By Abass Jalloh
In a bid to empower 170 Children and Youngsters with Disabilities (CYwDs), The Dorothy Springer Trust (DST) in collaboration with One Family People (OFP) and support from Lillian Foundation has supported students with school learning materials, medication and other services to assist them in the 2022-2023 academic year.
The distribution happened on Friday 16th September at the head office of DST at the Freetown Cheshire Home in Freetown.
The organization supplied different materials including crutches, sets of uniforms, shoes, exercise and textbooks, bags and vocational learning tools. Financial support was also provided for students at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.
This support is normally provided every year following a needs assessment. DST seeks to transform the lives of people with disabilities through information communication technology training scholarships, advocacy and employment creation.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of DST, Dr. Abdulai Dumbuya, the said session is considered “Quarter Three” as it complements the Child Empowerment Programme (CEP), partnering with six organizations that work with OFP.
DST runs part of this empowerment programme through community-based rehabilitation which is embedded in health, education, social inclusion, and vocational training.
Dr. Dumbuya advised parents to care for their children and make them fully attached to the community like any abled human being.
He urged them to pay attention to the innovative abilities of their children and get them fully involved in vocational training.
For home care, the CEO realized that some of these children cannot sit properly while some are visually impaired. “So we are giving you financial support to get someone to help that child,” he said.
Samantha Rich, a first-year student at the Gender Department at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, told Politico that she was provided with crutches which she said have been difficult to get.
“I have been receiving academic and medical support from this organization since I was in primary school’’, Rich stated.
Expressing delight for the scholarship she said: “As a woman with all the challenges I am faced with to reach this point, they have really helped me, and I will not let them down”.
She has been able to do tailoring and ‘gara’ fabric designing.
Emmanuel Showers, a JSS three (3) student at Albert Academy School, received learning materials and money for school transportation.
He claimed of being stigmatized by some of his colleagues, saying: “Sometimes my friends normally do not play with me; they laugh at me. If I ask for something from them, they will not give me.”
The Programmes Manager of OFP, Samuel Macauley, thanked the parents for the care and support they are giving to their children who are faced with physical and health challenges.
He also urged parents to build their own capacity to help sustain the children while organizations do their best.
The community’s Member of Parliament, Abdul Muniru Lansana, Councillor, Hoodie Munu and representatives from the Ministry of Social Welfare, World Hope International, community nurses and the general populace, also graced the programme.
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