After four years of a rebel war in Sierra Leone, the volume of forced migration of persons from the rural areas to the metropolitan district increased tremendously. The situation reached alarming proportions in Freetown, the capital city especially following intensified rebel activity during late 1994 and early 1995.
The majority of the displaced persons were women and children who faced many problems. These included, among others, the need for the adult women to be out of home for long hours seeking work, the majority of the older women being burdened with the task of caring for the many children, a high incidence of children becoming missing. Such problems needed to be addressed. A group of women, the National Organisation of Elderly Women (NAFEW) formed in 1992, recognized these basic needs and decided to complement the efforts of the Government in providing help for families with babies and children.
This comprised offering day care for children aged 3 months – 6 years from among families in the depressed areas of Tengbeh Town particularly the displaced. The Centre was originally established in 1995 as a Day Care facility for children aged 3 months – 36 months. On Inauguration day the number on roll was 7. Within 6 months this had increased to 25. By the end of the first year there were 40 children on roll and the demand continued to grow against the background of limited physical infrastructure particularly in terms of furniture, teaching and learning materials, and recreational falcilities. At the end of the school year 2000 the number stood at 90, with a further increase expected ‘in the 2000 – 2001 school year.
As time progressed and the children grew older, the need to prepare them for formal education led to expanding the scope of the operation from nursery level to preparatory school level since 1997. But due to the continuing crisis in the country and an economy that has been devastated by the war, it is difficult to get the required support for effective functioning and expansion programmes. Despite the constraints they struggle to improve the lot of these needy children at Hillside continues.
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