July 2, 2021
By Aruna Kamara (BO)
The Media and Communications Officer of Commit and Act Foundation – Sierra Leone (CAF-SL) Ansu Koroma has said that they have supported about forty parents whose children had gone through pain as a result of sexual abuse.
Koroma said this is part of their normal activities to support the parents to be able to take care of their children who had gone through sexual abuse, noting that the parents were called to a training on business management and skill training and also provided them with livelihood support that will enable them support their children to achieve their education.
He maintained that this activity is been supported by Kinder Mission week in Germany. “Our support to the parents is sustainable as we also make sure that we monitor the utilization of the support with our social workers following up on them to ascertain whether the parents are doing business to support their children,” Koroma said.
Mr. Koroma adds that “we have made it clear to them that the support is not for parent rather for their children as we regularly engage them to ensure that the money is used for the intended purpose, and we have realized that a lot of abuses taking place is as a result of the lack of parental support to their children.’’
He believed that coming on board to support the children through their parents will help reduce or stop some abuses against the children, noting that six hundred thousand Leones is given to each parents as livelihood support to start up business.
Information on the Website of Commit and Act Foundation (CAF) indicated that it was established in 2013 in Sierra Leone to bring psychosocial support to people in conflict areas. The psychotherapeutic approach is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT); evidence based on behavioral method that has shown to be efficacious in dealing with mental problems (such as depression, anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, addiction, chronic pain, obesity and many others) in different cultural contexts in more than 100 randomized control.
The CAF office in Bo was opened in 2014 short before the outbreak of the Ebola Viral Disease (EVD), to provide ongoing psychosocial support from local counselors in the area. CAF is the leading organization in Bo district that offers training and development programmes for service providers, including legal and medical practitioners, educators, counselors, law enforcement agents, and community-based counselors.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare, CAF started outreach programs on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in schools and communities. During the Ebola outbreak 50 teachers and 25 psychosocial assistants were trained in psychosocial skills. The effort of CAF was crucial in breaking the chain of transmission of EVD in Sierra Leone. Most of the trainees are in on-going training now. Through the interactive sessions, students learn to recognize and appropriately respond to violence in their homes, schools, and communities. This has also helped to reduce the high rate of violence in homes, schools and communities.
The consequences of the country’s civil war were very severe on the population, and not least on the youths, women, children and the elderly. Very stressful and traumatic events lead to the mental impairment of those target groups. And just as those scars were about to heal, the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic, and lately, flooding and mudslides, coupled with the prevailing current economic situation have created serious mental and psychological health problems on many Sierra Leoneans.
Against this backdrop, Commit and Act Foundation was established to provide psychosocial support to Sierra Leoneans so as to be able to cope with their stressful situations through the use of the “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy,” (ACT). This is done through individual and group counseling, training, community empowerment programmes, drama, research and awareness raising sensitization.
Commit and Act Foundation is operating in 15 chiefdoms in the Bo District and in addition, provide support in various forms for children in Kenema, Pujehun, Kono, Moyamba, Bonthe, Bombali, Tonkolili, and Koinadugu District, and the Western Area. Moreover, the Foundation is currently working with volunteers in Makeni and Freetown.