In October the Christians celebrate Thanksgiving. And at Fambul a inde pendent external accountant and con sultant are at work in order to examine the transparency, efficiency and sustain ability of our socialpastoral work.

Much has been sown at Fambul and, in a figurative sense, our staff and volun teers shall celebrate thanksgiving, too.

Surely, you have sown as well. You have invested in relationships, friend ships or your job. It is recognition which we reap from our work and which we need in order to live.

Let us invest even more into our rela tionship with God since the greatest Thanksgiving for us is still to come! Brother Lothar Deeply shocked, the youths, the staff and the Salesians mourn the death of Ab dulai Tho ronka. On the 1st of October the street boy was beaten to death by a mob. The exact circumstances remain un clear. Fambul has protested and demands clarification.

Edition 28
November 2012
DON BOSCO FAMBUL — SIERRA LEONE
JOURNEYING WITH THE YOUNG
The Salesian Community in Freetown 2012/13 (from left to right): Brother Lothar Wagner, Brother George Takyi; Father Peter Morba; Father Ubaldino Andrade; Father Guillermo Basanes (Regional for Africa, visiting), Father Sony Pottenplackal; Brother Francis Berisie and S. Linus Onyenagubor.

Greetings from Freetown
Inside Freetown
Mob kills street boy 1
Visitation at Fambul 2
Stations of the container 2
Mini Bus Campaign 3
Activities at Fambul 4
Forward 2015: Mini Bus 4
Cuddly toys campaign 4
In this edition Our Premium Partner Stark Sti ftung Who wi l l be the next? Father Guillermo Basanes SDB (left) is the Regional for Africa and was as signed by the Rec tor Mayor to visit the WestAfrican province of the Sa lesians of Don Bosco. His final stop was Fambul in Freetown. He took three days time to visit all the projects.

He talked to youths, staff and Salesians. Particular ly interested he was when talking to the street children. For one hour children reported how they managed surviving on the street (right)
Extraordinary visitation at fambul Stations of an aid container on its way from Germany to Sierra Leone: when loading the goods in TrierweilerSirzenich (left), in Freetown’s port (middle) and when unloading in front of Don Bosco Fambul (right).

Aid container reaches freetown Thanks to the help of a lot of friends of Don Bosco Fambul it was once more possible to collect a lot of donations in kind and ship them to Freetown. The cargo included important medical devices and drugs, stationery, toys, a VW transporter, power generators, water pumps, school materials, mattresses and other humanitarian assistance.

Thanks to all our supporters. Particular thanks to Markus Arnoldy and the staff of the company Elektro Arnoldy for managing the logistics. Without their help the campaign could not have been carried out.

„Fambul is undoubtedly one of the most meaningful faces and services of Don Bosco in the whole West Africa.“ P. Guillermo Basanes SDB Often street chil dren fall victim to unscrupulous po licemen. For two years street children have been regularly meeting leading police officers at Don Bosco Fambul in order to end child abuse by po licemen (picture left).

Order your newsletter! info@donboscofambul.org A delegation of mem bers of the Youth Cen tre visited the Human Rights Commission of the SierraLeonean Government. In this connection particular ly the young people’s situations were dis cussed. Apart from re quirements self commitment declara tions were signed by the young visitors.

For three years Sabine Kolping has been in charge of the advanced staff training. Besides, she headed the Train eeships Office. On 2012112 she will take leave. Thank you very much for the successful quality development.

In September 31 social workers were in volved in drawing up the new Street Children Report 2012. Apart from questionnaires, indi vidual and group interviews events with the police, politicians and doctors took place in order to get information as precise as possi ble on the life conditions of the street chil dren. The picture shows the members of the editorial board during a session.

Street children write a public letter to the Presi dent of Sierra Leone. In doing so, they partici pate actively in the current elec tion campaign. In connection with the democratic process of devel oping an in formed opinion the children were talking about their life situations Four times a year an general staff meeting (picture above) takes place. Apart from passing on information staff sugges tions are taken up benevolently. By doing so, the event has regularly turned into a kind of “future workshop” yielding lots of ideas and visions.

It is particularly the street children who are affected by the chol era epidemic since the disease has its cause in polluted water.

Regular prevention workshops are taking place.

A radio discus sion was held by members of the youth cen tre about hu man rights and Don Bosco’s preventive sys tem.

An extraordinary idea was put into practice by pupils from the ErnstMoritz ArndtGymnasium in Bonn: the cuddly toys campaign. Nearly 2,000 cuddly toys were collected by members of the work group MenschenrechtsAG.

The cuddly toys were taken to Trier in a transporter (picture below), packed and shipped to Freetown (cf. container campaign). In connection with the monthly hospital visits the former street children currently taking part in the REHA measure are now bringing the cuddly toys to the ill children (picture above). Thank you for the great idea which was put into practice jointly by pupils from Bonn and children from Freetown. Special thanks to Dr. Martin Ziel inski, teacher and head of the work group.

The minibus not only transports the animators but also the partition walls, leaflets and other materials needed for the educational campaigns. The artist Angelo from Togo has painted the bus with clear pedagogical images. Shown are locations of pedagogic activity, like the family, school, the playground and the chapel. This school year the pro gram focuses on Don Bosco’s peda gogy. Salesians, members of staff and past pupils talk at schools and in par ishes. The fact that corporal punish ment is still integral part of the educa tional system in Sierra Leone at schools and in families shows the utter necessi ty of an education based on love. This is why, the debate focuses on the pre ventive system versus the repressive system. We expect exciting and chal lenging discussions.

Thank you being interested in our work with and for the street children! An additional crisis intervention cen tre for street children was estab lished in downtown Freetown for the period of the election campaign.

There the children receive shelter and safety, food as well as individual and group counselling which is ex pected to result in the reintegration into the families of origin.

In preparation of the anniversary year 2015, the Salesian Community in Freetown has presented a new outreach program: the new Don Bosco minibus adds to the sociopastoral range of services of Don Bosco Fambul.

Dr. Songo Briwa (left), is medical doctor at Fambul. He is particularly busy during the rain sessions. All the street children registered re ceive medical care around the clock.

Our vision is to use the rich cultural and traditional values of Sierra Leone to enhance, through the principles of catholic faith as lived by Don Bosco, the integral transformation of children and young people who are victims of ethnic and religious conflicts, widespread poverty and abuse of human VISION WELCOME to DON BOSCO FAMBUL www.donboscofambul.org MISSION CORE VALUES OBJECTIVES Our mission is to educate, train, form, inspire, and empower young people towards human, social and spiritual growth in line with the goals of the International Cooperation for Development and the Catholic congregation of the Salesians of Don Bosco.

The core values of Don Bosco Fambul are:
* Transparency
* Mutual respect for each other
* Honesty
* Accountability and
* Collective responsibility
* To meet and support street children in reunification with their families of origin, extended families, foster families or alternative care
* To educate young people to become value based and productive citizens for the development of Sierra Leone
* To promote quality education by enabling young men and women to become selfreliant
* To provide Youth with skill training and economic support to promote selfemployment
* To professionalize our social work, meeting the needs of deprived children and youngsters in the adequate way info@donboscofambul.org Don Bosco Fambul, a local NGO and family based organization, was established during the war in 1998 in response to the need for protection and care of homeless children. It is considered one of the leading child protection agencies in the country and is a member of the street children task force. Don Bosco Fambul has staff strength of almost 100, mostly social workers by profession. The organization is made up of eight departments:

1) DON BOSCO MOBILE: street work, whereby social workers visit the slum areas at night by bus. They provide children with ID cards, first aid, education, medical care, clothing and access to games. The social workers also do counseling and family tracing.

2) REHA: rehabilitation, where boys living on the street are rehabilitated in order to assist the reunification process with their families. The boys are sheltered for 10 months during which they receive non-formal education and psychosocial therapy.

3) FAMILY TRACING AND FOLLOW UP to reunified children up to the age of 18 years (depending on the situation of the family). Staff pay monthly visits to the (foster) families and schools.

4) YOUTH CENTRE : community work and outreach program with the focus on the human rights of children.

5) CHILD LINE 116: 24 hour Child Line offering phone counseling free of charge.

Anonymous and confidential.

6) 24 HOUR GIRLS SHELTER for girls who have experienced violence such as rape. Don Bosco provide protection, first aid, legal advice, food, shelter and counseling.

7) GROUP HOME: alternative care for young people staying together in an apartment and receiving a scholarship or skill training package under supervision.

8) HOPE: Educational and Job Centre Freetown for girls experienced violence.

Scholarship and Skill training for 18months.