A blaze ripped through the overcrowded settlement of Susan’s Bay in Freetown in March, injuring hundreds. British photographer Henry Kamara, of Sierra Leone descent, documents the aftermath in this coastal community as people try to rebuild their lives
Continue reading...Category Archives: Sierra Leone
Alone in Oman: Covid worsens abuse for trafficked women
Women from Sierra Leone tricked into servitude find themselves sold on under Gulf’s kafala system
Isha knew she was in trouble when her passport was snatched from her hands. The 27-year-old from Sierra Leone had just arrived in the Omani capital, Muscat, believing she was to start a well-paid job at a restaurant. Instead, her recruitment agent bundled her into a car and drove her to a house where she was told she would be working as a live-in maid.
“My agent told me he could take my passport because he had bought me,” she says. “I was confused. How can you buy a human being?”
Continue reading...‘We clap if none die’: Covid forces hard choices in Sierra Leone
With medical resources diverted to the pandemic, years of progress in children’s healthcare are under threat
Nurse Magdalene Fornah was on duty at Freetown’s Connaught hospital when she heard that Sierra Leone had its first confirmed coronavirus case. It was five years after Ebola had killed about 4,000 people in the small country, ravaging the fragile health system. Soon after that initial case was announced last March, the UN estimated that 3.3 million people across Africa could die of Covid-19.
Like the rest of her medical colleagues, Fornah had no idea this nightmare scenario would not come to pass. “When I saw the first patients, I was scared,” she says.
Continue reading...Sierra Leone lifts ban on pregnant girls going to school but shutdown expected
Decision hailed as ‘victory’ comes amid warnings that coronavirus could close schools and leave teenagers vulnerable in quarantine
Sierra Leone has lifted an internationally criticised ban that prohibited pregnant schoolgirls from attending school and sitting exams, in a move heralded by activists as a “victory for feminism” in the west African nation.
The decision, announced on Monday, follows a judgment last December by a top regional court that ordered the immediate overturn of the ban, which effectively barred tens of thousands of girls the right to finish their education. The Economic Community of West African States court instructed Sierra Leone to establish nationwide programmes to help pregnant girls return to school.
Continue reading...Sierra Leone ordered to revoke ban on pregnant schoolgirls
Regional court ruling hailed as ‘landmark moment for thousands of girls’ who will no longer be forced to miss lessons and exams
Pregnant schoolgirls in Sierra Leone will no longer be banned from attending class or sitting exams, after a regional court ordered the immediate overturn of a “discriminatory” policy that has denied tens of thousands the right to finish their education.
In a ruling handed down in Nigeria on Thursday, a top regional court found that a 2015 directive barring pregnant girls from attending school amounted to discrimination and a violation of human rights.
Continue reading...Microfinance lenders in Sierra Leone accused of ‘payday loan’ interest rates
Borrowers have accused NGOs of charging unfairly high interest, demanding rapid payback, and reporting debts to the police
The world’s largest NGO has been forced to conduct an internal review of a money-lending scheme it runs for the poor in Sierra Leone after some borrowers amassed significant debts and were reported to police when they couldn’t repay loans.
A Guardian investigation into a microfinance programme run by Brac found that the NGO’s staff were failing to fully explain the conditions of the loan to borrowers, or ensure they could afford the high interest rates associated with such loans.
Continue reading...Sierra Leone faces legal challenge over ban on pregnant schoolgirls
Regional hearing seen as ‘last resort’ in battle to overturn measure that, exacerbated by Ebola, has affected thousands
Sierra Leone is being taken to court over its ban on pregnant girls attending school, which has denied thousands the right to finish their education.
Many girls were orphaned in the west African country’s deadly Ebola outbreak and, as they were left vulnerable and forced to fend for themselves, there was a spike in pregnancies. When schools reopened after the outbreak was contained, the government banned them from attending, to protect “innocent girls” from a bad influence.
Continue reading...Poor bear the brunt as global justice system fails 5.1 billion people – study
Flawed legal systems mean two-thirds of the world’s population are deprived of justice
Across the world, an estimated 5.1 billion people – two-thirds of the global population – are being failed by the justice system, a study has found.
But providing universal access to basic justice could save the global economy billions of dollars every year, as lost income and stress-related illness due to seeking legal redress can cost countries up to 3% of their annual GDP, according to a report published today by the Task Force on Justice.
Continue reading...Sierra Leone mudslides death toll now above 400, UN says
The government has begun burying the hundreds of people kill... . Volunteers prepare graves during a mass funeral for victims of heavy flooding and mudslides in Regent at a cemetery in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017.
Hundreds missing in Sierra Leone mudslides likely dead
A Northwestern University professor accused with another man in the brutal stabbing death of a 26-year-old hair stylist has returned to Chicago from California to face murder charges. The State Department says at least one American was killed and one injured in the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, Spain.