Fifteen-year-old orphan finds hope in EFSP

Saidu, a 15-year-old boy orphaned by Ebola in Sierra Leone has found hope in Emergency Food Security Programme (EFSP)The EFSP Project being Implemented in his village is the reason he can eat, go to school and live happily.

EFSP  is a product of the country’s Ebola recovery interventions by the American Government and the people of America, through the USAID Project in Sierra Leone. The project is being implemented by World Vision in seven chiefdoms in the Port Loko District, Sierra Leone, and has reached 5,324 households.

  Saidu is counted among the list of children who lost one or both parents to Ebola in Sierra Leone.

http://www.unicef.org/appeals/files/UNICEF_Sierra_Leone_EVD_Weekly_SitRep_1Apr2015.pdf

Saidu’s village, Komrabai was one of the red zones during the Ebola epidemic. A total of 110 (according to a village source in Komrabai) people were reportedly dead—including Saidu’s parents whom he misses very badly.

‘’I miss my parents very badly. How I wish they were here with me today. But Ebola snatched them away from me and my brothers and sisters,’’ says Saidu sorrowfully.

‘’At first we didn’t believe Ebola was real until my parents caught Ebola and died. We would touch people indiscriminately. My late Uncle came from Lunsar, ( north of the country) and was reportedly sick. He made contacts with my father. A week later, dad became sick and died. And my mother followed suit.’’

Saidu’s parents were farmer and petty trader whose income generating activities brought food on the table before Ebola took them away.

‘’My father was a farmer. Out of his farming we could get food at home and lunch packs for school. My mother was a trader. She used to fry danaught and other food stuff when she was alive. I never stopped eating her danaught. Sometimes I would time her, when she is not looking I will take her danaught and runaway and she would shout at me sometimes. It was fun.’’

Life took a different turn following Saidu’s parents’ death.''But I found hope in EFSP. Thanks to World Vision and the American people.''

Saidu’s parents died leaving he and his siblings with their paternal uncle who also has 6 biological  children to look after. ‘’We started staying with our uncle. But even our uncle wasn’t strong enough to take care of all of us. He wasn’t farming anymore. Things became unfavorable for us.’’

Saidu believes World Vision’s presence in Port Loko to implement the EFSP Project supported by the people of America is a game changer.

‘’I don’t know what would have become of us, if the American people hadn’t come to our rescue. A lot has changed for us in Komrabai, he explains with a smile.’’

Saidu's Uncle, invested in a cassava garden with the money he has been receiving from EFSP.

The family has now graduated from being cassava gardeners to being a cassava processing firm.There is food diversification.

Cassava, otherwise (botanically) referred to as manihut esculenta, is not only one of the most popular crops, but it is also an economically viable crop in Africa in general and Sierra Leone in particular. The following can be derived out of cassava: cassava bread, flour, cake, garri dust, foo foo, chips, and many more food items.

With the variety the family is able to produce, there is enough to sell and generate income and to survive on as a family.Out of this cassava trade, the children's school fees are being paid, and learning materials are never in short supply anylonger.

This ambitious, committed youngster dreams of becoming Sierra Leone’s president one day. But Ebola could have spoilt his chances.

During Ebola, there was a nine-month school closure. But it resumed again when it was safe for schools to re-open. Re-opening school was a welcomed news across Sierra Leone. But a lot of parents were losing sleep over sending their children back to school due to lack of resources.

‘’We stopped going to school because my uncle was finding it difficult to support us. Affording a day’s meal was a problem for us, talk less of uniforms and other learning materials. Sometimes we would come home from school and there is no food at all,’’

‘’Now, We eat three square meals, we go to school every day except for holidays or in time of illness. Our Uncle now has enough to see us through. The cassava food processing is really helping us. Thanks to World Vision and the American people.’’

Four payment tranches have been made to date amounting to USD 1,118,040 to 5,324 households within Port Loko. Additionally, 214.8 MT of rice seed input was distributed to 3,302 farmers. This is 98% achievement against the set target of 3,360 farmers.

---ENDS---