By Politico staff writer
SOS Children’s Villages Sierra Leone on Thursday 1 April donated food and non-food items to the fire victims at Susan’s Bay. Some of the items include 35 bags of 25kg imported rice for families of the most vulnerable children, dignity kits for adolescent girls, buckets, beddings, toiletries and other assorted items.
Handing over the items, the Country Director of SOS Sierra Leone, Sophie Ndong said that the support was a way to show solidarity to the fire victims. “In an emergency situation like this, it is important that we show our support as SOS CV to the affected children but also young people, especially the girls”, she stated. She hoped the donation would be of relief to the affected families and assured the victims and stakeholders of the organisation’s continued support in the coming days.
Marie Bangura whose daughter benefitted from the donation expressed delight for the support. “We have undergone many registration processes since the fire outbreak but this is the first direct support we are receiving from any organisation”, she said. She thanked SOS for the donation and looked forward to further assistance.
One of the girls that benefited from the hygiene kit donated by the organisation and who wished not to be named was very grateful to SOS. She recounted her ordeal of returning from school only to find everything had been burnt down to ashes.
“Since the fire reduced our homes to rubble, we are finding it very difficult to go to school. We cannot go to school because all of our school materials were burnt down”, she narrated the challenges she and other children faced. They’ve also missed their school exams.
Councillor of Ward 427 Madinatu Kamara described SOS’ intervention as timely and thanked them for the support.
An official of Child Protection and Psychosocial Support Pillar coordinating the response to the fire disaster, Bahum appreciated SOS for providing the items and called for continued support to the victims. He took the SOS team to the newly built Child Protection tent for the coordination of activities. He spoke about lack of shelter for victims and mentioned how a woman and her four children slept in the open. “
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online (07/04/21)
