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1ST DEC 2008
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Imagine being 6 years old living on the streets, with nobody to look out for you. Imagine being the son of a blind beggar and having lost your mother when you were born. Imagine having to walk a mile in 45-degree heat, just to get some water to drink. Imagine having to visit a rubbish dump, fighting over scraps with dogs so that you could eat. Imagine being a 7-year-old girl and having to prostitute yourself to survive. Shocking thought isn’t it? Except its not within the realms of fantasy…this is normal life for hundreds of children in Sierra Leone, and I went to visit them.
I travelled to Sierra Leone with a charity based in Southampton called the St. George Foundation. I visited areas of Freetown and Makeni where we found groups of young boys living rough in the streets, and young girls walking through the night approaching men offering themselves for money. The St. George Foundation helps bring these homeless children off the streets and provides them with shelter, food, any medical assistance they require, and even pays for the children’s schooling.
I was fortunate enough to spend a week with some of the lucky children the charity is helping. I found myself listening to their life stories, feeling sad to hear of the suffering and pain they had been through, but they would tell me how happy they were as they felt that the charity had saved them by getting them out of a world full of suffering. They told me that had they not met workers from the charity, they would still be on the streets fighting to survive, or worse they might even be dead.
Whilst staying at the centre, I met with the housemothers and fathers for the girls and boys on site. They told me how each child was cared for as if it was one of their own. I ate all my meals with the children and found myself feeling a great sense of family in their company, as each child between 1 and 15years old cared and shared their food with each other, even me. I admit, the sense of family I felt amongst these children I have never felt anywhere else in my life, even in our world of plenty. I find it hard to explain the realisation I had whilst living with these children, thinking they have nothing, and yet they are happy.
I am writing this article to bring attention to the world we don’t see, and sometimes while we may think about it, or see it on television, until we experience it for ourselves we will never really know what people around the world are going through. I came away feeling as though I should be doing more to help these children and this charity, which is why I wanted students at Southampton to know how they too can help make these children’s lives a little better.
Over the years students from courses like Nursing, Economics, Physiotherapy, Archaeology and others have bought hoodies, polo shirts, jumpers, t-shirts, social shirts and all kinds of clothing from a local supplier, and it has been through the sales of these items that all the profit has been passed on to the charity to help provide for these children. As such I am urging more students to also order their clothing from the same supplier so that the money paid can go on to help in a worth while way, making the lives of these children better. Please take a look at the website if you have any questions: www.adecentlife.org
I hope that reading this article will make you think of how lucky we are in the lives we live, and hopefully you will get in touch and try to help the lives of these children in Sierra Leone.
Together lets try and make this a decent life for everyone…
Provided by ABID GANGAT (United Kingdom)
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