Salesians in Sierra Leone protecting victims of human trafficking
By Sr. Titilayo Aduloju, SSMA
In Freetown, Sierra Leone, many of the young girls, ranging from age 7 to 17, caught up in prostitution and human trafficking are mostly ignorant of the risks associated with their situation.
These young girls hail not only from Sierra Leone but also from other countries and rural villages near Freetown.
To accompany these young victims of trafficking, the Salesians of Don Bosco (S.D.B) in Sierra Leone established Don Bosco Fambul, a child welfare organization in Freetown in 2017.
The apostolate seeks to care for girls who are sexually abused.
The mission of Don Bosco Fambul
The Don Bosco Fambul project aims to protect, rehabilitate, reunify families, and reintegrate children and young people who have suffered severe rights violations in Sierra Leone.
According to Fr. Jorge Crisafulli, the Director of Don Bosco Fambul’s report on the organization’s website, “Don Bosco Fambul (DBF) is a Local Non-Governmental Organization which helps children, teenagers and young people who live in situations of high vulnerability in the streets of Freetown.”
“We listen to their plights and cries and attend to their needs in a holistic way. We reunify them with their families and empower them through education and skills training,” he said.
The Salesians in Sierra Leone provide shelters for minors who have experienced abuse of any form, those living in situations of prostitution, and those unable to be reunited with their families.
Poverty ‘a root cause’
Fr. Crisafulli said, “The main reason for their presence in the streets during the night is poverty. They want to help their families financially.”
“We have seen that several of them are Senior Secondary School and even university students who are searching for money to pay school fees,” he added.
The victims’ health situation
The coordinator expressed that, “on several occasions, you find children who have been literally cheated, as they were offered work as maids or waiters in Freetown and ended up working as sexual workers in night clubs and bars.”
According to him, “The majority of them are sick, even though unaware of their health condition.”
Many of them who have been forced into prostitution have contracted sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, hepatitis B and C, and other sicknesses, like tuberculosis and kidney-related illnesses, he said.
Don Bosco Fambul’s support for girls
The project which started about 6 years ago has helped rehabilitate over 600 girls, which has enabled the victims to “return to education and skills training and reintegrating them into the community,” he said.
Through the project, the Salesians helped to remove the underage girls who were involved in a situation of prostitution in Freetown from the streets.
Don Bosco Fambul offers young women “a safe environment where holistic rehabilitation and healing is carried out (physically, psychologically, spiritually, morally and socially).”
DBF also seeks to give life to the victims by helping them recover their dignity through empowerment, including education and skills training, and reintegrating them into the community.
Through the Salesians of Don Bosco’s project in Sierra Leone, “a future of hope and joy is opened to them,” Fr. Crisafulli concluded.
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