Sierra Leone and Liberia
In November and early December 2022, Linda travelled to West Africa and facilitated a series of workshops and ran training sessions across Sierra Leone and Liberia in partnership with local NGOs and community organisations. The aim was to help strengthen the quality of children’s work in Sierra Leone and Liberia by bringing new ideas, creative methodology and tools for local workers, teachers, social workers and volunteers to add to local skills and experience; as well as to work directly with children and young people running creative healing Love and Laughter workshops for those who are damaged by experiences of war, poverty, abuse and other situations, to promote healing and motivation to improve their life chances.
Over 800 adults and 1000 children experienced these creative workshops and many expressed their excitement and inspiration from learning through these very different participative approaches.
The workshops were free, and local partners helped with the logistics. A key partner was Abubakar Sarty, who was the African coordinator and managed the logistics and liaison between local organisations and Linda. Abubakar’s facilitation and help was key to the success of the project, and Linda and partners alike thanked him for his time, integrity and professionalism creating a successful programme for all involved.
Sierra Leone Partner Organisations:
Children in Need Foundation Sierra Leone, Waterloo
Advocacy Network Against Irregular Migration, Freetown
Movement Towards Education and Youth Empowerment SL, Bo
Children and Youth for Peace, Bo
Youth Empowerment for Social Change, Bo
Support Deprived Children Sierra Leone, Makeni
University of Makeni (UNIMAK)
Liberia Partner Organisations:
Liberia Youth Parliament Monsterrado
Youth In Action for Better Change, Brewerville
Liberian Youths Empowerment Network, Monrovia
Youth Empowerment and Building Leadership Training (YEAL-BO) Voingama, Lofa
National Youth Parliament of Liberia, Tubmanburg Bomi County, Brewerville
Message from partner, Abubakar Sarty:
Before going further I want to say a big thank you, I appreciate the love you have for Africa Continent Mummy Linda.
It was a great experience for me to be part of your trip (training) sessions in both countries, I learned a lot about new things that will help me in my future pursuit and to even develop my community as a leader. Notwithstanding, I was surprised by your training style of you (Mummy Linda Ruth Rose) because in Africa we always expect trainers to be at the high table or forefront line of every activity but it was the inverse of everything that you did for the past one month two weeks in Sierra Leone and Liberia. However, the training was based more on practical (Life skills) and it was interactive, educative, informative, fascinating, and motivational to all the participants during the training session Mummy Linda.
Finally, after the whole excursion most of the participants called me to thank us for the incredible work, and some of the organizations that sow the activities and those that were part of the training are still requesting to schedule other training sessions for them in Sierra Leone and Liberia. So, I recommend that we look out for donor partners to support your trips. God bless your entire family (more especially your husband Mr. David Rose for letting you out of the United Kingdom), partners, and friends for their tireless and relentless effort to see the success of the trip to West Africa.
Thank you!
Regard:
Amb. ABUBAKAR SARTY.
