According to the Chairlady in the community Isatu Sesay, food and essential domestic items have been made available to them by individuals and organizations such as WEP, Save the Children and Pikin Paddy.
However, she lamented that shelter happened to be their greatest need at the moment.
“Our lives seem meaningless since the incident happened. We have no safe place to sleep, and we are now exposed to potential threats like diseases and criminals,” said Madam Sesay.
Children continue to suffer from this crisis as their parents have been weakened badly by the fire incident to provide immediate shelter and essential items like clothing and schooling materials.
Community Task Force volunteer, Mohamed S. Jalloh, complained that children’s are vulnerable to sexual harassment as well as sexual penetration owing to limited availability of shelter.
“People are taking advantage of the crisis to exploit women and children sexually,” said Jalloh.
The situation had become more challenging for parents and guardians to provide care and protection for their beloved children.
Jalloh said before the fire incident things were difficult for them in the community. “The fire has just worsened our situation,” said Jalloh, and acknowledging support from Social Workers Sierra Leone (SWSL) an organization he said being instrumental in providing assistance to the children at the moment.
