World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - (Page 23)

Marie Kabba, 52, a widow and member of the Kamuyu group in Port Loko, surveys a row of Chinese beans that climb trellised bamboo. long rainy season often leaves roads impassable. But because the Western Rural District is so close to Freetown, project participants will find a close-by, ready market for their goods. During the war, thousands of people migrated to Freetown in hopes of finding work and a safe place to live, but the search was often futile. Some returned home after the war, but many ended up settling in squattertype camps just outside the capital city—culminating in large pockets of poverty. Rashid Sesay, Heifer Sierra Leone’s country director, says the organization’s assistance is desperately needed here because of the high unemployment and lack of nonprofit aid groups working in the area. Director General Sankoh agrees. “Heifer International has a place in this country. It has a role. Because of all of the local and international nongovernmental organizations, Heifer is the only one that specializes in livestock—and that is an area that has very high potential that has not been fully explored in the past. www.heifer.org Livestock are kept throughout the country. We now need a specialized agency to capitalize on this vacuum.” Sankoh says he hopes Heifer Sierra Leone will provide farmers with animals and training in basic veterinary care, proper feeding and husbandry. “Cattle are kept throughout the north and northeastern part of the country. Sheep and goats are kept throughout the country. Poultry are kept throughout the country. But something needs to be done to improve, to increase returns on the rearing of those animals,” he says. Rebuilding Lives The Southern Agro-Industrial Development Association Center (SAIDAC) teaches farmers throughout Sierra Leone the skills needed to go beyond subsistence farming and begin small businesses. Franklin Anthony, the program’s head coordinator, says animal programs are the fastest way for small farmers to make a living. Anthony worked with Heifer before the war in a livestock program administered APPROXIMATE PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL POPULATION LIvING IN EXTREME POvERTy, WHICH MEANS AN ESTIMATED 1.25 MILLION PEOPLE CANNOT AFFORD FOOD. 26% APPROXIMATE PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL POPULATION LIvING IN POvERTy. NEARLy 3.5 MILLION PEOPLE CANNOT AFFORD BASIC NECESSITIES SUCH AS FOOD, SAFE WATER AND SANITATION, SHELTER, GOOD HEALTH CARE AND BASIC EDUCATION. — Sierra Leone Human Development Report 2007/2008 70% November/December 2008 | WORLD ARK 23 http://www.heifer.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008

World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 Contents Letters For the Record The Good Life Asked and Answered Finding Peace in Africa Sierra Leone on the Mend The Roma: A People Apart Mixed Media Heifer Bulletin Heifer Spirit Calendar First Person

World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008

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