By Rebecca Wood | Executive Director
In Sierra Leone, women on trial or convicted of a crime are permitted to be detained with any children they have under 2 years old. This allows mothers to continue breastfeeding their child and care for them in their infancy.
However, these mothers often struggle to ensure their children are well-nourished. Whilst in detention, women may only receive one or two meals a day, of food that may not be suitable for an infant or toddler. With your donations to Global Giving, we’ve been able to provide mothers in several correctional centres with additional food items for their children – this includes 2 babies in Makeni, 2 in Kenema and 5 presently in Freetown.
The Sierra Leone Correctional Service recognises that further steps need to be taken towards implementing the ‘Bangkok Rules’ – UN guidance on specific support needed by women offenders and prisoners. They have constructed a temporary ‘child-friendly centre’ in the Freetown Female Correctional Centre, with ambitions to open centres in each female correctional centre across the country. These centres are due to be child-friendly environments with toys and activities to stimulate children and create a safe space for play and development.
With your generous donations through Global Giving, AdvocAid will continue to support mothers and children in detention. On behalf of the women and girls we work with, thank you.
Next month Global Giving will be launching a bonus day; on July 18th any donations of $100 or over will be matched with some funding from Global Giving. Please consider donating on July 18th - your donation will be doubled and directly support our work with incarcerated women and girls.
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*Names have been changed to protect the individuals’ identities.
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