Amie and Beatrice James attend Mukeh Tiwah Junior Secondary School. For their annual Inter-House Sport day, their Case Manager Abduali and their father Samuel attended to support the girls. Amie was in yellow house and Beatrice was in green house. Amie participated in a music and chair event and emerged as the winner of the event. Beatrice on the other hand took part in a 100 meters race and she came second in position.

Samuel is very proud of his girls. He shared that Amie came 6th position in a class of 28 pupils. Beatrice sat for her National Primary School Examination on the 6th May, 2023.

​Abduai reports that Amie and Beatrice’s dad really cares and loves his children. He always tries to make himself available whenever his children need him. Samuel told Abdulai, “CRC, it is only God that will pay you for the good work that you are doing for us, may God continue to bless you all.” 

                                       Recent Mission/Good News Moments

A special shout-out to the following churches for hosting amazing ministry (Good News) moments in the past couple months with Emmanuel Nabieu.

• Bethel UMC - Thank you for a great weekend of sharing the many ways your church is manifesting God's love. The sermon on the Greatest Commandments, which I call the the "5-Loves") as recorded in Mark 12:30-31 was a great fit for that weekned.

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• Otterbein- Thank you for the invitation to speak at your church and for sharing the work on your Church's Facebook Page. ​

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• First UMC of Colleyville - It was great to be invited to your annual  Family Empowerment Kick-Off Event. Your church has over 70 Family Advocates. This is WOW! It was great to spend the weekend with your church and to hear all about the amazing ways you continue to grow your partnership with Helping Children Worldwide.

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• Ebenezer UMC- Thank you for inviting Yasmine to the the mission trip interest meeting at your church. We continue to appreciate you for all the many ways your church is involved with this ministry. We look forward to having you in Sierra Leone this year on a Mission trip. We are sure that you are going to love it!​​

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• Braddock St. UMC - Thank you for your many years of commitment to this ministry. What a generous congregation! Thank you for the invitation to share the impact of your church partnership with this mission.

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• Church of the Lakes - You started this journey with a capital campaign and you have been deeply engaged ever since.  Thank you for the recent invitation to share the good news moments at all of your services. It was great to see how joyful eveybody was as we talked about the minstry and seeing how each person is playing a role in making things happen. We look forward to having your church on a mission trip in 2024!

By Mohamed Nabieu, HCW Director of Mission Advancement and Partnership

The Mattia children’s parents died shortly before the Ebola outbreak, from the type of chronic illnesses that take the lives of so many Sierra Leoneans.  Left alone in a crumbling and frequently flooded mud hut, the pitiful condition of the four children captured the sympathy of a caring neighbor, who referred their case to the Child Reintegration Centre.  The CRC did an assessment including family tracing, and found out that the children’s auntie Monjama was living in a nearby village.  With her own children grown and married, Monjama was happy to come care for her late sister’s children at the CRC’s request. 

With the CRC’s help, Monjama moved the family from the dangerously dilapidated house near the swamp into her brother’s house in downtown Bo.  “My sister had a dream to move out of that unsafe house, but when she got sick, the little money they were saving for a new place was spent on her medication. But she did not survive and then the husband also died soon after that,” she explains. “The CRC came in at the right time when we needed help desperately. My heart jumped for joy when I heard that CRC was going to help me support my late sister’s children.”  

Monjama and the children now share a four room dirt floored house with her brother’s family; hardly grand, but much safer and bigger than their previous home. Monjama has one room where she sleeps with three of the children and the older child, Brima sleeps in another room with four of his boy cousins.

Before her family's enrollment in the CRC, Monjama found it nearly impossible to make a profit in her work as a petty trader. She was about to give up when the CRC suggested she join the microfinance initiative. “Before taking the CRC microfinance classes, I was really getting frustrated with the lack of saving even when I was pouring in my best efforts. My money was just disappearing into thin air with nothing to account for. It was like I was doing business for nothing. I was about to give up,” she says.

“Everything about the microfinance classes is good. But one of the things that has changed my life is the aspect of budgeting and saving. Before, I was not saving any money I was making from my little business. With the microfinance classes, I have learned how to budget, and I have learned to save my profits. I have joined the local savings group called the osusu. This has helped me a lot. Now I have been helping my neighbors with these skills.” 

Monjama started out selling palm oil and charcoal in the market and neighborhood, but eventually decided to focus on charcoal.  As she explains, “With the palm oil business, I had to go out of town to get the gallons of palm oil. And that was keeping me away from having quality time with the children. I was not able to look after them especially after school.” Now she can ply her trade around the neighborhood and stick close to home. “I am home when the children come from school. I feel good when I get to ask them about their day. I also feel good when they get some food at home to eat after school,” she says. 

Before enrolling in the microfinance program, things were really tough for Monjama. She used to borrow money from her neighbors to put food on the table, driving her deeper and deeper into debt. “I no longer [borrow] money from anybody,” Monjama says. “I feel good that I can take care of my own children without being worried about paying my neighbors back.” 

Neither Monjama and her husband attended school, nor their parents and grandparents before them. She and her sister wanted to get an education, but their parents could not afford it, and they were sent to work on the family farm at a young age. “Even though we did not get the opportunity to go to school, we are all very convinced that education can help us out of poverty. That is why we are so grateful that through the CRC our children are able to access good education,” she says.

Even now, education remains a luxury for more than half of the population in Sierra Leone. Although the government has promised to pay tuition, poor families can’t afford the required uniforms, books, supplies, and additional fees, all of which the CRC provides for the children of enrolled families.

The CRC’s goal is not only to send a child to school but to help them stay in school, mentoring and supporting the families through attentive case management. “Before the CRC, the children and I were struggling for everything. They were not even going to school. But through the CRC, they are now going to school. They get all their school supplies. They are doing well, and we are all living well,” Monjama says.

Monjama has also attended the CRC’s Attachment Theory and family mentoring classes, to learn how to provide the emotional support her adopted children need to grow up stable and self-sufficient. 

The children love playing with their friends on weekends and after school. Brima, Aliyya, and Saidu like to play football (soccer) and Emma plays volleyball and stone ball with her friends. They all have big dreams to help others and support their country. “These children know that there is so much need in this country. And they see that every day. We talk about it a lot. They have expressed that they would like to do something about it when they finish their school. And I believe in them, so I am looking forward to that,” Monjama exclaims.  “As a mother, it brings me great joy to listen to these children sharing their dreams and goals to help others.”

Oldest son Brima wants to be a journalist. “There are journalists in the country who fail to spread the right message. This is because they add to the corruption. I want to be a sober journalist who can spread the right message about stopping corruption,” he says. 

Saidu’s dream is to become a teacher. “I see many other children on the streets that are not going to school. If not because of the CRC, maybe I would have been like them.  If I become a teacher, I can help teach even those children on the streets even if they can’t pay me.” 

Aliyya wants to become a contractor after he finishes school. “I want to be able to build better houses for even the poor people. People should not be living in the swamp house like where we used to live with our late mom,” he explains.

Emma, the youngest, wants to become a nurse “to help treat my people.”

The children enjoy doing domestic chores together. “They are really helpful at home. They help do chores around the house, especially on weekends and after school,” Monjama says.  Emma loves cooking and helps clean the house. Brima splits wood and bags charcoal for Monjama to sell around the neighborhood. Saidu and Aliyya fetch water for bathing and cooking, and also help tidy the house.

Monjama is a woman with a big heart. She has a strong faith.  Even though she has experienced great deprivation and suffering, she believes that God is always in control. “When you have nothing, don’t do bad things that betray you and your faith. Just be patient and pray. Be hopeful that God will not let you down,” she says.

There are many children like Mattias in Sierra Leone. They have reached the age to start school, and they want to go to school, but they lack the support to make their dreams come true. Some are now youths and young adults with no education. Some of them are exposed to child labor, picking scrap metal from dump sites to sell. Some are involved in inappropriate behaviors as they roam the streets. 

The CRC is reintegrating children from the streets, reuniting them with families and putting them into loving families, providing them with access to education, healthcare, and quality case management. Through faithful partnership and generosity from donors, the hope of many vulnerable children and youth are restored daily through the services provided by the CRC and Mercy Hospital.