Opinion
WHO IS TO BLAME? FOR WHAT?
It is no secret that all the major streets in the capital city of Sierra Leone, Freetown, and other parts of the country are overcrowded with commercial sex workers and their children. It is also true that these people engaged themselves in all sorts of immoral activities as referred to by other people, ranging from petty thievery from their children, and to prostitution for the girl child. Some of them spend considerable anounts of time in the streets, eat, drink and sleep on the streets. Others help their parents with the ugly trade of selling their body for money for their daily survival. In Sierra Leone, one who can sell his/her body for money is referred to as “raray girl, colonko, hustler, call girl, rancha, prostitute and commercial sex worker”
Sadly, some parents sit at home and wait for their children to come home and feed the entire family is one of the major factors contributing to sex trade in Sierra Leone. How and where the children get the money is none of their concern; what is important to such parents is that the family is sustained. While the children are blaming their parents for being on the street what is not respected in the country, the parents also on the other hand have their own sets of reasons for being the way they are. Reason such as poverty, past war, bad governance and lack of knowledge. Some parents send their children to the streets because they cannot afford to take care of them and the rest of the family, not to talk of paying school fees for these children. That is the sad reality in present day Sierra Leone.
In the midst of this, there are a number of commercial sex workers and their children who actually abandon their homes for the streets, either because of the improverished state of their family background or simply because they want to live without any form of supervision. Some commercial sex workers and their street children come from well-to-do families, but prefer living on the streets either because of peer pressure, drug addiction or simply juvenile delinquency. Commercial sex workers and their kids also leave their homes and live on the street because of the habit of their parents. Other commercial sex workers and their children in the streets alleged that they abandoned their homes because they were unable to cope with the sights of their poor parents who cannot afford daily food for them.
If one decides to take a walk along the major streets of Freetown and the country as a whole, he/she will be gripped with the shock and disbelief at the sight of commercial sex workers and their little children sleeping at the doorsteps of shops and market stalls. Others are spotted at notorious prostitution and criminal areas. It is hard to comprehend why all this happening without any attention being pay to it. Most times they are emgaged in cheap and unprotected prostitution excahing their bodies for monies. The result of all these activities that commercial sex workers and their children engage in Sierra Leone is disastrous and deadly.
Happy New Year to everybody on this site.
This is a new brand year we are all awaiting to see and experience, however, I want to take this opportunity to wish everybody a happy, good health and a wonderful 2013 in advance.
This site came into being in 2010-2011 new year’s day. I took my family out at Roy Restaurant to have a good time, a place we contributed for it to grow. One can access the article that gave birth to this sit on this site.
Stay bless.
Message of Appreciation to the President
Message of Appreciation to the PresidentEven though the cost of living in Sierra Leone is still sky high, the President deserve appreciation for the reduction in the price of fuel, and ten percent tax reduction on rice importation. I decided to write this message of appreciation to introduce the culture of appreciation amongst the various media houses in Sierra Leone.
Issue of FGM
Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in the Bonth District have condemned the act of initiating young girls (below the ages of consent) into the traditional ‘Bondo’ society.
Speaking on behalf of the women in an advocacy workshop on the promotion of Family Planning and the prevention of Gender Based Violence organized by the United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA) at the OIC Hall in Mattru Jong close of last week, Susan T. Jusu, noted that late Madam Yoko who popularised the Bondo Society used to test girls for maturity before initiating them into that secret society. The reason for that, according to her, was that they could then more easily learn the business of home caring.
Giving an overview of the workshop, UNFPA National Programme Officer for Gender, Mrs. Isatu Kadie, said the main aim of the workshop was to promote family planning and prevention of gender based violence in their respective communities. She said government alone cannot do all to alleviate the plight of women in the country. She appreciated DFID for providing funds to support the programme.
Mrs. Kadie told the participants that the advocacy is a community based pilot programme that has already been implemented in Bo, Tonkolili and Koinadugu Districts respectively.
Presenting a paper on family planning, the UNFPA National Programme Officer and Reproductive Health Manager, Dr. Jariah Kabba, underscored the point that family planning is different from abortion as the former is about spacing children for better health purpose and the latter killing of unborn children. She also encouraged TBA women to stop deliveries at home since they don’t have the right instruments for safe deliveries. She asked them to refer pregnant women to hospitals for better treatment.
Dr. Kabba urged UNFPA to involve community leaders, male partners and husbands in the programme.
At the end of the workshop, advocacy skill tools were distributed among the TBAs. They included mega phones, tape recorders, batteries and condoms among others.
Sierra Leone Bans Children from FGM
Sierra Leone Bans Children from FGM
Reports have alleged that through the advocacy of human right organizations and civil society activities as well as government the leaders of the traditional bondo society in the country past Wednesday unanimously signed a Memorandum of Understanding that forbids the initiation of children below 18 years into the society. According to reports, the negative impacts of FGM which include early marriage, teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS infection and other militating factors were highlighted by stakeholders. They reportedly agreed on the MOU that there should be willingness on the side of women to participate in the Bondo Society.
Sierra Leone Bans Children from FGM
Taking 2010 Budget to the people
Sierra Leone 2010 national budget is much more important than anything else, even more the Presidential address to Parliament.
The budget is more important, because it is the instrument that determines how the country will be run for the next fiscal year. However, it is also important to note that instead of just airing it live in the electronic media, the people should have a chance of actual reading of the budget, and seeing what it entails, especially with regards to the figures if one consider the illiteracy rate in the country, because of the above issue it is not very easy to recall all the figures being rolled out by the Finance Minister.
However, just like in many other cases in Sierra Leone, people don’t treat serious things, issues with seriousness they deserve in all aspects of life on daily basis, but are highly interested in this budget issue., because that is the only way they can be able to
It is even worse when the Press Gallery, which is supposed to inform people of the activities of their representatives in Parliament, are left wondering as to how they can lay hands on a document as important as the budget speech, which is also known as the Appropriation Bill 2010.
In times past, and in other part of the world, the budget is distributed to the Press and even if they do not want any premature publication, they ensure that it is embargoed till after the speech is delivered by the Minister of Finance. Not also stop there, the Finance Minister should ensure that he briefs the Press immediately after his speech in Parliament to simplify the document in a way that it will be easily understood by the lay man who is also supposed to know the day to day activities of the Government, to explain to journalists about all what is contained in the budget and why, so that the journalists in return will sensitize the citizen of the operation of the Government about what the future holds for them.
