By Foday Moriba Conteh
One of Sierra Leone’s leading Youth/Child led organizations in the country, the Orphans Empowerment Society Sierra Leone in collaboration with partners has on Monday 9th November, 2020 commemorated World Orphan Day 2020 with the theme: “Accelerating Protection Empowerment and Equal Opportunities for Orphans and Needy Children” which was followed by awarding of Sierra Leoneans ,in recognition of their outstanding and excellence services towards orphans and the less privileged in the country, with the Humanitarian Goodwill Award during an auspicious ceremony held New Brookfield Hotel in Freetown.
Some of the awardees includes former First Lady of the 3rd President of Sierra Leone Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, Isata Jabbie Kabbah, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Solomon J. Jamiru, Executive Director of Programme for Children SL, Hon. Joseph Williams Lamin among others.
Speaking during the ceremony, the Country Coordinator for the Orphans Empowerment Society Sierra Leone, Amb Alie Conteh, said that tragically, millions of children all over the globe have become orphaned for many reasons: war, famine, displacement, disease or poverty, adding that to make sure that they are not forgotten, once a year a special day is dedicated to them: World Orphans Day, which falls on the second Monday of each November.
He furthered that this special day has been put in place in order to draw attention to the plight of the world’s orphans and so on that day, people are encouraged to actively participate in helping raise awareness, support and raise funds for motherless and fatherless children worldwide.
Giving a brief history of the World Orphans Day he revealed that the first people to officially care for orphaned children were the Romans, who opened the first orphanage in history in around 400 AD. Long before them, however, both Jewish and Athenian law required that orphans be supported until age 18. The great philosopher Plato once said, “Orphans should be placed under the care of public guardians”.
Amb. Alie Conteh said that World Orphans Day was created by the Stars Foundation to raise awareness about the number of children in this world who lack something most of us take for granted: parents and that the Orphan Empowerment Society wish was for this day to motivate people to do anything they can to help.
He noted that in 2017, various dignitaries and activists within ORPHAN and less privileged communities made an appeal to the United Nations to officially observe second Monday in November each year as World Orphans Day of which the initiative will be featured on all media and governmental representatives from around the world.
“With a desire to take care of the orphans left behind by war and a commitment to help bring an end to orphan poverty in Africa an integral part of the Orphan Empowerment Society agenda is to bring humanitarians and leaders from across AFRICA to participate as our organization is planning to take influential Ambassadors of Goodwill to a Conference and Award ceremony as part of our Public Awareness and Advocacy work on behalf of orphans,” he stated.
Commenting on the award, Executive Director of Programmes for Children SL, Hon. Joseph Williams Lamin expressed appreciation to the Orphans Empowerment Society Sierra Leone for recognizing his efforts towards his contributions to Orphans and less privileged.
He described the moment as much bigger than him, adding that in December, 2014 he sat with 52 Orphans at Kalia Village, Kakua Chiefdom Bo District as a way to show solidarity to them.
He disclosed that the number of orphans and abandoned children in the country and the world as a whole is increasing day by day due to natural or man-made causes and that while it is not possible to prevent children from becoming orphans and vulnerable, so much can be done to reduce factors causing orphan hood, adding that there are 310,000 Orphans in the Sierra Leone.
He called on organizations to support orphans and the less privileged children as such is a national concern, furthering that it is time to ensure that no child is left behind as every child matters regardless of his or her status.
He further revealed that it was on this premise that His Excellency President Maada Bio launched the Free Quality Education in order to support these children, adding that to allow efficient and extensive work on orphans, it is essential that all related government and non-government institutions should support these children as orphans are barely able to maintain decent standards of living, leaving them exposed to risks and dangers.
Such children can easily fall into the clutches of criminal gangs in exchange for basic needs such as shelter and food or to satisfy emotional needs, he stated.
