Sierra Leone

Assistance for the integration of child-soldiers into educational programmes and their placement with families in Freetown, North Province, Bumbuna and Lungi.

Local Entity :
FHM - Family Homes Movement
Synthetic data of the project :
Harambee contribution : € 40,000.00
Contribution from the local entity : € 8,445.92
Project duration : 2003 – 2004

Provision of educational materials to 173 attendees.
Training courses for 48 teachers.

Description of the project :
In 1997 the Family Homes Movement opened “St. Michael’s”, a treatment centre set up in an old hotel in Lakka on the west coast of the Freetown peninsula. In the centre, ex-child soldiers from the 11-year civil war are taken in and prepared for placement in families, given grounds for re-entering civil society and provided with career guidance. The project, supported by Harambee, seeks to re-establish a normal life for these children, guaranteeing them schooling and skills training.
As the local organizers explained, “the one place where a child can regain his or her lost childhood is in the family.” For this reason, in addition to the treatment centre, they have created 22 family homes in Freetown and others in the cities of Bumbuna and Lungi located in the centre of country.