Shelter
for Africa is a non-government not-for-profit organisation that carries
out low-cost housing construction and develops commerce and trade through
various support activities for the people of the Republic of Sierra Leone
in West Africa.
The infamous Diamond War of the Nineties ravaged the country for over
ten years. By the conclusion of the war, the Republic’s economy
was left in ruins. Many people’s houses as well as public facilities
were destroyed. A large part of the population had been displaced. During
the fighting, refugees travelled in the hundreds of thousands to neighbouring
countries like Guinea and Liberia to escape the fighting. Those that stayed
behind were terrorised by the insurgent rebel movement. Many of them were
tortured, maimed or killed.
For many years, even before the outbreak of the Diamond War, there had
been an acute housing and accommodation shortage in Sierra Leone. Construction
of dwellings was mainly dependent on imported materials such as corrugated
iron sheets for roofing, cement, reinforcing steel and other imported
materials. The cost of these construction materials made even simple housing
beyond the reach of ordinary people. The crisis became even worse with
the outbreak of the War, when houses were set ablaze and even temporary
shelters burnt down. Hundred Thousands of people were made homeless and
became refugees.
To help the people of Sierra Leone back to their feet, Shelter for Africa
is running projects aimed at engaging people in income-generating activities
to become independent of international charity. Its projects focus on
the construction of housing and the development of commerce using affordable
technologies that are appropriate to the people’s needs. The technologies
draw on locally available resources instead of unaffordable imports.
In 1995
the co-founder of Shelter for Africa, Mr. Elijah Gegra, set up the first
Training Centre in the Capital City, Freetown. The Centre provides people
with essential skills for housing construction using “Intermediate
Technology”, and emphasising the use of locally available resources.
Fortunately the Training Centre survived the invasion of Freetown by the
insurgent rebel movement in early 1998. Shelter for Africa was then founded
later that year to lay the foundations for the expansion of the Training
Centre. The educational programme subsequently branched out into the business
and commerce fields. Men, women and the youth were now being provided
basic skills to prepare them for engaging in trade, and setting up their
own businesses.
Women and children were particularly vulnerable during the War. Many children
as young as six were forced into combat as soldiers of the invading rebel
forces. This left them highly traumatised and unable to deal with the
world around them. Shelter for Africa therefore directs special effort
into involving them in its projects to help them reintegrate into society. |