Toybox Lifeline Annual Update 2020

Esther*, 20, was in her early teens when she had to start caring for her younger siblings full-time after her mother left the family and her father began to struggle with alcohol dependency. Esther was still too young to be able to take care of herself, so it is unsurprising she found the added responsibility and pressure of looking after her two siblings, coupled with the trauma of losing contact with her mother, too much to handle. It was at this point that Esther began spending more and more of her time on the streets and was lured into the dangers of gang-life.

Looking back at this time, Esther recalls the four years she spent living and working on the streets as incredibly hard. She soon became involved in the gang’s activities, witnessing and experiencing many things that no one – yet alone a young girl – should have to face.

Despite the odds, Esther has been able to turn her life around with the support of our partner’s outreach workers. She now rents a room where she lives with her boyfriend and young baby and runs a small fast food business.

When our partner’s outreach workers first met Esther she was adamant that she wouldn’t accept any help for herself, but she stayed in touch with the team for the sake of her two siblings. Over time, as they managed to establish a good level of trust, she began to open up to them and accept their offer of support and guidance. Our partner now works with Esther to help her stay independent, to help her build her business and to stabilise her life so that she doesn’t fall back into street living and the many threats and dangers that would involve.

Esther believes that the most important thing that she’s learned is knowing how to make the best decisions to improve her own quality of life. The team of dedicated outreach workers continue to help her to work through her problems and offer suggestions and advice when required. Esther says “They never let you lose hope. This was the moment when I realised that I could turn my life around. I’ve learned about how perseverance can pay off."

She went on to say, “My child and my family are my reason for waking up in the morning. They make me so happy. When I think about my life a year or two ago, it was so different. Everybody says how much I’ve changed and I try really hard to believe all the positive things. My son was the reason for turning my life around – he made me realise that I wanted to create a safe and loving home for him to grow up in – he is my reason. It also means that I now have a safe place for my younger brother to stay as well, which is nice.

Sometimes I think about everything that we’ve been through – all the pain and hurt that we’ve experienced – and it’s amazing that we’re coming out the other side.”

One of the street outreach workers commented, “A few years ago, Esther was a completely different person – her behaviour was dangerous and destructive. Now she is so focused on her family and her son – she is a prime example of how change is possible and the support given to children on the streets is worth every up and down.”

Our work with street children can be incredibly challenging. The issues affecting them are hard to unravel and progress can often be slow. But our dedicated team of outreach workers are there to offer a constant and non judgemental presence and positive influence in these young people’s lives- something they may never have experienced before. Esther’s life is now full of promise and her story highlights the huge difference your support is making to her and many others living on the street.

Ratty*, 13, was forced to leave his family when he was just 11 as they were too poor to care for him. Completely alone and with no one else to turn to for support, Ratty ended up making a life for himself as a waste picker on a large rubbish dump in Freetown.

This is no place for a child to be, yet for the past two years, Ratty has spent his time sifting through things that everyone else in Freetown has discarded, amongst the backdrop of thick black poisonous smoke which rises from pockets of burning rubbish. The combined stench of burning plastic and decaying matter under the oppressive heat can only be described as an assault on the senses. Yet on a daily basis, Ratty and many other young children like him, are forced to wade through a vast expanse of rubbish, raw sewage, broken shards of glass and toxic waste in flimsy and unprotective footwear, scouring for scrap metal and plastic to sell.

Despite undertaking such dangerous work, Ratty earns a pittance, barely making enough to buy food for himself. And in addition to being subjected to this intense daily grind for survival, Ratty and many other street children like him also face high levels of discrimination. When you live and work on the dump, everything about you is permeated by an overpowering smell, which identifies you before you even speak as someone who lives outside ‘normal’ society.

For Ratty there is no escape or respite from the dumpsite. At the end of a long day, it is also the place that he calls home. It is against this incredibly oppressive backdrop of filth, disease and danger, that Ratty sleeps in a makeshift shack made from old sacks, with nine other boys and men who work on the dumpsite alongside him.

Sadly, there isn’t a ‘quick fix’ solution to the complex situation which Ratty, and many other young people in Sierra Leone find themselves in. It is only thanks to your support that we are able to continue to work alongside children who live on the very fringes of society through no fault of their own. With your continued support, our partners are able to work tirelessly to visit street children in the places where they congregate, work and sleep, such as the dumpsites in Freetown. Not only do they provide children with food and water they also offer a listening ear, showing them the respect of their time and attention and help them navigate a way forward, towards a brighter future.

With even a small amount of support, Ratty can find a way to break free of his current circumstances and see a brighter future. Our partners in Sierra Leone can help street children like those in Ratty’s situation access routes to education and healthcare as well as giving them the attention and guidance they need to make new choices.

“The best thing I have found on the dump were some nearly new clothes, which still had some money in the pocket. I was able to buy some fresh food for me and my friends.” In the future Ratty would like to be a bank manager so that he has a clean and stable job and doesn’t have to worry about money.

*Names have been changed to protect identities.