Rainy Season Brings Floods
Late July through early September is the rainy season in Sierra Leone. Heavy downpours are devastating for families living in the flood prone communities. This year flooding and a mudslide left 11 dead in Freetown, hundreds homeless, and over 15 thousand people slept on the damp ground for weeks. Of the 75 children from Empowering Children School who live in the flood prone community, 46 were seriously impacted.
Disaster Relief
Our disaster response team was able to reach out to more families this year, especially the families of the children attending Empowering Children School. Flood victims had an immediate and desperate need to get warm and dry. With donations raised from our kind supporters around the world, we were able to purchase bales of clothing and sleeping sheets. These were sorted by volunteers and distributed to flood victims. We were able to help the families of all 46 of our students impacted by the disaster. In addition we were able to help other families in the community as well. We are very grateful for the support of our friends around the world.
Resumption of School
Schools resumed 2 weeks after the disaster. We noticed 45% of our students who lived in the flood prone communities were not able to return to school, due to the various problems caused by the flood’s impact. Many were sick, many were needed to help rebuild their family’s home, plus there was a desperate need for back to school resources.
Many thanks to the board of SHARP for helping us make a swift intervention to help these families. We had a 20% increase in students returning the second week of school. We met with families at the end of the third week to discuss the issues, and collaborate for the full return of students to school.
Farm and Seed Bank News
Sallay in her Garden
Pepper Harvest
Ibrahim Visits and Helps with the Harvest
Improving Life For One Small Farmer
Salamatu (Sallay) Kamara and her husband, a fisherman, were finding it hard to support their family on what they earned fishing. She wanted to supplement her family’s income by raising crops in her garden, but did not have the money to buy seeds. SHARP loaned her a bucket of pepper seeds.
With her first harvest she earned $65, and with her second harvest she earned $53. She has now harvested 5 crops of peppers, and has been able to repay her seed loan. We recently paid her a visit. “Sierra Leoneans love peppers, and I love to grow them!” she said.
We will continue to support Sallay with seeds in her ambitions to make a bigger garden. SHARP supports 50 small farmers, providing income and food for over 350 people.
Teacher Salaries
Since sharing the issue of teacher salaries, we have received donations to cover 2 months salaries. We now have only one month backlog, and are working on that! Many thanks to our generous donors around the world for helping us to pay our dedicated teachers. This has been an ongoing struggle since COVID 19.
SHARP is in the process of obtaining non-profit status. If you would like to donate, click here:
Sponsor A child
We would like to begin a sponsorship program. We have many students who are unable to pay school fees or afford medical care. A sponsor can help with these expenses by paying a monthly fee, and can choose to sponsor the child, or the family. The student or family will send messages and videos in appreciation, allowing the sponsor to feel a connection with the people they help. Email us at sharpecs0622@gmail.com if you are interested in sponsoring a child or family.
volunteers needed
Our organization needs volunteers to come for two weeks or two years to help with our efforts in Sierra Leone to make the world a better place. There are many ways you can help, from office work and grant writing, to farming, tutoring a child, or visiting with families. If you are interested in making a difference with us in this part of the world, please don’t hesitate to come and join our team. Email us at dmark2wise@gmail.com if you are interested.
I love the scholarship programs, teacher salary wages being donated, and your information about what is going on in Sierra Leone! Keep sharing and you are so incredible with all that you do for these kids and the community.