Kidsave Sierra Leone: Reuniting Orphan with Family

Kidsave International and our partners at VCI continue our hard work on behalf of the children and communities most affected by the Ebola crisis. We have continued to increase our capacity and are proud to have welcomed three new social workers into the program. In order to better serve the children and their new, permanent, loving families, Rosamond Coker has come on as our head social worker for the city of Bo, Kadiatu Kallon is our head social worker in Zimmi, and Prince Kanu is heading up our social work in Kenema. Sahadatu (our primary social worker) did a great job of onboarding the new staff and teaching them the Kidsave Family Visit Model protocols.

Deployed several months ago for field tests, all social workers and staff are now using the Kidsave mobile App. The Kidsave mobile App has revolutionized our Sierra Leone program. In a nation where sending an e-mail from the capital city can be difficult, our program, which operates in distant villages needed a reliable way for our partners and volunteers to document progress.

The App, which automatically uploads data when in a Wi-Fi area, is a simple, elegant, and mobile solution that continues to improve our reporting and effectiveness. We now have real-time updates to the permanency status of our program participants and a method for entering those into the system who have been identified as needing assistance.

Even as Sierra Leone moves into the recovery phase of this medical emergency there are still many children who are in desperate need of a family and help. As Shed Jah, VCI’s founder and Kidsave’s country director wrote in a recent e-mail, “In Kenema, three local volunteers identified 2 local rescue center in Tunkia Chiefdom. Fifteen children have been identified from ages 10 - 15; 10 are boys and five are girls. All of the fifteen children have lost both parents during the Ebola crisis and was the cause of residing at the center.” Currently families are being identified for these children.

As we gather together with our families this holiday season please keep in mind those who do not have families of their own and take a moment to truly cherish what it means to both give and receive love from those most important to you. As Kidsave and VCI continue to work to find local families for those who have lost so much, you should know that is has been your generous donation that has allowed our work to continue.

In order to help facilitate our ongoing work with Ebola recovery, GlobalGiving has also announced that all donations to our project up to $1,000 before the New Year will be matched as long as funds remain. Please share our project with anyone you believe might be interested and also feel free to contact me with any questions or ideas that you might have at: Kristoffk@kidsave.org

We at Kidsave want to thank you and wish you a wonderful new year.

Thank you again,

Kristoff Kohlhagen

Links:

• Kidsave Sierra Leone page
• Kidsave page