April 12, 2021
By Ilyasa Baa
The German Embassy in Freetown has supported Caritas Freetown with a support of six hundred million Leones (LE 600,000,000) to feed victims of Susan’s Bay fire disaster in the east end of Freetown.
Executive Director of Caritas Freetown, Rev. Father Conteh has said they have provided hot food for over three thousand victims, noting that they would continue to provide food for them for a period of twenty-one days.
He said tea and deliciously cooked rice are served on daily basis. He lamented that there is need for temporal structures to be built for the victims before the rainy season commences in earnest.
Rev. Father Conteh said Caritas is part of the food and nutrition pillar set as a response mechanism towards the inferno disaster. He described the coordination as wonderful pointing out that more needs to be done in taking care of all seven thousand victims.
Caritas Sierra Leone was established in 1981 by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Sierra Leone with the mandate to serve as the relief and development wing of the Catholic Church in Sierra Leone.
It could be recalled that on the evening of March 24th, fire engulfed more than 500 houses in Susan’s Bay which is one of the most crowded and poorest slums in Freetown, causing more than 1,597 households totaling to 7,093 persons affected, and 409 persons injured (as of March 30). Among those, children, lactating mothers, pregnant women, elderly, and disabled persons are the most affected and in desperate need of assistance including food, water, shelter, and clothes.