An Everyday Hero of Freetown
After meeting a team from Amplifying Voices’ local partner, Dennis from Sierra Leone became inspired to positively impact his community by becoming a champion of change.
Dennis is from the New England area of the capital. His neighbourhood is teeming with people. After hundreds of thousands flocked to Freetown following the civil war, people made do with homes lacking basic facilities like running water or electricity. Unemployment remains high, and the economy struggles on. Dennis could see the need but wasn’t sure what he could do.
Amplifying Voices partners with the Believers Broadcasting Network (BBN)* in Sierra Leone. Together, we’re supporting a community project named Amplifying Voices through SALT to strengthen community health, wellbeing, and resilience.
Gathering together a strong group of volunteers from the community, clinic, and churches, the SALT team goes out to seven areas of Freetown and regularly meets people in their homes. The team listen to people’s concerns, strengths, and hopes.
It was during one of these visits that Dennis met the team. The SALT ethos – Strengthen, Amplify, Listen and Transform – resonated with Dennis, and soon he became a regular volunteer.
Speaking to his community, Dennis was passionate to do something about the water situation in the New England district. But he knew he couldn’t do it alone. It takes a shift in community mindset to make lasting change.
Dennis began encouraging other young people to get involved. The SALT team, BBN, and Amplifying Voices continues to help people build on their strengths to influence change. BBN featured Dennis on a few of its radio programs, where he echoed local stories and challenges people faced with the lack of water. By representing his community, he invites others to become part of the change they want to see.
Since coming on board, Dennis has proactively engaged with the Ministry of Water to get access to more deprived settlements of Freetown. As a result, this has recently lead to the installation of several water tanks and wells.
Celebrating Dennis’ enthusiasm and example, the SALT team is reporting more community members engaging in these kinds of initiatives.
Stories like this encourage the other communities to invite the SALT team in, demonstrating the power of community-centred media to others. People are being empowered to champion their own social change.
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The featured image of this article is representational.
*BBN set up the SALT ministry in 2015 in response to the devastating Ebola outbreak which heavily weakened Sierra Leone’s already fragile health system. SALT is a strengths-based approach to improving health and promoting community healing, integrated with radio broadcasts.