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How I protect women and girls in Sierra Leone


March 4, 2009
By Rich Burke

Photo: The IRC

Amie Kandeh, the IRC's gender-based violence prevention coordinator in Sierra Leone, talks about how her team works to give thousands of women and girls back their sense of hope, belonging and self-respect.
 
Every year, around International Women's Day, I think about women and girls all over the world who, like me, have the right to live with dignity, in freedom, and without fear.
 
Working with women affected by violence is much more than just a job to me. I've personally experienced the pain these women face.
 
Nearly twenty years ago, I was a victim of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of my ex-husband. At the same time, civil war broke out in Sierra Leone.
 
Facing brutality in both my home and in my country, I took my two young children and ran. I was terrified, but felt lucky to have escaped.  We found refuge in the United States, where I worked two jobs while supporting my daughter and son.
 
Eleven years later, in 2002, the war ended. By this time, my family was settled in Philadelphia, where we had worked hard to establish a new life.
 
It's not easy to explain, but something started to pull me back to Sierra Leone. I felt the need to return home and help my people, who were all suffering terribly.
 
The IRC gave me that opportunity, and I went to work with women and girls affected by violence, just like I was so long ago.
 
Today, I have found my calling. My wonderful team operates sexual assault support centers in three of Sierra Leone's largest cities. Survivors can visit anytime, and are provided with counseling, medical care, and legal support at no cost to them.
 
The journey from harm to home begins when a woman gathers the strength and courage to seek help. When she takes that difficult first step of walking through our door, she is most often very shy. She is usually crying. She has no sense of hope or belonging.
 
But at our program, the survivor is the boss, and everything is done to respect her wishes. We work to empower women and turn tears of sadness into big smiles.
 
It's hard to believe, but gender-based violence affects one in three women around the world. I remain proud that every year my colleagues are making a difference in Chad, Congo, Uganda, and 11 other countries by protecting more and more women and girls through counseling, community-level education, and advocacy.
 
How to help: Make a gift that will that brighten the future of women and girls, and all those seeking safety and hope everywhere the IRC works.
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5 comments

Comments

Dear Miss Amie Kandeh,

Submitted by Isha Kamara (not verified) on February 6, 2011 - 6:29pm.

Dear Miss Amie Kandeh,
I am a Sierra Leone and I want to commend you for a job well done. I am so inspired by your work and I pray you keep it up. It is indeed a pleasure to see that there is a way to help Sierra Leoneans, through the IRC ofcourse. Thanks IRC for providing the means and God bless. God Bless you too Miss Amie Kandeh and my regards to your family.

Dear, I am greatly impressed

Submitted by Paul Kamara (not verified) on September 18, 2009 - 7:50am.

Dear,
I am greatly impressed with your work and hoe I wish we could have ten of your kind in this country. Please keep it up and help mama Salone.

i want to commend you for

Submitted by efe (not verified) on March 23, 2009 - 2:36pm.

i want to commend you for going back to help those who could not escape the conflict.Your return must have stirred up some unpleasant memories but you chose to go back.

dear i would like to say

Submitted by Ahmed Zaidan (not verified) on March 22, 2009 - 5:18am.

dear
i would like to say that i admire your work, and your efforts ,we allas human should support eachother ,specially for what happen there ,, i am lawyer male that hope from allmy heart that i live a day that i see the human are equal no discrimination between genders ,and all the violence stop
we are here in iraq ,also , touched this type of killing the humanity of women and male as well
all my hopes and my feelings are with you in your mission ,,

Hello my sister Amie Kandeh,

Submitted by chantelle kabia (not verified) on March 10, 2009 - 12:09am.

Hello my sister Amie Kandeh, i saw this site whilst looking through the net for organizations that i could possibly work with. Before i begin let me first of all say that i am a Sierra Leonean living in London for the past 30 years, Having saw this site i proceed on in reading the stories of women who have been through domestic violence. Your story is one of the many successes that caught my eye, whilst been caught in the civil war that Sierra leone has just endure, you have also been in an abused relationship and raising two small children which must have been terrible for you. My reasons for sending you this comment is that i would kindly love to come to Sierra Leone and work with your womens group an advocate on HIV/AIDS for young girls and women. I have worked with women who have been raped as a result of domestic violent and or political conflict in their countries and are refugees and asylum seekers in london. As it was international women's day recently i wanted to take this opportunity in congratulating all of you women who have worked so hard giving women their self esteem and confidence back and helping making lives safer and better for their children. Keep up the good work and long may it continue.

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