 71 children have been moved into good, caring households thanks to Kidsave's work, and more than 1,100 have found families outside the orphanage since 2010 when Kidsave began working in Sierra Leone.

One orphanage director expressed her profound thanks and appreciation for the steps taken to move the older kids, adding, “No family member has ever shown up to visit and see how their kids were doing. I have done the little I can, but I hope a living family can be found for these kids to give them love, and protection, and allow them to continue with their education.”

Orphans at Cynthia's Children's Home

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