Sierra Leone

(MissionNewswire) Salesian Missions joins the United Nations and other organizations around the globe in honoring Human Rights Day, celebrated each year on Dec. 10. Human Rights Day commemorates the day in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The electoral cycle in Sierra Leone at the beginning of this year was hailed by observers as being primarily peaceful. However, before and between election days there were several fatalities and other significant incidents, such as nationwide Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), the destruction of property, and temporary forced migration. Many communities remain divided due to these incidents, stemming from political differences reinforced through tribal affiliation.

Summary of major revisions made to emergency plan of action:

One year after the 2017 Freetown mudslide left more than a 1,000 people dead and over 3,000 homeless, Sierra Leone has initiated a bold new partnership to help identify disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies and expand planning and decision-making capacities throughout the country. Rated as one of the most disaster-prone countries in West Africa, Sierra Leone faces a multitude of risks stemming from flooding, droughts, windstorms, landslides, health-related issues, population density, and climate change to name only a few.

A. Situation analysis

Description of the disaster

In the early hours of 14th August, torrential rains caused parts of Mount Sugar Loaf, a range of hills surrounding Freetown, to slide into the Regent Village vicinity. This led to heavy loss of life and property at the epicentre and downstream at Juba, Lumley, Kaningo/Kamayama axis.

Description of the disaster

by Nellie Peyton | @nelliepeyton | Thomson Reuters Foundation

Rights activists say the state should address the stigma faced by pregnant girls rather than ostracise them.

DAKAR, Aug 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Pregnant schoolgirls in Sierra Leone will be banned from classes and exams despite sweeping new government measures to improve access to education for all, a state spokesman said on Thursday.

Paul Jawor, an MSF water and sanitation (WATSAN) expert based in Barcelona, has been working on the post-Ebola response in Sierra Leone since 2016. His role is to ensure that MSF’s approach to water, sanitation and hygiene is up to standard.

Here, Paul recounts the progress he has seen in the Mongo and Kabala regions in the north of the country over the last three years.

By Sabrina Mahtani, Amnesty International West Africa researcher

16 August 2018, 12:39 UTC

“I felt like it was me they had killed that day,” says Asatu*, reaching for a piece of multi-coloured cloth to wipe away her tears. Exactly two years ago today, her 16-year-old son was shot by the police as he came home from school.

By Zoe Tabary

LONDON, Aug 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Sierra Leone's capital Freetown must tackle deforestation, poor housing and decrepit drainage if it is to prevent the next disaster, its mayor said one year after a devastating mudslide killed an estimated 1,000 people and left thousands of others homeless.

Rapid urbanisation in the growing city is driving residents to claim "any trees and land they can find" to build homes, making landslides and flooding more likely in times of heavy rain, said Freetown Mayor Yvonne Aki Sawyerr.

Certain events in our lives are so momentous that we shall always remember where we were and what we did when those events occurred. Many of us will surely remember where we were in the early hours of 14 August 2017, when we received the news of the mudslide in Regent. It turned out to be one of the worst natural disaster in Africa in recent years, and there is no doubt that the impact on the individuals affected and on the community was both dramatic and profound.

Fresh from an electoral cycle, Sierra Leone is slowly transitioning into a new political climate. Although the elections were largely peaceful, instances of alleged politically motivated violence were seen across the country. Intimidation, harassment, and hate speech resulted in internal displacements and injuries, and drew lines of division. Many of the victims of the violence resulting from these actions were women and children.

By Harriet Mason, Communications Officer, UNICEF Sierra Leone

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – After a 20-minute-walk up a steep rocky path in the Dwarzark community, I arrived at the new home of Foday and Mamiesia Kallon and their 14-month-old son. It’s a fresh start following the tragic events of 14 August 2017 when flooding and a landslide killed at least 500 people in Freetown, and swept away part of the Kallon’s family home and all their belongings.

Women’s political participation calls for a much more robust approach that will not only make women’s voices heard but also strategically position women in political leadership and public decision-making roles.

• Over three years after Sierra Leone was declared Ebola-free, people are still reluctant to visit health centres.

• In a country where maternal mortality is among the highest in the world and children die from malaria and malnutrition, seeking care still means traveling far and paying for expensive drugs and services without any certainty of being cured.

• To gain people’s trust in the health system, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is training local staff, providing medical stocks and reaching out to far-flung communities.

In Numbers
- 203.1 mt of food assistance distributed
- US$ 0 cash based transfers made
- US$ 7,914,883 six months (May-Oct 2018) net funding requirements, representing 64% of total

Operational Updates

By KEMO CHAM

Researchers in Sierra Leone have found a new strain of the Ebola virus, the government said on Thursday.

The virus was discovered in bats in northern Bombali region by scientists in a joint US-West African study funded by USAid.

The finding comes two years after end of the worst-ever Ebola outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

But researchers say the new Bombali virus is distinct from other Ebola virus strains and it is not yet known whether it could develop into the deadly disease.

In Numbers

• 179.6 mt of food assistance distributed
• US$ 0 cash based transfers made
• US$ 7,914,883 six months (May-Oct 2018) net funding requirements, representing 64% of total
• 17,176 people assisted in May 2018

Operational Updates

Regaining old glories Sierra Leone rebuilds its climate services from the ashes of war using new technologies to provide early warnings for vulnerable communities

By Climate Adaptation UNDP

Back in 1929, Sierra Leone served as the headquarters of the British West African Meteorological Services. With independence, the Sierra Leone Meteorological Department was formed. It was one of the most advanced meteorological departments in West Africa, with advanced capacity in weather data collection, analysis and service provision.

Sierra Leone had made hard-fought gains in public health, including improving maternal care and reducing child mortality caused by malaria, when the Ebola virus outbreak erupted in 2014. The disease, which killed nearly 4,000 people, overwhelmed the country’s health systems, interrupting prevention and treatment for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, and increasing the number of deaths from these diseases.