• Sierra Leone is ranked 177 out of 177 countries evaluated to compare poverty, life expectancy, literacy, education, and other factors. [The UN HDI (Human Development Index) 2008]

• The average life span of a Sierra Leonean adult is 37 years for men and 40 years for women [WHO website] 

• Sierra Leone has one of the world’s lowest adult literacy rates at 30% (UNICEF, 2006 )

• Only approximately 36% of people have access to medical care.

• There are an estimated 340,000 orphans in Sierra Leone. (UNICEF, 2006 )

• Sierra Leone has the highest childbirth mortality rate in the world. The most recent figures show that about 1 in 8 women are at risk of dying during childbirth, compared to approximately 1 in 29,800 in Sweden. [UN report, 2008]

• Sierra Leone has the world's worst infant mortality rate - 28% of all children (or roughly 1 in 4) die before they turn 5 years old. Many die from preventable causes such as dehydration or malnutrition. [UNICEF website]

• United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 29% of all under-five deaths in Sierra Leone are caused by diarrhea.

• Sierra Leone is 60% Muslim, 30% indigenous religions, 10% Christian.

• Young girls are under great pressure to conform to social “norms.”  Female genital mutilation is still as high as 90%.  Many young girls also become pregnant before their skeletons are fully formed.

• Although the official rate of HIV/AIDS sufferers is 3% of the population, real figures may be much higher, and lack of education could mean that these statistics rise in coming years.

• The UN estimates that there are over 500,000 children in Sierra Leone who do not have access to basic education.

   

In 1961, Sierra Leone experienced a peaceful transition to independence from Britain, but many political coups followed in subsequent decades.  Complex and deeply-rooted social inequalities, profound poverty, along with mismanagement and corruption in the diamond industry, were causative factors of the recent, devastating civil war between the government of Sierra Leone and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).  The savage confrontation, which lasted from 1991 to 2002, turned the country into a battleground and caused between a quarter and a third of the population to flee to neighboring countries, where many of them still live as refugees.  The trademark of the rebels was to hack off the limbs of their opponents and innocent victims, and the scars of this horrific campaign can be seen today across the country.  The hostilities were prolonged and financed by illicit trade in “blood” or “conflict” diamonds.

The war was finally brought to an end in 2002, and a functioning, elected government was reinstated.  Out of a population of 5.5 million, the civil war resulted in inestimable rapes, approximately 50,000 deaths, 100,000 intentional mutilations and approximately 2 million displaced citizens.

The war is over, but Sierra Leoneans still struggle in a daily battle against hunger, unemployment, deprivation, illiteracy and homelessness.  A typical village has no electricity or running water and sanitation and medical care are scarce. The burden of over a million returning refugees, reintegration of discharged child soldiers, and tens of thousands of children living on the street has overwhelmed any existing welfare or aid programs.

A handful of organizations, like All As One, have been working to make a difference in the lives of the estimated 340,000 children who are orphaned and desperately alone in a country weakened and impoverished by nearly a decade of fighting.  To date, there are no government-funded social welfare programs in Sierra Leone for these vulnerable children, who are the innocent casualties left disabled, disfigured, orphaned, abused, abandoned or completely destitute in the aftermath of a bloody and terrifying war.