This year asphaleia is celebrating 25 years of delivery and we can’t possibly look back over the years without highlighting the amazing support and fundraising our staff and friends have contributed to help a previous staff member with her grassroots project in her home country.
The Kabor Project, based in Sierra Leone, provided vital support and training to some of the most disadvantaged children, young women and adults in our world today, and asphaleia is proud to be part of its story.
how The Kabor Project started
One of asphaleia’s staff members from the early days, Zainab Janneh - a houseparent at one of our accommodation services - was inspired by our founder, Dave Cottrell, and the work of asphaleia. A conversation with him about the challenges faced by the people in her home country of Sierra Leone triggered her return to set up The Kabor Project.
Her vision was to run a learning centre that would equip young women who had been left with the devastating impact of a civil war, often with children to provide for single-handedly, with vocational skills so they could earn a living.
impacting the lives of women and children
The civil war was devastating for communities, and Zainab saw a significant need amongst women. Many young women and girls in the country suffered sexual abuse during the war or were kept as ‘bush wives’ and dragged across the country as the war fronts shifted. Many of the girls had also been living on the streets as prostitutes. Low self-esteem, depression and infection were common outcomes of the experience, if the experience was survived.
In 2004, Zainab moved back to Sierra Leone from the UK, found a building and employed some teachers and professionals to teach English, sewing, catering, beadwork, to mentor and counsel the young women and girls, educating them in their human rights and safe living practices, whilst their babies were looked after at The Kabor Creche. They set up an agricultural project with education on farming methods to achieve self-sufficiency for local villagers, also distributing seedlings and farming equipment in another local district.
The Kabor Skills Training Center developed its programmes and by 2020 they were delivering livelihood enhancement support training to 86 beneficiaries in Hairdressing, Catering, and Tailoring.
The team also established strong bilateral ties with the Chiefdom medical team. Over the years the medical team provided training support to staff and beneficiaries on health-related issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention and control mechanisms, Sexual Reproductive Health and Right issues, Gender Based Violence, Family Planning and Teenage Pregnancy. Staff would also visit in the community with people and teach about sanitation and health issues.
The Kabor Project started with 26 young people and over the years, thousands were helped by Zainab and her vision.
many, many fundraisers!
asphaleia raised money and supported the project’s inception, and over the years did many fundraisers for specific needs of the project. These included several 10K runs, charity balls, cake sales, a car wash, sweepstakes (World Cups, Euros etc!), and Christmas donations. Dave even shaved his head to raise money! Through all these efforts by many people over the years, we supported the team in Sierra Leone to purchase a minibus, farming equipment, a brick oven, and funded many students through vocational training programmes.
It was always the intention that asphaleia invested in the project to provide it time to establish local funding and sustainability solutions. As part of our 25 years celebration, we are donating a sum to small local charities across the year, choosing a different charity each month, with the aim of supporting small teams who have a dream to make a difference and few resources - much like asphaleia 25 years ago, and The Kabor Project in 2004.
We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who fundraised or donated over the years – you made a huge difference to thousands of lives.