On the 19th of October 2022, Partnering To Serve Humanity with support from Tzu Chi in Taiwan successfully ended a three-day distribution of food items to 1,000 flood and landslide victims from the Culvert, Susan’s Bay and Looking Town communities in Freetown.
On August 28 2022, Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone experienced yet another disaster from the ravages of the heavy downpours of rain that took the lives of eight people, injured many and destroyed properties and structures. This unfortunate incident occurred in one of the communities in Freetown, Looking Town. Looking Town was not the only affected community as other disaster-prone communities got affected – Culvert and Susan’s Bay were also affected.
In response to these unfortunate incidents, Partnering To Serve Humanity with support from Tzu Chi Foundation rendered support to the victims of this disaster. They started their support with a 7-day hot meal feeding program, in which two thousand people were fed during this process. They were also offered psychological support. The organization did not only stop there after the 7-day hot meal feeding program, they also embarked on a three-day distribution of food items to a thousand victims. This, according to the Programs Manager Mr Ishmeal Alfred is to ensure that there is food for the affected families as “they recover from the flood and landslide disaster they suffered.”
The three-day distribution took place at the St. Edwards School compound, Kingtom, Freetown. According to Mr. Charles, they decided to bring the victims to that location so as to enable a smooth, safe and organized process. Of course, the distribution went smooth and in an orderly manner as the flood and landslide victims collected their supplies in big sacks. Inside the sacks, include; five 10KG bags of rice per family, palm oil, vegetable oil, table salt, sugar, onions, Maggie, multigrain, and blanket.
The Executive Director, Rev. Fr. Peter Konteh, urged the beneficiaries to remember Taiwan in their prayers, noting that Tzu Chi continues to benefit the globe despite Taiwan’s challenging circumstances. He emphasized to everyone that our role is to support governments in their efforts to ease the pain of the needy and destitute who are being affected by disasters.
The beneficiaries were happy and grateful and they were thoughtful of the support from Tzu Chi Foundation in Taiwan and offered their thoughts and prayers to the people of Taiwan for the Magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck the country a few days ago.
The distribution process was done in an orderly manner, the beneficiaries formed a queue as their coupons were easily verified against the prepared list containing the names of the targeted beneficiaries from the three different communities before they were allowed to receive the relief items.
Speaking to The African Dream, Mr Charles says they are not in a position to act as the government as he believes the government has the core responsibility to be able to provide support, but he also acknowledges the role of organizations like theirs in providing support in a critical time like this. He furthers by noting that their organization is concerned about the condition of living of people living in these disaster-prone areas, and he urges residents in those communities to stop cutting down trees and be vigilant about their own safety and move away from these places to safer zones. Mr Charles says their organization has been providing sensitization and engaging residents on the risks of building along the seaside and on top of the hills.