CASSIE STEFANNUCI, SUBBAN JAMA, AND ANEESHA LEWIS
<Contributors>
Project: We worked for an NGO called Defence for Children International (DCI) in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Our area of focus was juvenile justice and we were tasked with producing reports relating to children in conflict with the law, child labour and female empowerment. While on our fellowship, we visited the various communities DCI worked with and participated in training sessions of children as well as local chiefs who would work as advocates and liaisons between the community and DCI. We also visited courts to track whether accused juvenile offenders had legal representation, and canvassed police stations to ensure that children were not being unnecessarily detained.
Highlight: The Day of the African Child celebrations in which all three of us got to visit three different communities in Freetown with dozens of young women that DCI had selected as part of the Girl Power Programme. While it was an arduous and challenging experience, it was incredible to see so many young girls excited to act as representatives of their communities, going door-to-door cheering and chanting messages of girl empowerment and promoting education and access to clean water over child labour and early marriage. In true Sierra Leonean fashion, to wrap the day up, the girls taught us the moves to the latest Azonto tunes and we bonded over delicious Sierra Leonean dishes, all while practicing our broken Krio (language).
Challenge: A challenge was realizing that even though English is the official language of Sierra Leone, not many people actually speak or understand the language. On the plus side, we got to work on our Krio skills.
Craziest moment(s):
A memorable moment was getting caught in a torrential downpour while attempting to get home from work. We had to wade through a miniature river to get to our front door. Luckily, the only casualty was Cassie’s flip-flop.
On a touristy note, Cassie and Aneesha spent a weekend in a tent on the largest inland island rainforest where they saw numerous monkeys and attempted to see pygmy hippopotamuses. They went on a hike through the jungle and a long canoe ride around the island over top of crocodiles and water snakes!