Site visit and consultations with beneficiaries. Travels to –Oslo Amputee Camp Makeni -Friday 9th December 2011
ITU Awards and Consultations
Site visit and consultations with beneficiaries. Travels to –Oslo Amputee Camp Makeni -Friday 9th December 2011
On a motor bike bound for the dusty narrow road to the Oslo amputee camp in a rural suburb, some five miles away from the Northern Head Town of Makeni, Andrew’s focus was to share the inspirational stories of the ITU awards he has received to help support the amputee victims of war in Sierra Leone with telecommunication and technology support. From Friday, 9th December to Sunday 11th December, the B-Gifted Founder and two volunteer staff, journeyed from the capital city Freetown to the Northern town of Makeni, to share the great news of the awards to the amputees and to make final consultations with the amputee victims of war who will soon become beneficiaries to a community ICT access centre that will give them a powerful voice via ICT. The amputee camp was built by a Norwegian NGO and is called Oslo Camp. The camp is actually a series of pretty white and blue houses, all with gardens marked by low shrubs. The amputees are offered the accommodation for free, because even though many of them could work despite their injuries, prejudice in Sierra Leone often means they are passed over for jobs. It’s a double blow for those who have been victims of the war, and are still held-back by the past.
From the time peace was declared in Sierra Leone in 2002, leading to the holding of elections, the country has been graded as one of the poorest in the world, hugely depending on international aid for survival, whilst helping war victims has become one of the serious challenges in the country.
Over 50,000 people died as a result of the war, with thousands of people having their hands and legs chopped off and many more people displaced. Although there is peace across the entire country currently, most of the war victims, amputees survivors of war still cannot live as normal human beings, and marginalized from the main stream of using Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and the information society. Apart from the serious economic hardships facing amputees and most war victims in Sierra Leone, the amputees are still discriminated against from using ICT, and most of them have not even seen a Personal Computer. However, many of the amputees do rely on handouts and the good will of others. Even though many have professions in wood carving, farming, capentary, Honda maintenance, gara dying they can hardly make a good living without a way to sell their products. At the meeting, the chairman of the Oslo Amputee Camp, an amputee himself, thanked profusely the founder of the B-Gifted Foundation for the “opportunity that he has brought to create a space for their voices to be heard and their needs to be addressed via ICT”. An amputee Mohamed, who is a student at one of the Higher Institutes of Learning in Makeni Town, also thanked the founder of B-Gifted and the entire B-Gifted Staff, and noted that “the challenges we face as amputees are huge and nobody seems to have time for us, not even government, but with these technologies we expect soon, and the opportunity created we will ourselves informed and share our voices so others around the world can hear us and know our plight”. Another student, (an amputee called Archippus T. Sesay, said that “this technologies will help us at the time when many People in Sierra Leone feel or believe that having time for amputees would only waste their time or make life more uncomfortable for them in their current harsh conditions”. He added that “with the thought of the unique chance to communicate now, with these technologies and support created by B-Gifted and ITU, we are full of hope, even as much as we were full of hope when the 11-year conflict ended in 2002”. Archippus affirmed that “our major challenges are discrimination against getting access to education and health, and gaining employment, and this can be achieved through ICT.” B-Gifted Founder speaks to a Cross-section of the amputee beneficiaries at the Oslo Amputee Camp in Makeni Northern Sierra Leone
B-Gifted Founder Andrew Benson Greene said that he was concerned about ‘the very high levels of discrimination, marginalization and lack of access to ICT and essential services like health, education and welfare for amputee war victims” .
Greene said that “in a country with very severe economic and social challenges, this is even more of a challenging situation when it comes to amputees and disabled people in the country”. He said that “for us Sierra Leoneans, we need to help our fellow compatriots who as a result of a decade of brutal civil war and carnage that has left behind thousands of maimed children, women and men, we must not make this disability of amputee a distant notion anymore but to think it as a reality close to our hearts and work hard to help them, or else the reality of suffering will continue.
The Founder also noted that “ I believe that these technologies will help to inform, educate and change the lives of people from these established amputee camps . He said that “ this intervention will not only scratch the surface, but these technologies will be a salve in the wounds and help assuage the difficulties the amputees face”. The Amputees were very delighted by the prospects and ensure providing a safe and secure place to store the equipment for a community access centre. They also confirmed that the project will be successful as this is the first of its kind for them. A memorandum of Understanding was signed as a way for both the B-Gifted Foundation and the Amputees at the Oslo Camp, to commit themselves to the success of the digital hope project. The B-Gifted Founder confirmed that the equipments and necessary ICT will be brought to the camp very soon to be put into motion for the project to kick off.
Site visit and consultations with beneficiaries. Travels to –Oslo Amputee Camp Makeni -Friday 9th December 2011
On a motor bike bound for the dusty narrow road to the Oslo amputee camp in a rural suburb, some five miles away from the Northern Head Town of Makeni, Andrew’s focus was to share the inspirational stories of the ITU awards he has received to help support the amputee victims of war in Sierra Leone with telecommunication and technology support. From Friday, 9th December to Sunday 11th December, the B-Gifted Founder and two volunteer staff, journeyed from the capital city Freetown to the Northern town of Makeni, to share the great news of the awards to the amputees and to make final consultations with the amputee victims of war who will soon become beneficiaries to a community ICT access centre that will give them a powerful voice via ICT. The amputee camp was built by a Norwegian NGO and is called Oslo Camp. The camp is actually a series of pretty white and blue houses, all with gardens marked by low shrubs. The amputees are offered the accommodation for free, because even though many of them could work despite their injuries, prejudice in Sierra Leone often means they are passed over for jobs. It’s a double blow for those who have been victims of the war, and are still held-back by the past.
Over 50,000 people died as a result of the war, with thousands of people having their hands and legs chopped off and many more people displaced. Although there is peace across the entire country currently, most of the war victims, amputees survivors of war still cannot live as normal human beings, and marginalized from the main stream of using Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and the information society. Apart from the serious economic hardships facing amputees and most war victims in Sierra Leone, the amputees are still discriminated against from using ICT, and most of them have not even seen a Personal Computer. However, many of the amputees do rely on handouts and the good will of others. Even though many have professions in wood carving, farming, capentary, Honda maintenance, gara dying they can hardly make a good living without a way to sell their products. At the meeting, the chairman of the Oslo Amputee Camp, an amputee himself, thanked profusely the founder of the B-Gifted Foundation for the “opportunity that he has brought to create a space for their voices to be heard and their needs to be addressed via ICT”. An amputee Mohamed, who is a student at one of the Higher Institutes of Learning in Makeni Town, also thanked the founder of B-Gifted and the entire B-Gifted Staff, and noted that “the challenges we face as amputees are huge and nobody seems to have time for us, not even government, but with these technologies we expect soon, and the opportunity created we will ourselves informed and share our voices so others around the world can hear us and know our plight”. Another student, (an amputee called Archippus T. Sesay, said that “this technologies will help us at the time when many People in Sierra Leone feel or believe that having time for amputees would only waste their time or make life more uncomfortable for them in their current harsh conditions”. He added that “with the thought of the unique chance to communicate now, with these technologies and support created by B-Gifted and ITU, we are full of hope, even as much as we were full of hope when the 11-year conflict ended in 2002”. Archippus affirmed that “our major challenges are discrimination against getting access to education and health, and gaining employment, and this can be achieved through ICT.” B-Gifted Founder speaks to a Cross-section of the amputee beneficiaries at the Oslo Amputee Camp in Makeni Northern Sierra Leone
B-Gifted Founder Andrew Benson Greene said that he was concerned about ‘the very high levels of discrimination, marginalization and lack of access to ICT and essential services like health, education and welfare for amputee war victims” .
Greene said that “in a country with very severe economic and social challenges, this is even more of a challenging situation when it comes to amputees and disabled people in the country”. He said that “for us Sierra Leoneans, we need to help our fellow compatriots who as a result of a decade of brutal civil war and carnage that has left behind thousands of maimed children, women and men, we must not make this disability of amputee a distant notion anymore but to think it as a reality close to our hearts and work hard to help them, or else the reality of suffering will continue.
The Founder also noted that “ I believe that these technologies will help to inform, educate and change the lives of people from these established amputee camps . He said that “ this intervention will not only scratch the surface, but these technologies will be a salve in the wounds and help assuage the difficulties the amputees face”. The Amputees were very delighted by the prospects and ensure providing a safe and secure place to store the equipment for a community access centre. They also confirmed that the project will be successful as this is the first of its kind for them. A memorandum of Understanding was signed as a way for both the B-Gifted Foundation and the Amputees at the Oslo Camp, to commit themselves to the success of the digital hope project. The B-Gifted Founder confirmed that the equipments and necessary ICT will be brought to the camp very soon to be put into motion for the project to kick off.
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