how do we start you start okay a start
hi I'm Melanie I work as a copywriter
for ikea communications my name is
Martin and I work as a credit leader at
the Kia food but at the time we went on
this trip I was working together with
Melanie as an art director at the Kia
communications we were lucky enough to
be chosen to go on an eyewitness field
trip to Sierra Leone in februari 2014
okay so every year ikea runs to good
cause campaigns soft toys for education
and bright lights for refugees the money
raised from these campaigns go to fund
projects run either by UNICEF save the
children or UNHCR eyewitness is a
program which sends like here coworkers
working on good cause campaigns out into
the field to visit some of these
projects the idea being that coworkers
get to see where the money goes and see
how their hard work in the stores during
the campaign affects kids and families
in some of these poorest communities in
the world so in January we got the news
we were going to Sierra Leone are you
excited are you nervous oh my god you're
so lucky it's gonna change your life
these were just some of the things
people said to me I didn't want to
disappoint anyone with my vague answers
but the truth was I had no idea how I
felt I was in shock and I couldn't
really get my head around what was going
to happen so I just agreed with anything
anyone said driving through Freetown you
felt like an excited child it was a
taken in by the brightly colored
patchwork of buildings hand-painted
science and women's fashion we couldn't
stop shifting our gaze from left to
right we were so afraid we were going to
miss something the first official day of
the trip we met with UNICEF and they
briefed us on what would be an eight-day
field trip the plan being we visit
schools and clinics from Port Loko to
mckinney and all the way up to kabbalah
covering a distance roughly 300
kilometers visiting the women's clinics
we were confronted with our assumption
that breastfeeding is the most natural
thing in the world and that those living
in poverty would obviously choose
breastfeeding because it was readily
available and free of course we were
totally wrong because of cultural and
traditional reasons a lot of mothers
don't breastfeed which leads to poor
nutria
and disease the clinic we visited and
many others like it are on a mission to
teach women this quote unquote most
natural thing in the world we saw
through their hand recorded charts that
their efforts are paying off a fewer
babies were malnourished or dying we
followed the nurses around the clinic
Washington work upon entering a tiny
little room we saw one of the nurses
pricking the finger of a pregnant woman
and putting the blood on a testing stick
we asked another nurse what is happening
she told us the woman was being tested
for malaria so we asked when she did we
get the answer and she told us it just
takes a few minutes then she showed us a
testing stick the result was positive
and we were taken by surprise and didn't
really know how to react the feeling was
just like oh my god what would happen to
her but the nurse reassured us it was
fine finding out the result was a relief
for the woman because she would get the
treatment two pills a day for three days
and then she would be free of the
disease we found ourselves with a large
group of kids who had a day free from
school so with the direction from my
otha one of our UNICEF guys relay race
was organized depending on how you look
at it it was either a triumph or a
tragedy those kids wiped the floor with
us it was like watching a race between
an elephant and a cheetah yeah it was
really really fun
our first encounter with Susan was
during our meeting with the group of men
who run the teachers university in Port
Loko we were all sitting around
listening to these old men tell us about
the University and the programs that
teaches but a group of women had
gathered outside the gazebo where the
meeting was being held one woman in
particular would chime in with
insightful answers to the questions we
were asking after the meeting finished
we all talked about how impressive she
was she was so outspoken and so
spontaneous we decided we wanted to come
back and interview her so we did this is
the San for women this is Allison and
we'd fool shoe boots efforts they cannot
push us and then we just relax who
should go the extra mile with tell the
children you have the potential so this
will be a lecturer you have the
potential so even be a doctor you have
the potential so it will be a whole head
of state
the first school we would visit was a
45-minute drive outside of McKinney we
were eager to get out there and see what
it was we were there to see Ibrahim grew
up in a tiny village not far from the
school he now teaches that he completed
his teachers training and instead of
going to Freetown to try and make more
money as so many others do he came back
to his home village to teach at a local
school and we were invited to watch him
teach that class and it was really clear
he loves what he do and the kids in the
class are really lucky to have such a
passionate and engaging teacher yeah it
was humbling to watch him teach this
jam-packed class with the most basic
supplies things we would regard as
rubbish rocks old plastic bags and water
bottles talk about being resourceful
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
Oh
[Applause]
Oh
[Music]
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
if one thing became clear over the eight
days we traveled around Sierra Leone it
was that women are driving positive
change in progress in the country and we
had a pleasure of meeting with several
mother's clubs in different small
villages outside of Cibola the groups
are made up of women who have a strong
belief in children's education equality
and human rights the club's focus on the
education of children living in their
community if children don't show up at
school representatives of the mothers
club go and speak to the parents
directly if a child is working they will
do their best to convince the parents to
send the child to school instead they
also intervened to stop child marriages
of girls in their community like Fatima
if a tumor was married off to the local
policeman at the age of 16 when the
mothers club learned of the marriage
they traveled the 50 kilometers to the
village she was in and arrested her and
return her to the family and back to
school now she acts as a mentor to other
young girls in our community and has
plans to be a nurse after completing her
education
these clubs are in control of their own
money which is typically invested in
food and school supplies but can also be
invested into projects like building
water wells or school maintenance to
keep building their financial resources
the mothers also produce agricultural
products and sell them so they can
reinvest into their children's education
all their work is voluntary spending
time with the mothers clubs was such a
positive experience seeing women tema
and sometimes even against the support
of their husbands drives a lot of
changes in society I was really
inspiring we saw a passionate that were
about ensuring high quality education
for the children and protecting them
from early marriages and pregnancies so
they can go and complete their school
which is not a very common thing in
rural parts of Sierra Leone we met a lot
of strong individuals who are motivated
and constantly planning projects to
increase the quality of living and to
create a better future for their
children
during the last evening in kabbala day
before heading back to Freetown we
wanted to have a farewell dinner with
ISA our main UNICEF contact and guide
for this trip he's out in the fields
five to six days a week all year round
going from villages to villages all
across of Sierra Leone so I asked him
what drives you to do what you do and
the answer that has this kind of picture
in his mind of the third is nearly
impossible to get to yongle and beyond
that there's a village and in this
village there is a tiny Hut and in the
tiny Hut there sits the small child in
need of a vaccine and an eddication and
he sees it as his duty to get that
vaccine to that child and to get that
child to school sunday was a last day in
Kabbalah and it was an emotional day we
knew we had a long drive ahead of us but
also we were made to feel so welcome
than retreated so good with such
hospitality that we felt a bit
melancholy about saying goodbye on the
drive back we had a lot of time to
reflect on the day's out in the field as
we were sitting in our cars looking out
the window we passed by all these small
villages it was a Sunday and their
people were off work but they were they
were like sitting there and were happy
and they're grown-ups was sitting on the
porches talking and laughing and the
kids were running around playing but
then I get this feeling that is such a
shame that this country which is full of
warm and friendly people has had to go
through everything has gone through it's
kind of hard to understand how a country
is so rich in natural resources can be
one of the poorest countries in world
yeah but despite all that there is a
real feeling of hope seeing the
dedication and the hard work of
organizations like UNICEF and cause
Canada was extremely humbling and
talking to people like Susan and Ibrahim
passion and drive to make Sierra Leone a
better place just radiates from them
UNICEF was eager to hear about the days
out in the field what our impressions
were
and what we fought worked and didn't
work they were really pleased to hear
how impressed we were with the mothers
clubs for example yeah they had quite
ambitious plans for expanding the
program throughout the entire country
getting feedback from us outsiders
reassure them of the program's
potentials for real and lasting change
thank you so much for taking the time to
listen to our stories if you want to
find out even more about our trip or are
interested on going on and I witness
trip yourself you can visit the ikea
foundations blog thanks thanks for
listening bye all right