Caritas Kenema took me to meet some foster mothers who are supported through a micro-credit scheme which allows them to apply for a start-up loan for small businesses, so they can support both themselves and the young people they care for.
Unfortunately, in Sierra Leone’s unstable economy and with rising inflation, they found it hard to break even on small enterprises – one lady who cooked ten cups of rice in the early morning had only sold a few of them by the time I visited at 11am.
It was a daily struggle to pay for food, clothing and secondary school fees which alone amounted to LE75000 (£15) a year per student.
I also saw another side to the work of Caritas Kenema, and this time it was not in a residential area but in the grounds of their complex.
A carpentry workshop manned by ex-combatants from the war was proving to be very successful and they were now even receiving commissions for their furniture from all sorts of organisations, including NGOs.
Caritas Kenema had provided them with the equipment and initial training, and now the workshop was self-sufficient, with their products selling at a good enough price to not only buy more materials for future work but for the young men to also take home some of the money themselves.
Looking at their proud and happy faces as they showed me a large wardrobe, it was hard to imagine some of the ordeals they must have gone through.
Posted by AnnaF
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