Stephen O'Brien visited Freetown last week. Who is he?

Stephen O'Brien, Minister for Overseas Development in Westminster visited Freetown for four days from Tuesday, 19th July 2011. This was his second visit in the short time that the present government has been in office and shows the importance that is attached to helping the country at this crucial stage in its history.

He said  "Every Friday when I am back at home, my constituents are saying to me, okay, while we are giving a lot of this money where are the results, what are we achieving. And that's why I am here to see for myself exactly what we are achieving.  I would certainly report back that on water and sanitation there are really results."

Stephen O'Brien



It is encouraging to have someone with access to Ministers in the Government of Sierra Leone reporting back in a very positive way on the new free health initiative and sanitation. All issues on which our teams have shown an interest.

On the free healthcare initiative, he said "enormous progress has been made since my last visit.

The first year of the initiative has seen a doubling of consultations for under-fives (children) and 40,000 women delivering safely in health facilities.

Sierra Leone is a country with massive potential and I am pleased to see how innovative approaches like the free health care initiative are demonstrating real results in improving people's lives."

It is also good to hear that he was "heartened and encouraged" by a determination to stamp out corruption in
the country.

Can we move on from being young, gifted and poverty stricken?

I would like you to look at the video at the end of this post because it sets out so clearly some of the problems that our partners in Sierra Leone are facing. Lack of employment opportunities is one. On our last visit in March we trained a committee to run a micro-enterprise scheme that will enable the poorest of the poor to set-up a business. I promised them £1000 to start. This is likely to enable 5 or 6 families to begin a move out of poverty. The money needed to be prayed for. I am grateful to God that he has provided more than this sum through the generosity and care of his people. Now the scheme can begin.

Albert Lebbie is writing the constitution for the group. As the Administrator he plays a key role in the smooth operation of the project. At his baptism he was given the name Barnabas (Son of Encouragement). He will have plenty of opportunity to encourage those seeking to start their own business as well as training and motivating both them and the committee.

Members of the Committee are preparing to act out the presentation of a business plan for approval by the rest of the group. Now they are about to do it for real.

Health and the importance of clean water are also high-lighted in the video. Our trainers and the voluntary health workers in Kissy and Wellington have been looking hard at this. One group went to see the local
facilities in Wellington.  (shown below) We have also sent out 8 water filter kits.

A number of years ago I was privileged to host Morie Ngobeh in our home. He gave a talk on Sierra Leone to my International Development class at Derby University where I was a student. A former businessman, he became a pastor and founded the City of Rest, a residential home for those seeking to escape drug and alcohol addiction and other mental health problems, almost 25 years ago. It is now needed more than ever because since the war drug abuse is rife. We visited the home where he and his wife Grace also live. Dr. Edward Nahim, Sierra Leone's only psychiatrist and now retired, gave some input to the work. Our psychiatrist on the team, Richard Welfare, talked to Morie and Grace and looked round the facilities with us.

The entrance

Grace and Morie. They began by inviting addicts into their home and stayed put during the rebel invasion of 1999, when the house opposite was burnt to the ground.

Single sex domitory accomodation for the residents.

Together with our partners in the New Era Evangelism and Development Programme we hope to look at initiatives to help the youth of the country. We already have schools serving nearly 700 pupils, but what happens to them when they leave?  What motivation do they have as pupils? As young people in the video state, "No one in the government represents the voice of youth".  Can we be doing something?

Hopefully YES!

Blood Diamond

I had seen it before, but flicking through the TV channels last night I saw that Leonardo Di Caprio's film, Blood Diamond, had just started on BBC2. Watching it again was a moving experience as I was with people who had lived through the events in the film only a short time ago.

My friend, Alpha Kargbo, who helped pioneer much of the work we are involved in, had to flee into the bush from his home village in the North when they were attacked by rebels and he was separated for some weeks from his wife and children. He did not know whether they had survived or not.

A boy soldier

During the attack on Freetown, Alpha's home, a fine old wooden house built by the Portugese, was burnt to the ground and all the letters I had written to him perished in the blaze.

Money that I had just sent to him to buy the land for the school had been received on January 5th 1999 and he had collected cash intending to pay it into the bank next day. The rebel attack came that next day and Alpha had just enough time to bury the money in the ground. It was a couple of weeks before he could retrieve it.      

The rebels made him carry some of their wounded and then run errands for them to collect water. He did several trips under guard, but when they trusted him enough to let him go by himself, he escaped.

Alpha today in the school office.

The Report of our recent visit on BBC Radio Derby Website

To see the original article, please go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-12893173

If the article is no longer available, the text of it is set out below!

11 April 2011


Derby Christians help slum-dwellers in Sierra Leone


Like Comic Relief's celebrities, a team from Derby has spent time working in an African shanty town.

The group of eight from Derby Community Church (DCC) were operating in the slums of Freetown, Sierra Leone.

They included three medical experts, as the aim of the enterprise was to teach basic healthcare and hygiene.

Focussing on areas which lacked clean water, sanitation and any form of refuse collection, the group said education was its priority.

For Ted Swindale, a founder member of DCC, it was his ninth visit since links were forged with Sierra Leone in 1999.

The country was still in the grip of the civil war, which ended in 2000.

For Mr Swindale said: "It was all about sharing skills with the community rather than just money."

Ted Swindale gives Usmanne her Health Care Training certificate

He added: "People in Partnership scheme enabled the building of a school for 700 pupils.

"This was what the community really wanted after the civil war which left so many orphaned."

The present government has introduced free healthcare for children under five and for pregnant mothers, but for Mr Swindale there is still a need for teams such as his to promote good health practices.

Access to clean water is an ongoing problem Although the country is mineral rich and among the world's top 10 diamond producers, it is still ranked among the lowest on the Human Poverty Index.

Access to clean water is an ongoing problem



While they based themselves in a Baptist church, the volunteers were clear they were not there to evangelise.

As Sarah Frost, a paediatrician at the Royal Derby Hospital confirmed, they regarded their work as humanitarian.

For this trip the group liaised with the charity Links International.

Mr Swindale said Nelson Mandela has been so impressed with reports of their community healthcare programme he has asked for it to be taken to his home village.

The end of our exploration together

It's never easy to say goodbye, but it is easier after some hard work that is leaving the community in a good place to move forward and to share what they have learnt with others. Both the Micro-enterprise Development and the promotion of Health Care are their babies to grow and nuture, not ours.

As last year, the Health Care teams produced an Action Plan which they presented to all the group.

A presentation in progress

The end of the course leads to the Presentation of Certificates by Ted Swindale, Co-ordinator of the work in the UK and Team Leader. The Certificates are highly valued. Masu is delighted to receive his.

Mattu is given her certificate

But what difference will they make in the community? We shall wait to see, but we have high expectations!

Micro-enterprise Development. A start with a super team!

The aim was to establish a committee, with an administrator, to manage a project. The project being to lend money to the poorest of the poor in the neighbourhood so that they could set up a successful business.

All those who attended had been personally selected by the NEEDEP director, Samuel Kargbo, and numbered eight. Those of us doing the training, Linden Boothby, Andy Meek and myself, were rapidly impressed by the quality of these people. The Administrator, a key role requiring vision, local knowledge, business acumen, transparency and a caring heart, was to be Albert Lebbie, who has an accountancy background.

Albert, a great guy who will do a fantastic job, was also given the name Barnabas "son of encouragement" at his baptism. He is now known by both names which initially caused me some confusion!

The group is looking forward to the day's training. They represented a good cross-section of  local society and included ladies working at dress-making, keeping a shop and a petty trader. A Refrigeration engineer with the splendid Mende names Umaru Bavoray Gamanga is in the back row on the right. We have something in common for I am very proud to have been given a Mende name years ago by Christian Kallon, Senior Pastor of the Christians in Action Churches, It is "Munda" means "our own".  On the left of the photo is Ansumana O. Koroma who serves on the Freetown City Council.

Linden Boothby started us off by explaining aims of the training and the model that is used by her organisation, Links International. She is sitting in front of this chart by Andy Meek, who was in his element as he systematically went through the aims, the problems and the details of setting up the constitution and the day to day management of the organisation.

Andy Meek with the group on our last day together.

The Constitution sets out that the team will give loans to the poorest of the poor. People at this level are lacking basic human needs such as clean and fresh water, healthy nutrition, healthcare, education and decent clothing. Their income is $2 a day or less, £1.25 in Sterling. According to the UN Human Development Report for 2009, 70% in Sierra Leone are living below this figure and 53% are trying to live on less than $1.25 (76p) per day. They cannot even feed their children on this amount.

I taught on the biblical basis for work and its importance in the Kingdom of God, and also on the role of the Administrator who has a crucial job in holding the enterprise together and moving it forward. He interviews those seeking loans, helps those with a viable business proposal to fill out the forms, discusses their cases with the management committee, who have the final say, and gives advice and support to those who have been successful. He carries the vision and provides appropriate training to the committee and all new applicants. He collects and records repayments. He reports to the New Era Board and also to myself in the UK, as I liaise with the Sponsors.  No interest is paid on the loan, but an extra 10% of the loan amount is paid for the administrators expenses.

Albert starts work on the Constitution.

Two groups were formed to work out and present a business plan to each other. The second group then decided whether or not they would lend money on this presentation. In the photo one group is outside working on their plan.  One group wanted to set up a stall trading at the side of the road. It got its money. The second group wanted to expand their bakery business. They already had a commercial oven. They were turned down on the grounds that they were not the poorest of the poor!

I will leave you with a plan showing the types of businesses that might be viable in the community.

We are moving forward with confidence and hope - and I have three weeks left to find £1000 of seed capital which will fund 5 new businesses!





The Health Care Teams

This year there were three groups

Margaret lead a group of four or five from Kissy, many of whom had attended last year's sessions. Jeremiah Cole, the Head Teacher at the New Era School, is seated on the right of the group.

Sarah Frost lead half the contingent from Wellington which numbered about a dozen people. Sam assisted with this group.

Richard and Susie looked after the other group from Wellington. Each group had people from the same area of the village as far as possible.

Topics

Following our policy of talking over the topics that the group wished to discuss, the subjects covered included Malnutrition, especially as it affected children, and the importance of clean water. Many children suffer from dehydration and our contact at the Children's Hospital in Freetown, Dr. Fred Martineau, had told us the communities needed to know when to take a child to hospital, as many were taken too late for treatment to be effective.

This stems in part from ignorance, but also from a fear of being unable to pay the fees. Health care is now free for children up to five, lactating mothers and pregnant women. The government has also given nets to families to protect them from mosquito bites. (Typing this makes me remember that I need to take my malaria tablet for the day, Malarone!) There has been some misuse of the mosquito nets, however. Some families have been selling them in the market. Others have used them to catch fish!

Another fascinating topics has been latrines. The World Health Organisation requires a pit latrine, basically a hole in the ground, to be sited at least 20 meters from a dwelling or a water course. This is clearly impossible in a compact urban area. An answer would be a brick latrine built up above the ground, for which we had some illustrations that caused great interest.

Water Problems

Richard and Susie were taken by their team to look at water use in the community.

The water supply in Wellington that comes through a pipe with two garden hoses attached. The locals use the water for drinking, without boiling it. Sometimes it is filtered through a cloth.

Also in Wellington the two pictures of the same spot show the dirty quality of the water and its use for washing clothes and people, as well as being carried away for drinking.

Little brown hut at the side of the house is a pit latrine built very close to the water course.

Nutrition

One of the teams put on a good display to show the make-up of a balanced diet.

Fish, Mango, banana, kasava root and kasavo leaves were assembled. and then arranged in the shape of a house.

carbohydrates are the energy foods, the foundations to make you strong,

the proteins are the walls or the bricks to help you grow and heal,

the vitamins and minerals are the roof, the protection against disease.

Thanks to Susie Marshall for many of these photos and for the explanations.