HIMS to Rescue Disabled with Housing and Education

Disabled persons squatting at the House of Jesus for the Disabled, Wallace Johnson Street, Freetown will soon benefit hugely from a philanthropic organization known as Handsworth International Mission Services (HIMS) who since 2009 has been assisting stranded disabled persons at the House of Jesus settlement in diverse ways.

Sharing their vision for the poor disabled, National Director of HIMS, Edna Paterson said that they would have started constructing suitable settlements to relocate the abandoned and physically challenged persons at Wallace Johnson Street but the stumbling block, according to her  has been the unavailability of land as the plot legally allocated to the disabled by the Ministry of Lands and Country Planning is inaccessible due to disputes over ownership of the land.

She said they would like the government and other organizations to at least step in and provide the land so that HIMS can come in and implement the rest of the project for the benefit of the disabled and their dependants. She said if all goes well, they will construct a school within their environment for empowerment in the areas of education and skills training,

HIMS feeding persons with disabilities

She noted that the disabled have been neglected for too long, pointing out that HIMS has been providing medical attention and feeding them on several occasions to make them lively. She expressed that there is need for the churches especially to come to the aide of the disabled who are in dire need of help, especially in the rainy season, adding that by so doing the teachings of the Holy Bible would have been practicalized.

She further explained that she is in contact with this group of sufferers through her aged husband whose dream has been to provide settlement for them. She said she has established three learning institutions in the country including a vocational institute in Kenema.

Chairlady of the House of Jesus for the Disabled, Kadija Kamara informed this medium that they are scared of the rainy season. She disclosed that two children have died as a result of cold-related sicknesses while sleeping under leaking roofs. She said their major challenge at the moment has to do with tarpaulins to prevent their sleeping places from the rains.

With some pessimism, Kadija called on government to look into their Grafton matter and make way for HIMS’ vision to materialize so that the unaccounted sufferings of over one hundred disabled persons together with their dependants would be alleviated.

Whilst at the House of Jesus for the Disabled on Tuesday, British born Pastor George Jack from the Rosary Pentecostal Church in England expressed his dissatisfaction over the deplorable condition faced by those poor Sierra Leoneans.

He said a philanthropic and holistic approach is needed to alleviate the sufferings of the disabled. “They are humans, not beasts; they have to be treated with seriousness,” said Pastor Jack.  He said they need assistance from the government of Sierra Leone to provide land for development of the disabled lives as, according to him, they would provide wells for them to fetch water easily.

By Ilyasa Baa

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