Choose to Challenge

Coronavirus must have changed many things including the human thinking about life and his religion, what bothered me most has been the recent disappearance of people from their communities.

We see in the morning and sadly we can't meet in the evening

without any goodbye.

We do experience a new social life. Human feeding human from hand to mouth like a machine depending on fuel for it to generate electricity.

But things do get even worse.

The case of 5-year-old Kadijah Saccoh, who was raped and killed last June, allegedly by a family member in Sierra Leone, produced outrage and protests and escalated the debate about how to stop the crisis of rape and ongoing violence against women.

President Julius Maada Bio had last year already declared rape and sexual violence a national emergency. At the time, my country had more than 8,500 reported cases of sexual and gender-based violence per year, but observers believe thousands of additional cases go unreported.

This beat my imagination since then as this missing youth has no story.

Poverty, power, and other negative social forces have increased the demand for human blood and body parts for ritual purposes. The miserable disappearance of women and children in southern Sierra Leone is on the increase. Each week it is sad to wake up and the radio will just tell about a dead body found in a nearby bush with hands, limbs chapped off and other vital organs are missing.

A case of an old woman who went out at night to pee does not enter back into her house was harked until after someday was found with all vital organs missing.

Strengthening Sierra Leone's Sexual Offenses Act today allows for a maximum punishment of life in prison for someone who rapes a child. It also created a Sexual Offenses Division of the High Court to make sure sexual assault cases are prosecuted swiftly. Still, the problem persists.

One of the reasons why I think the numbers are increasing can be explained because, quite honestly, more people feel today confident coming out to complain about these issues.

On international women's day, the theme is chosen to challenge.

For readers of this blog choose to challenge to end the sexual abuse and innocent killing of children and women in Southern Sierra Leone.

I have no doubt that we young people have the power to build a much better future, which will be free of all those "tails" and bad things from the past, especially when it comes to West Africans. I think our healthy and positive ideas, openness to the future, and a desire to work together for the common good, above all visible and invisible barriers.

I invite you to choose to challenge by dropping your comment in the comment box and share with the appropriate bodies.

Happy International Women's Day!

Mohamed MANSARAY

ARTBOX Ambassador - Sierra Leone

CEO EYES-SL, Member of Rainbo Initiative, Noble Citizen Foundation and Global Goodwill Ambassadors Foundation