The vision of Khadarlis For Sierra Leone is to rebuild villages destroyed by the 11-yearlong civil war that ended in 2002. Khadarlis is implementing programs to provide villages with safe drinking water, solar electricity, housing, health care delivery, agriculture, education, women's empowerment and child protection.
The Khadarlis Team believes that the solution to helping communities become self-sufficient and move past their physical and psychological scars lies in doing something tangible to impact their lives positively.
It is sad to note that Sierra Leonean government has yet to seriously consider eliminating extreme poverty and hunger in line with the UN's Millenium Developmnent Goals (MDG's), set by world leaders.
According to the UNDP-MDG Progress Report 2011, Sierra Leone is among the world's poorest Countries. Decades of economic decline have added to widespread poverty with more than 70% of the population living below the poverty line, and the country ranks last in the Human Development Index, the report maintains.
Khadarlis volunteers have always been at the forefront to share the pains of the people of Sierra Leone, especially in the villages of Jimmi, Senehun, Bandajuma and Kpawama in southern Sierra Leone, where our humanitarian work is ongoing. Even though they have not visited these project areas, students from Bryant University in April 2011 implemented creative strategies to raise money for one water well in Jimmi. Another class project gave a comprehensive artistic presentation of what has been achieved spanning 5 years of operations. They called their project : " Plant a seed of hope and let it grow." What a beautiful artitistic exibition standing in a corner of the office on 99 Academy Avenue with a beaming smile to all visitors!
In recognition of such service learning projects, the Bryant University authorities have awarded Khadarlis three certificates of recognition in the last two years in appreciation and gratitude for Khadarlis's support.
At the same time, individual volunteers are working on insightful projects such as the "Classroom to Classroom" educational project led by Ashley Tyson, Volunteer Coordinator for Khadarlis; "Improving the teaching of English through Story Telling Techniques Leading to Good Writing Skills" is another educational project currently led by Sarah Van Horn.
Meanwhile, the Event Coordinator for Khadarlis, Serina Inversa is in the middle of organizing a fund raising event so that we can continue running our ongoing projects.
The members of the grant writing team including Diana Crow and our professional grant writer and supervisor, Danika Thompson have made strong commitments to work with the staff of Khadarlis diligently to ensure that funding for proposals become a reality.
We look forward to welcoming more professionals and development practitioners to join our team both in the US and in Sierra Leone to lift our people from grass to grace and once more put a smile on their faces. Thet deserve nothing less than that!
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