We help the poorest of the poor in the World’s poorest nation - Sierra Leone - where the average age at death is 34 years compared to the average World Mortality Rate of 48 years (as verified by the UN in 2005).

We can take responsibility for the care of approximately 1200 orphaned children (aged 0 – 17 years) at any one time. Figures can vary on a daily basis according to what we find in more isolated districts and how committed our local workers can remain without much by way of payment. The children are accommodated at four sites in eastern and southern Sierra Leone but the numbers grow weekly as more people learn that we are committed to helping them.

What do we mean by care? Well, it falls far short of the standards we find in the West. We are talking of basic food and water once a day, a safe shelter for some, clothing, some schooling for a few more fortunate. Perhaps just as importantly we offer the only real sign of hope for those children who quite literally have nothing.

The immediate plans & long-term vision of this charity?

Relief from hunger and a place of safety for all orphans are the primary goals.

We have only surveyed about one quarter of this small country and found orphaned and uncared for children everywhere. Signs of malnutrition were clearly evident in the very young. In the area south and east of the capital, Freetown, we initially secured two plots of land, 10 acres in Kenema and 114 acres in Moyamba, for the express purpose of building two ‘Orphan Villages’. On the first major trip to review progress at our various sites, the charity was given an even larger plot of land in Moyamba. This gift to our work has greatly altered our thinking and shall alter the urgency of our appeals for financial and material assistance. The legal ownership will be held by this UK based charity and in accordance with the laws and traditions of Sierra Leone.

We have secured these two plots of land by working with the local Chiefs (Paramount Chiefs) and village elders who recognise the desperate need of the orphans but who are generally powerless to help without outside aid. They want our help and we want to help them.

Daily food, clean water, medical assistance, a bed, clothing, education & training for each child in need.

Relief from hunger and danger will be a constant focus of our daily work but our vision goes further; we are concerned in preparing these children for adulthood.

It would be short sighted not to address the future needs of these orphans. They have a future in their own country and in time they shall become of age to make significant decisions for themselves which may impact their friends, the people in their locality and perhaps even at local government level. Without the tools to make balanced decisions they shall be at a continued disadvantage.

We intend to educate all the children who come into our care; academically, practically and socially. We intend for each willing child to either be taught a useful trade or to move on to higher education when the time is right.

Above all these lofty ideals we want to let this lost and hurt generation know that someone was bothered about them and their future. To provide them with carers who are as close as family can be, demonstrating love in action in an effort to let them know they are wanted, needed and valued. They may then have a basis on which to conduct their own lives when they leave the security of our care.

What could happen if we did not become involved with these young orphans?

We breed what we are.

These children have witnessed war and the unnecessary barbarity that it engenders. That is why many have no parents. Other younger orphans have lost one or both parents through HIV Aids.

If they are not shown how they can peaceably conduct their adult lives and if they are not given some good reason to treat others better, if they do not have a worthy and positive focus, if they do not place a higher value on life than their forebears, the world shall see a repeat of the senseless slaughter it witnessed for over ten years in Sierra Leone.

We have an opportunity right now to make a difference to this generation of children to prevent the atrocities of the past being repeated. The question is not whether we should give them some help and guidance; it is how quickly can we start this process?

Do we really believe these ideals are achievable?

Two of the charity organisers have had a combined total of over 60 years in teaching, educational development, social work, Court work, Probation, Prison work, Youth Work and emergency services in the UK and are agreed that there is only one practical route to attempt the reconciliation of this lost, forgotten and damaged generation of children in Sierra Leone. These views are enshrined in the aims and objectives already set out in the previous paragraphs. The charity founder was first abandoned by his father (an Imam) and then, later, by his mother. He brought himself up on the streets of Freetown until he eventually begged a completely unknown stranger to become his, surrogate, mother. He knows what it means to be alone and unwanted in Sierra Leone. He knows that a little practical love can go a long way for a child who has nothing and no hope for the future.

To use a well worn phrase, ‘this is not rocket science’! We know these ideals are achievable and so do you. We need to give this generation a chance to succeed and not let future generations look back on us and ask why we did not do something while we had the time and opportunity.