By: Nyima Sillah
Aside from their quest in promoting early childhood development, health, nutrition, and among others, ChildFund has funded numerous projects and programs in the areas of household economic strengthening, skills for youth empowerment, water and sanitation, backyard gardening, and more.
Under ChildFund household economic strengthening, the team visited Ebrima Manneh, a Baker in Sifo, and a father to one of ChildFund’s sponsored children. In his statement, Manneh highlighted the importance of the bakery and the impact it has on his family.
He described the project as a life-changing project as it has changed so many things in his family and also served the community in one way or the other.
“I used to be a farmer and used to work as a baker but since the establishment of this bakery all of that has come to pass,” he said.
Yafaye Saidy Sanyang, a beneficiary of the ChildFund backyard garden project, expressed gratitude to ChildFund for their support saying he used to fetch water with his needles but ChildFund came in and assisted him with a tank and tap that supplies water all over the garden.
“This project has a huge impact on my garden because the vegetables are growing and I depend on this garden to feed my family.”
Nyima, a sponsor child also added that the garden contributes a lot to her education because she relies on the garden to pay her school fees and therefore extolled ChildFund for their support.
Ousman Cham, a beneficiary of skills for youth empowerment narrated how he started his journey before becoming self-employed through the assistance of ChildFund.
However, the team also proceeded to Faraba Sutu for a similar visit where the Alkalo, Alieu Sanyang lamented the challenges women used to face in the garden before the intervention of ChildFund.
“Before ChildFund intervention, there was a lot of animal intrusion in the garden, the fences were all dilapidated and just a playing ground for animals. The women suffered because when they started the garden, animals destroyed everything so the last option they did was to abandon the garden,” he explained.
This project he said means so much to his community because it has a positive impact on the lives of women and their gardens, adding they still need an irrigation system and storage facility.
Women Gardener FatouDrammeh, thanked Childfund and partners saying they used to struggle in the garden but now a lot has improved in so many ways.
Another ChildFund beneficiary community in Negie, Alagie Alkali Sanyang, Alkalo said “The project is the first borehole we have in the community, before this project came in, we used to drink in the same well with the Cows using local tap since 1992. Thus, we still need help to extend the water to other parts of the communities because this one tank is not enough for over 1500 people,” he said.
More so, the team also visited Samasang Technical School in Brikama, Musa Baldeh, the Principal noted that Samasang is a community initiative affiliated with the Child Fund and since its establishment, it has molded scores of students in their various academic performances.
He added that every child must have a scale in technical subjects and they believe that if they equipped youth with technical knowledge, it will help the country a lot. “This place was abandoned but with the help of ChildFund and affiliated partners, is it now serving the community.”
Meanwhile, Mr. AlieuMendy, the Federation Manager for Ding DingYiriwa Federation, a community-based Federation operating in Kombo North and Kombo South affiliated with ChildFund, and Mr. SunkariJatta, the Federation manager for SamaKairo Federation all gave an overview of their federation and the positive partnership they shared with ChildFund.