Kalia, a small village in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone, was devastated during the Ebola crisis. Thirty-five people died, leaving 52 orphaned children. Thanks to generous support from the Schultz Family Foundation, we are helping the village to move forward.
During the height of the outbreak, the entire village was quarantined, resulting in the destruction of the surrounding farms. The village relies almost completely on subsistence farming to feed the residents. The destruction led to a high level of hunger and food security.
Several months ago, our team supplied emergency bags of rice, bags of onions, cartons of fish, rubbers of cooking oil along with hand washing buckets, detail and endless bars of soap. On April 13, 2015, Programme for Children presented 100 sleeping mats and blankets to the children of Kalia, as well as books, school supplies, 70 bags of rice, groundnut, tomato and rice seed for a Food for Work program aimed at helping the farmers replant their fields. Joseph reported, “I have never seen children so happy.”
With generous support from the McPherson Family Foundation and other donors, our team completed the Kalia Primary School in September, 2015. The opening ceremony took place on Wednesday, October 7th, 2015. After the devastation from Ebola, the joy and jubilation of the community was palpable that day. Below, we’ve added photos from that day of celebration
