Housing and shelter

The poet Maya Angelou once said, “The ache for home lives in all of us.” Last week, we discussed the importance of electricity to the people of Sierra Leone (as with any developing nation). This week, we’re going to touch on a different, and cheerier topic – housing!

It doesn’t sound to be the most exciting. It’s not as revitalizing as discussing renewed agriculture efforts or as sexy as the condom campaigns the Khadarlis are working on. However, it is just as important, and in fact uplifting when you consider the facts.

According to Aisha Khadar, co-founder/Executive Director of Khadarlis for Sierra Leone, the Khadarlis have made a total of ten trips to Sierra Leone since 2007 – to the villages of Jimmi, Senehun, Bandajuma and Kpawama. In those four years, among their other accomplishments, they’ve built a total of thirteen houses for these four villages.

The Khadarlis houses are generally mud huts, but the organization has been working steadily on cement/mud combination huts, to find the best options. While thirteen houses in four years may seem like a sobering figure, think of what this means.

Thirteen families – not just people, but families, which in Sierra Leone may mean extended family as well – now have a place to live. A shelter to call their own. A place to put their heads at the end of the night. People who have been displaced from the familiar, their worlds shattered by the realities of the war.

Khadarlis has big plans going into 2012. Our goal for this segment of our work (shelter and housing) is to reach twelve houses. Twelve! That’s almost as many as we have so far built in four years! It may seem unreachable but it is absolutely possible with the love and kindness of Khadarlis supporters.

If you are interested in helping Khadarlis for Sierra Leone, with time, money or donations, contact Aisha Khadar Desince at Aishadesince@khadarlis.org. or khadarlis@khadarlis.org.

Marisa Natale

Khadarlis Volunteer Blogger