X – Prostitution

There is around 50.000 street children in Sierra Leone. Some little girls are forced to prostitution when they are as young as 10 years old. Almost all street girls are already prostitutes when they reach the age of 13. They have to have sexual intercourse with at least 5 men per night in order to survive. They are paid as little as $1-2. Many times, they are raped, drugged, beaten and the men steal the money they earned during that evening.

The prostitution in Sierra Leone is a vicious circle which is impossible to leave unless the girl finds a benefactor, who is willing to help her.

Therefore, we give the girls a second chance in life!  In our programme, they get a home away from their normal environment. Currently, we have 7 girls between 18-23 years old in the programme. Some of them have been with us for 4 years and the transformation is incredible. The girls who before lived without joy and hope have regained the joy of life back. Such as Mariamma who, only after 4 months in the programme, had been elected the “Most Promising Youth” in the local community. From deeply unhappy and abused girl, she became a confident young women, who is singing in a choir in her church.

When we take the girls off the street, they often lack social and educational skills and have problems to get used to a daily regime (as they have been on their own for long time and were not used to have any daily regime) and 5 of the girls have already reached the level, both educationally and socially, that they could be enrolled to public school and enjoy teenage life with their peers. The other 3 girls attend educational classes, as they were illiterate and they started a vocational training to become a seamstresses. Our employee Marie is looking after them, teaches the girls basic social and life skills, and serves as their mentor. But as the girls say, she is their real mother and they all love her so much because she gives them love and security, something they have not experienced before.