Don Bosco Fambul Celebrates 25 Years

Don Bosco Fambul Celebrates 25 Years

(ANS – Freetown, Sierra Leone – Feb. 8, 2024) – “Fambul,” which means “family” in the Sierra Leonean Creole language krio, is the name of the Salesian NGO that began working in Sierra Leone in 1998 under the inspiration of American Salesian Fr. John Thompson, at the end of the civil war, at the service of children recruited to fight. From that first program of assistance and family reintegration, many others were born, which in the last 4 years alone have helped almost 11,000 young people suffering from violations of their fundamental rights. Through education, Salesians and a large multidisciplinary team of social workers transform the lives of dozens of children, adolescents, and young adults every day to allow them to take control of their own lives and be masters of their dreams for the future.

In the center of Freetown, an old building whose every corner has been exploited, is the reference point for all children in need in Sierra Leone’s capital. The “Don Bosco,” as the Salesians are known throughout the country, welcome, care for, protect, help, and teach all who come to it. The Salesians began to take care of children recruited for the armed conflict, continued with children in street situations, then addressed the problem of physical and psychological abuse, and of child victims of prostitution. They continue these programs, in addition to taking care of adolescents serving their sentences in the adult prison of Pademba.

In these 25 years of life, Don Bosco Fambul has earned the recognition of the population for having been at their side during the civil war at the end of the last century and in the midst of the Ebola epidemic, for having assisted orphaned children, and for having helped in the floods and landslides that the capital suffers every year.

Don Bosco Fambul has a toll-free number, 525, available throughout the country, 24 hours a day, every day of the year, for minors who suffer any type of violence.

Today Don Bosco Fambul has two sites. The first building, in the city center, houses the early intervention programs: in addition to the “Childline” program (the telephone line for children), there is the “Don Bosco sobre Ruedas” program, the bus that goes out at night to meet minors in street situations and who prostitute themselves. The project in Pademba prison provides daily food, psychosocial support, and recreational activities to the most vulnerable inmates, especially the youngest and the sick. The “Hope+” project supports the emancipation of girls who are victims of the sex trade, through training in hotel, catering, tailoring, or hairdressing disciplines, and offers them the opportunity to receive a formal education. Finally, the “Eco” project focuses on reducing plastic waste and increasing tree planting.

The second location was built outside the city. A large complex near the sea, surrounded by greenery and with large recreational areas, is known as the New Fambul. This is the Don Bosco Fambul Therapeutic Centre, which includes four large residential buildings for children accepted into the various programs. Here they spend the necessary time in view of desirable family reunification, and in the meantime they receive schooling and legal and psychological support. The center also has sports fields, a health clinic, a nursery, and accommodation for volunteers.

Last December, Don Bosco Fambul celebrated its 25th anniversary of service and took the opportunity to inaugurate a pioneering therapy center in the country. It offers therapy sessions for children and child survivors of any type of abuse. Young mothers’ early attachment bonds with their children are strengthened, and a thorough analysis of children’s traumas is carried out to create a functional healing plan.

The celebration was attended by representatives of various Salesian institutions in Europe and America that collaborate with the Don Bosco Fambul programs, including the Salesian Mission Office based in Madrid. The commemorative events were also attended by members of various ministries of the government of Sierra Leone, international organizations, and official representatives of the embassies of Spain and Germany.

Raquel Fuente, head of the Department of International Cooperation for the Development of Salesian Missions, together with Maria Eugenia Hernandez, head of Anglophone Africa, delivered a commemorative plaque to the director of Don Bosco Fambul, Salesian missionary Piotr Wojnarowki, in recognition of this collaboration.

“The work of Don Bosco Fambul is the best example of child protection. Don Bosco worked all his life in Italy for the most vulnerable minors and young people, and Fambul does just that, thus expressing the best demonstration of Salesianity,” commented Dr. Hernandez on the occasion.

Over these 25 years, Misiones Salesianas has financed, and continues to finance, numerous programs and projects of Don Bosco Fambul, as well as giving specific aid for the preparation of schools, workshops, installation of solar panels, and emergency situations. In recent years, two documentaries produced by Misiones Salesianas, “Love” and “Libertad,” respectively on the programs for minors in prostitution and for minors in the adult prison of Pademba, have been filmed in Sierra Leone and have contributed to improving the living conditions of minors assisted by the Salesians.