Sierra Leone: “Kush” is killing our children on the streets –Holy Rosary Sisters fighting to rescue them

Paul Samasumo – Vatican City.

This year, the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary are celebrating 100 years of existence. The Congregation was founded in 1924 by the Irish-born Bishop Joseph Shanahan, then Vicar Apostolic of Southern Nigeria. The Congregation has communities in Brazil, Cameroon, Ethiopia, England, Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, USA, and Zambia.

Looking at the present with passion

In an interview with Vatican News, Nigerian Holy Rosary Sister Onyinyechukwu Bernadette Ezejesi, who works and lives in Freetown, Sierra Leone, reflected on the significance of the milestone.

While the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary worldwide celebrate 100 years of existence, in Sierra Leone they are marking 76 years of continuous presence and mission.

“We are looking back to our past with gratitude. We are also looking at our present with passion, as well as looking at our future with hope. Since we arrived in Sierra Leone in 1948, a lot has happened. We first landed in Bo,” Sr Onyinyechukwu (or Sr Onyi as she is widely known) told Vatican News. Bo is the second largest city in Sierra Leone.

Sr Onyi is the Project Coordinator of the Fullness of Life for Children Management Programme. It is a child rights project that seeks to protect children, especially the Girl Child and, increasingly, the Boy Child.

Children articulating their own issues on local radio

Empowering the Girl child, saving the Boy child

Apart from running numerous schools, vocational training institutions, hospitals, and clinics and fostering healing for survivors and even perpetrators of Sierra Leone’s civil war (1991 – 2002), the Holy Rosary sisters, through the Fullness of Life Programme, vigorously campaign to prevent teenage pregnancies, teenage marriage, and abuse. They encourage young girls not to drop out of school.

From about 2016, Sierra Leonian authorities suddenly found themselves dealing with a sharp increase in young people addicted to Kush. Many West African governments also say they are alarmed by the rapid spread of the highly addictive Kush. According to media reports, the drug makes young people constantly lethargic and very ill. The drug’s composition is said to be continually being changed. This presents a serious problem when it comes to treatment.

Since the drug is relatively cheap, young people take it as a coping mechanism to mask the frustration of joblessness, poverty, hunger and disillusionment with post-war Sierra Leone. The drug literally numbs any sense of feeling. Some young people are dying due to drug overdose.

The drug has turned our children into zombies

Sierra Leone’s President, Julius Maada Bio, declared a state of emergency and war on Kush in April this year. He said the epidemic was a national threat. The hope is that the emergency declaration will result in more focus and resources on prevention, treatment, law enforcement, and community engagement.

For their part, the Holy Rosary Sisters say they will not relent and are taking prevention and community engagement seriously.

“The problem of drug abuse is enormous.  We go to interior communities. We tirelessly go from village to village and town to town, trying to create awareness and empower communities so that there is a continuity of activities even when we leave. Our teams speak to communities and schools about teenage pregnancies, early child marriage, child safeguarding, child’s rights and the importance of education. But increasingly we are discussing drug abuse and addiction, especially the present one now killing the youths. It is terrible and is making our youths die like chickens and dogs on the streets. This particular drug has turned many of our youths into zombies. Our aim is to create awareness of the dangers of this drug. We will not stop. We keep going,” Sr Onyi emphasised.

Seeking out the youth on the streets

Asked if the declaration of an emergency by the President was helpful, Sr Onyi replied in the affirmative.

“Indeed, the declaration by the government has been so helpful because this is what we have been lobbying for as Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary. In particular, our ministry of Fullness of Life for Children Programme. We have been lobbying for this. For the government to really be part of the effort because the problem is enormous and lives are being lost. For the government to make this declaration has really helped a lot because now the army and the police go out to the streets with us. We go out together with the Family Support Unit of the Police of Sierra Leone to seek out some of our boys and girls that are into this Kush,” Sr Onyi said.

Outreach to Muslim Community

Responding to the needs of the time

“If you look at Sierra Leone, the hurt and pain as a result of war and other crises, such as the devasting Ebola outbreak of 2015, these continue to be felt by communities, especially women and children. Even though the rebel war ended in 2002, and the Ebola outbreak ended in 2015, Covid-19 has just ended, the effects are still visible in people’s lives. Sierra Leonians are a wonderful people, but they have been through a lot.”

Sr Onyi added, “As Holy Rosary Sisters, we express our charism in different ways, especially through our pioneering spirit and by our readiness to leave our own countries, our borders, our own cultures. We are ready to move to other people’s cultures and countries to serve the people of God without prejudice and without being judgmental. And serving them in our own little way – by sharing the Good News of Christ, especially with those in need, the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed. In a way, we are also responding to the need of the time.”