Joseph Live Story

Joseph 19, before the 11 years civil lived happily with his father, mother, stepmother and 6 siblings in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. It was on a hot sunny afternoon, when they heard the first gunshot in their town. It was so chaotic and confusing everywhere. At that time, Joseph was in the town whiles his parents and 4 of his siblings were at the farm.

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I raced the way I never did before

“I raced the way I never did before to join my family at the farm, but only for me to meet our farm houses on fire. To date, I cannot tell whether my family members were burnt down” or flee before I reached the farm” said Joseph. He spent 8 days hiding in bushes without any food except water. Later, he joined some strangers to an amputee camp in Waterloo Western Rural district. On his own, he moved to the Grafton refugee camp in the Grafton community where he currently resides. Staying for about 3 days within the camp, Joseph was able to find his long lost Uncle who was amputated by the rebels. He asked Joseph about his parents and siblings, he couldn’t say anything but cry. His Uncle who was an amputated soldier promised to send him back to school immediately after the war. However, the whole plan changes when his uncle died out of trauma about his amputation. Instead of sending Joseph to school after, the Uncle’s wife used him to contribute to the family’s income by hawking plantain chips at the refugee camp. He had not choice at that time. He had to hawk from morning till night every day without any time to rest or play with other kids. He was widely known throughout the refugee camp for hawking his plantain chips. One day, after hawking for the entire day, Joseph couldn’t make enough sales; the aunty with so much anger had to beat him heavily and allowed him to go to bed on an empty stomach. In the early morning hours, Joseph sneaked in to the street where other out of school war-displaced children and young people were found. During the assessment, Our Social Workers met Joseph playing football with other boys and he was really excited. Joseph consented and was recruited into the project. He requested that he should be registered for tailoring. “I love tailoring, I want to become a tailor so I can be able to design dresses for myself and become a boss (trainer). There is no tailor in our town, I can go to my original home and establish my tailoring shop to train others in my village” said Joseph passionately. Within 1 year, Joseph has improved tremendously. He can design many styles for ladies, children and men. Currently, he helps trainers to engage his fellow trainees in the lower level “He is always here and ready to learn. I am considering getting him recruited as a volunteer in the institution because of his passion for the skill” said the principal at War Wounded Training centre. “My only worry is how I will get a sewing machine upon graduation to establish my shop to train others” shared Joseph,