This campaign has now closed
If you are born blind in Sierra Leone or seriously crippled you are unlikely to go to school and you will probably end up on the streets as a beggar. The situation is particularly difficult for girls / women who are open to sexual abuse. This project will provide basic education, training and start-up kits so that 250 seriously disabled young people can support themselves and their families and take up their place as respected members of the community.
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We will provide skills training in a handicraft or trade (soap-making, weaving, basketwork, mending shoes, tie dyeing, hairdressing, etc.) and enable those graduating to set up in business, with start-up kits, micro-credits and on-going support. We will also run classes in non-formal basic education and functional literacy, with lessons in Braille and typing for the blind. And we will promote the programme through various outreach activities including broadcasts over local radio helping challenge the widespread belief that the disabled are worthless and a burden on society. Our local partners are Vision for the Blind and the Disability Awareness Action Group, two grassroots organisations that are run by and for the disabled and based in Makeni (Bombali District). Timescale: 3 years