Even more successful Race for Survival this year!

Tuesday 8 April 2014

The children of Sierra Leone joined thousands of children in 66 countries across the world to take part in this year’s Global Day of Action for Child Survival.  Many stakeholders made it a point of duty to grace the event and to make commitments towards ending preventable child deaths in Sierra Leone – a country once described as “one of the worst places in the world for a child to be born”.

Among the leaders who attended our Race for Survival were the Deputy Minister of Sports, Yusuf Al Sankoh;  Dr. S.A.S Kargbo, Head of Reproductive Health (representing the Minister of Health and Sanitation); Hon. Mabinty Fornah, Member of Parliament and Chair Person of the Parliamentary Health Committee and fellow Parliamentarians. Another very important personality present was Sierra Leone’s all time football star, Mohamed Kallon, and other celebrities including our Music and Media Ambassadors.  Pregnant women and lactating mothers also made their way to the National Stadium to support this year’s Global Day of Action.

It was such a big and interesting event as we are also launched the Mama En Pikin Welbodi (Maternal child health) Album with messages urging men to play a role in childcare and the Lappa competition to raise awareness on the importance of proper hand washing to prevent diarrhea and cholera.

Perhaps the most important part of the event was the commitments made by leaders towards fighting preventable child deaths in Sierra Leone, as a response to the demands made by Fatmata Kunta, on behalf of all Children in Sierra Leone. “We the children of Sierra Leone believe that the government can do anything for us to survive for a better Sierra Leone tomorrow, and we hope that our demand would be treated with the utmost urgency it deserves”.

Sierra Leone super star Mohamed Kallon giving out certificates of participation to schools' representatives

Our Race for Survival became the talk of Salone

Two weeks before the Race for Survival, promotion/publicity on the event was making headlines across Sierra Leone, especially the capital, Freetown.  Momentum was building up day as we were approached the big day, Saturday, 26th October 2013. This foretold us that it was going to be a historic success and indeed it was!   You can read some of the news articles on the Race for Survival on line. Please follow the links below: