More Picture

Here are more pictures from the stories I shared with you all. Some of these pictures are self explanatory. Please feel free to send your comments and suggestions, I look forward to them.

Mo

Second Trip

Hello again all, Mo here. Let me start by again apologizing for taking so long to update my blog after my return from my second trip to Sierra Leone. Moving to a new city to start a new job, and settling down at my new job has taken more time than I expect. I plan on doing a better job at updating my blog with stories and pictures of my charitable trips. I also want to inform you all of my recent name change. My new name is now Francis Mohamed Sahr Roberts, but you all can still call me Mo.

As for my last trip to Sierra Leone, it was an adventurous one. Unlike my previous trip in 2007, this trip was shorter and I was not able to raise as much money as I did in 2007. Although short, the trip was nonetheless emotional, fulfilling, captivating and rewarding. Also, the goal was the same--helping to better the lives of those less fortunate than myself.

As I did during my last trip, I again visited the International Dove Orphanage and spent time with the children there. This orphanage has now been adopted by Help Sierra Leone. It is now one of the recipients of the generosity of so many of you out there. With your help, we donated bags of rice and a barrel of clothing to the orphanage. The administrator of the orphanage, Mrs. Judy Nelson, and the children were very excited to see me again. They were moved and appreciative of our assistance (www.internationaldove.com). I cannot put into words how I feel when the kids rush to hug me or when they say thank you with tears in their eyes. The sense of gratitude and appreciation I get from them is priceless. Also, spending time with the children and talking to them about their daily lives is an experience I will forever cherish. As their slogan reads, they are "today's orphans, but tomorrow's leaders."

Also, as we did in 2007, we offered scholarships to students whose parents are unable to pay their tuition or fund their education. But unlike in 2007 when we offered 70 full scholarships, this time we were only able to offer about 40. As they were in 2007, the students, their families, principals and school officials were all very appreciative and thankful to all of you for your help and generosity. The students we offered scholarships range in age from 12-17; we offered the scholarships to 20 boys and 20 girls. The scholarship includes full tuition, books, bags, uniform and some lunch money. My plan is to continue sponsoring these children until they complete their high school education. This will only be possible with the continued support and help of all of you.

As I have indicated in the past, education is one of the best gift we can give these children because it gives them hope in an otherwise hopeless society. As many of you may understand, there's a huge disparity between the educational level for boys and girls in Sierra Leone (and most of the developing world). I believe that one of the reasons for this is that parents with multiple children who cannot afford to fund all of their childrens' education will usually fund the boy's education because it is thought that girls will one day become wives and therefore need not be educated whereas boys will one day need to provide for a family of their own. Unfortunately, in Sierra Leone, this has led a lot of young girls into a life of prostitution because it helps them provide for themselves and sometimes, their families. This is a national tragedy. During my visit, I was saddened by the sights of young girls prostituting themselves, instead of being in classrooms and living meaningful lives. One of my goals in creating Help Sierra Leone is to get these young girls from the streets and put them in classrooms.

Another trip I took was to Mr. Bangura's bridge home. As a means of introduction, Mr. Bangura is a young father of three who moved into the Aberdeen Road Bridge with his wife and children during the civil war in Sierra Leone. His story was featured on www.bbc.co.uk (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/africa_sierra_leone_bridge_house/html/1.stm). Unfortunately, the matriach of the family died last year. With your help, I visited Mr. Bangura at his make-shift home underneath the bridge. I spent time with him and his children, console them on the loss of his wife and the kid's mother. I also bought the family some grocery to hold them over until I can return to the U.S. and raise some more money to continue helping them. I also made arrangements to find him and his children suitable housing since their current living conditions are deplorable. Since my return to the States, I have since made arrangements to move him and his family to a new place. This should be happening sometime this week. I will be sending you all updates of this development when it happens. The family is very grateful and appreciative to all of you for your help and generosity.

Furthermore, I visited a maternity clinic in Freetown. The clinic is the Kroo-Bay Maternity Clinic that is literally located just a few yards from a heavily flood-prone area of Freetown. The conditions at this hospital were simply beyond beliefs. As some of you may know, Sierra Leone has one of the highest child-mortality rates in the world. As of 2008, Sierra Leone's child-mortality rate stands at about 40%. What this means is that 40% of the children born in Sierra Leone die before their 5th birthday. This is a shame and an outrage. It is both unacceptable and dehumanizing to learn that so many children die in Sierra Leone due to avoidable or treatable illness or diseases. Unlike most of the developed world, Sierra Leone provides little to no pre-natal or post-natal care to expecting and new moms. Also, with an economy in shambles, most families simply cannot afford basic healthcare, or once ill, doctor visits and/or medication to treat otherwise treatable diseases. For example, children still die from measels, complication with circumcisions, chicken pox, malaria, unsanitized water and poor nutrition.

During my tour of the clinic, I spoke with the administrator and some of the nurses about the conditions in the hospital, their needs, the conditions in which they work, aid from the government or some non-governmental organizations. The clinic is totally dependent on funding from the government and donations from NGOs including the UNDP, UNICEF, World Vision and others. Apart from raising money to help this clinic, my plan is to also contact some hospitals in the area and ask them to help train nurses and pedaetricians in Sierra Leone, donate medications and basic medical equipments and materials to this clinic and other similarly situated clinics in Sierra Leone. I know this is a tall task, but the least I can do is ask and try my best to convince people to help.

Also, I donated three barrels of clothes donated by my friends and family to needy families and children of Sierra Leone. The recipients of your generosity were very appreciative and thankful to all of you.

Attached to this post are some pictures of my trip to Sierra Leone. I hope it will inspire and motivate you all to give again to this worthy cause. As I have said in the past, without your help, my ideas will simply be that--ideas. But instead, with your help, we have been able to touch so many lives and I hope you all will join me so that we can continue to touch lives in Sierra Leone. None of us are responsible for the challenges facing Sierra Leone, but we can all help that country forge a new way forward by helping its most vulnerable citizens. As you all know, the plight of Sierra Leoneans is very near, dear and personal to me. Not only did I lost family members and friends during the country's eleven year civil way, but I have also lost nieces, nephews and cousins to the high child-mortality rate in Sierra Leone. It is by the grace of God, the love of my family, my friends (including you all) and this great nation that I am able to live a life that sometimes still lives me in awe; because a few years ago, I was just another kid in Sierra Leone wondering what's going to be come of my life and whether I have a future at all. Back then I was not thinking about getting a job, instead, I was thinking about whether me and my family and friends were going to survive a civil war that was claiming the lives of others. This is my motivator for trying to help and trying to make a difference.

Over the years, I have received so many messages from you all thanking me for my efforts and telling me how much of an inspiration I am on you all. Well, although flattered and humbled by these messages, I am undeserving of them because all I am doing is trying to make a difference--something that all of us do in one way or the other. Also, if I was in the situation that many of the people we help find themselves in, I will appreciate help from someone, anyone.

To conclude, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all you've done and continue to do. I ask you all to continue to give what you can. Please feel free to share these stories and pictures with your families and friends. Please encourage them to give and help me in this battle to better the lives of the unfortunate and disadvantaged among us. Thank you all and I hope to hear from you all soon. Please feel free to leave me your comments and/or suggestions.

Mo

More Pics

More photos and stories.

Hello all, Mo here again. Sorry that it took me so long to update my blog. Life has been crazy lately. A recent death in my family, family and personal matters and problems with work have kept me very busy and somber. But my faith in God has not waned and it will not. I know a lot of you out there are rooting for me and I appreciate it more than you can imagine.

What I am doing today is posting some more photos of my last trip to Sierra Leone. Some of the pictures are self explanatory and others are not. Some of the pictures on this posting will show me in my happiest moments and my saddest ones. As many of you know, my grandmother (who was the most important person in my life) passed away February last year in Sierra Leone. Her death came a week prior to my arrival in Sierra Leone on my charitable trip. She had no idea that I was coming home because I had planned on surprising her--a decision I now regret everyday of my life because I believe that had she known I was coming home, she would have waited to see me. I miss her dearly. The trip could not have came at a better time because the love and appreciation so many people showed me for giving them so little helped me through the grieving of my grandma's death.

My organization, Help Sierra Leone, helped a lot of children and family and I am very proud to be a part of that experience. As I indicated earlier, we offered scholarships to about 70 children, provided food to a small village, an orphanage and made monetary donations to an amputee camp and other organizations. I am most proud of the scholarship fund we created because it gave some children hope in an otherwise hopeless society. As some of you may be aware, the culture in Sierra Leone is such that when parents, with two or more kids, can only afford to send one to school, the boy(s) is usually sent to school and the girl(s) stay home. This has created a huge disparity between the level of educated boys and girls. This has led a lot of young girls into early marriage or a life of prostitution, which is a national tragedy. Through my organization, I seek to reverse this problem by taking girls from the street and putting them in classrooms.

Each scholarship recipient must fill out an application and write a short essay about why he/she must be awarded the scholarship. Since I didn't want to turn any child down, I only handed out the number of applications for which I know we can offer a scholarship.

One of the scholarship recipient Haja Bela Bah of the Methodist Girls High School in Freetown wrote in her essay:

".....I am afraid if situation continues this way, I will be forced into early marriage because most of my cousins of same age and those younger than me have already been forced into early marriage. I really don't want to fall victim of such ugly situation as I am desperate to be educated. I am therefore kindly pleading for an immediate assistance in terms of awarding me a scholarship so that I can further my eduction."

Ibrahim Sesay, a student at the Prince of Wales Secondary School wrote in part:

"We manage to eat one meal in the evening, drink a lot of water and go to bed. The water help us to be filled since the food is not enough. In the morning, the little left over rice is what we heat up and everyone take one or two spoons fr0m the pot and we to go school, normally without lunch. We are hungry most of the time but we drink a lot of water to stay filled."

These are disturbing but true stories. No child should have to go through what these kids go through on a daily basis. What I seek to do is help them in any way I can. I am thinking of making my charitable efforts a full time venture instead of a side venture. Monetary issues have been a bar to my efforts, but I hope with everyone's help we can change some lives.

I thank you all for taking the time to read my blog and I invite you all to send me your comments and questions. Please give to this cause and ask your friends, colleagues and family members to give. As I said in my previous posting, with a donation of $20 you can pay a grade-school student's tuition for an entire year; with a $50 donation, you can pay that child's tuition and buy his/her books; with a $100 donation, you can pay tuition, buy books, uniform and a bay for a student. Every penny you give goes towards the cause. I thank you all in advance for your help, and I really hope and look forward to your help.

Mohamed

More pictures

More pictures

Here are more pictures from my charitable trip to Sierra Leone. I hope upon viewing them you will be encouraged to donate again in the near future.

These are pictures from places I visited and people we were able to help. The pictures are self explanatory.

It has been a while

Hello all, Mo here again. How is everyone doing? I hope everyone is doing great. It has been a while since I last updated my profile. A lot has happened since my last profile and it will take a long time to discuss it all. I will provide some updates though: Since my last update, I am sad to inform you all that my grandma (who was the most important person in my life) passed away on February 2nd 2007, just a week prior to my arrival in Sierra Leone. I traveled to Sierra Leone a week after my grandma's death to help the needy families and children of Sierra Leone. Her death marks the lowest point in my life. I thank my family and friends for their love and support during that very difficult times. As you all may remember, my last post included a request to my family and friends to help me help the needy families and children of Sierra Leone--and they did. With their help, I was able to travel to Sierra Leone on February 9th to help needy families and children. With their help, we:

1. granted 70 full one-year scholarships to boys and girls,
2. handed out 50 bags of rice to a village of about 50 homes,
3. made a monetary and food donation to the international dove orphanage I visited during my internship,
4. made a donation to an amputee camp,
5. handed out 50 bags of baby clothing to new and expecting moms at a local hospital,
6. gave toys, shoes, bags, clothes to needy children in a village I visited during my internship,
7. and so much more.

Also, I graduated from law school in May 2007 and I passed the Florida Bar Exam in July. I currently reside and work in Jacksonville. I will make a conscious effort to continue updating my blog for you all.