A Sierra Leonean community in the state of New Jersey in the United States has provided livelihood support to victims of the Wellington fire disaster. The fire outbreak that occurred on 5th November, 2021 in Freetown following a tanker explosion led to the loss of over a hundred lives and left several others injured. It also occasioned psychological and emotional difficulties among family members of the deceased and the injured.

Many of the victims were hospitalized for long period of time, and when they left hospital, they are confronted with post-disaster support mechanism. This, among other reasons, attracted the attention of the Sierra Leone Community of New Jersey (SLCNJ) to provide livelihood support.

Photo: senior members of SLCNJ, Chairman – Mr. Lamin D. Alharazim , and Secretary General-Abdul H. Gabasi

SLCNJ worked in collaboration with Social Workers Sierra Leone (SWSL), which coordinated the distribution exercise. SWSL has been working with the victims of the disaster from the onset of the response efforts. A total of 61 people [35 survivors and 26 orphans] from 10 households were provided with 25kg of rice and a cash.

Expression of joy by one of the recipients and the Chairman of SLCNJ

This kind of support is considered timely and helpful as survivors continue to struggle to adapt to their present situation. Many of them were people for whom life was already harder even before the incident. They expressed appreciation to SLCNJ for the gesture. “We are very grateful for this support. Since [I was] discharged this is my first support and life is really hard. But this is so helpful,” says one of the recipients.

Cash disbursement by the secretary general to one of the beneficiaries

SWSL has been working both on the ground with the affected families and in treatment centers with the hospitalized by providing psychosocial support as a way of building resilience among survivors. Every indication on the ground suggests that more needs to be done as post-intervention mechanism for these survivors and orphans. It is also important to note that the support provided did not target all the needy survivors; SWSL is therefore calling on the public to emulate SLCNJ.