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We are a group of volunteers who worked on behalf of Voluntary Services Overseas for 3 months in Makeni, Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is the 8th poorest country in the world where 70% of people live in poverty. The country was crippled by the civil war in the 1990s which recruited child fighters and destroyed many of the primary schools of the country

In partnership with the charity Polio Children, we hope to raise money for a project designed by the people of the Magbenteh Polio Camp, Makeni, Sierra Leone.

The polio survivors and their families live together in their compound on the outskirts of Makeni as they face prejudice, criticism and harassment from some members of the town’s community because of their disability. In addition to being marginalised, they receive no financial support from the government so depend on selling goods they make in the workshops of the camp. However, the chairperson of the camp has put together a project proposal which will generate sustainable revenue for maintaining and potentially expanding the camp. The 20p they make per person watching the match can buy a meal and clean drinking water!

The project involves buying a television, chairs and fans to convert the conference room of the camp into a small cinema where people from around Makeni could come to pay to watch football matches. In addition to revenue generation, the most important aspect of the project is that it would attract people from outside the camp and allow them to watch football alongside the polio survivors. As a result, it would build friendships and make it less likely that people with disabilities would be ostracised from the town’s community. 

The primary aim of this project is to provide a revenue-generating medium where the funds can be reinvested into the polio camp to help its people and allow them to become independent! The entertainment from watching the football is merely an added bonus. Ultimately, through the medium of sport the project will bridge the divide and make it less likely that people with disabilities would be ostracised from the town’s community. 

Before we arrived, the camp stood together on the main highway in Makeni on the day the President of Sierra Leone was going to drive through. They hoped to hand over their proposal as he drove past, but their efforts were in vain.

We have reliable VSO staff in Sierra Leone who support our idea and would oversee the distribution of funds to the polio camp. Despite the modest target, this project will have a big impact on both the residents of the polio camp and the general community of Makeni. We hope our efforts can support the Magbenteh Polio Camp of Makeni and contribute to changing the attitudes towards disabled people in the developing nation.