Thou Shall Eat Foundation Feeds Aberdeen Children

By A. R. Bedor Kamara

Thou Shall Eat Foundation, a charitable organization that caters for the welfare of orphans, vulnerable children and youths, in collaboration with Municipal Schools in Aberdeen, West of Freetown and Fire Omega Deliverance International Ministries on Saturday 25^th January, 2014 fed over 200,000 children at Aberdeen at a ceremony held at the Tity Hotel, Aberdeen.

Christopher Norman, founder and Executive Director of the organization said it caters for the wellbeing of orphans and other disadvantaged groups to create impact in their lives through selfless service.

He further stated that there are children in the streets and in homes suffering who are in dire need of love, care and unity to enhance the development of the country pointing out, “if we love one another there will be no crime. We should learn to live in harmony and see ourselves as brothers and sisters.”

Christopher Norman went on to state that the event would be held annually and admonished children to love one another, share together, help their colleagues, especially the needy underlining, “thou shall eat for me, thou shall eat for you and thou shall eat for all of us.”

Pastor Daniel Gbewah of Fire Omega Deliverance International Ministries said that Jesus emphasized on love stressing, “love your neighbor as you love yourself,” also maintained that love would reduce violence in schools and admonished children to see themselves as one and respect elders.

Madam Bangali, who represented the schools in Aberdeen, commended the founder of the foundation for the support observing that there are many prosperous Sierra Leoneans who do not cater for the less-privileged or demonstrate love for children.

She further affirmed, “nobody wants to be an orphan. So when you support a child, you support the development of the community and the country as a whole as our children are the future leaders and human resources of the country.”

Gifts will be donated to the schools for the children.

A party climaxed the ceremony.

Conservation Society-SL Concludes Migrating Birds Count

By Abdul R. Bedor Kamara

The Conservation Society of Sierra Leone (CSSL) was established in September 1986 with the mandate of preserving wildlife and natural species in the country and since its establishment, the organization has worked with Government, local and international partners to ensure that the country’s natural resources are protected.

CSSL Executive Director, Dr. Sama Mondeh stated that over the years, hundreds of millions of birds have been migrating from Europe during winter to Africa where they nest, breed, feed and later return to their various destinations in the summer.

Dr. Sama Mondeh strongly believes that human action is destroying the activities of species and their habitats and since they have linkages with partners across the globe, the society has deemed it necessary to contribute immensely towards the protection of thousands of species of birds migrating to Sierra Leone.

He disclosed that this year’s migrating bird count costs €4,500 and commended Government for providing the legal framework to protect the environment.

He added, “Government has the political will to conserve the environment for which CSSL is collaboratively working with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) among others, to enhance the conservation of the country’s natural resources.”

Dr. Mondeh continued that CSSL has been involved in policy framework, advocacy, sensitization and program implementation noting, “CSSL remains committed to participating in developments related to environmental management.”

CSSL Biodiversity Officer, Papanie Bai Sesay said that he has learnt a lot of skills from the three experts that include David Paynter, Chas Holt and Richard Hearn from the United Kingdom who arrived in the country to trace migrating birds and also empower Sierra Leoneans with the necessary skills on the preservation and importance of birds.

He further disclosed that the team completed its two-week mission and left the country over the past weekend disclosing, “even though the resources are limited for this year’s migrating bird count, yet we copped with the exercise.”

Papanie Bai Sesay further stated that policy implementation is a problem in the country observing that plans are underway to review the law, especially penalties for defaulters although he admitted that sensitization campaigns are minimal due to the lack of funds underscoring, “it is the business of every Sierra Leonean to conserve our natural resources.”

He also revealed that they discovered ten Important Bird Areas (IBAs) at the Sierra Leone Estuary, Toto Island, Sherbro River and Yoribay among other places informing that some of the migrating birds are closely monitored with devices like sim card placed on their brain for data collection to trace their locations.

The experts acclaimed national efforts in preserving the migrating birds underlining, “we have seen a lot of fantastic birds and we now know that Sierra Leone has the potential to manage the environment and maintain its habitats.”