Healing the Suffering Caused by War and Violence

East End of Freetown, Sierra Leone

“Pre-war indicators are still with us and recent events in Freetown are a strong pointer. Trauma healing is a felt need as the effects of the war are still with us,” said Archbishop Dr. Edward Tamba Charles of the Freetown and Bo Dioceses in Sierra Leone. He was speaking at the certification ceremony which took place over a weekend at St. Peter’s when 47 Teachers from St. Michael’s Primary School at Kissy and St. Peter’s the Rock Church in Calaba town were proud recipients of valuable certificates from a two weeks training of trainers workshop on Trauma Release and Healing Management. The Archbishop pointed out that when children grow up in war circumstances, they imbibe the spirit of adulthood with an inclination to impose their will on others.

He commended the Holy Rosary Sisters for their initiative and described Trauma Healing as a very topical issue in Sierra Leone. The training was organised by the Holy Rosary Sisters in Sierra Leone with funds provided by Caritas from Germany. It was part of an ongoing exercise aimed at healing the wounds and removing the trauma from Sierra Leonean who continue to struggle with the aftershocks of a devastating eleven years of war.

Earlier Alfred Bapoli Fornah, the Head Teacher of St. Peter’s primary school and the chairman for the ceremony said the Trauma Healing training has touched the lives of both teachers and pupils of his school. “The children already have started replicating what we have taught them, after the workshop especially on issues like HIV/Aids prevention that form part of the workshop,” he said.

Head teacher of St. Michael’s, Nat Davies, extolled the virtues of the Holy Rosary Sisters whom he said had not limited or confined their activities within the Church but are actually coming up strong to help society in other areas of human endeavour.

Parish Priest and Manager of St. Peter’s School, Rev. Fr. Ambrose Michael thanked Caritas, Germany for providing the funds for the Workshop and hopes that such a programme continues to reach more Sierra Leoneans. He emphasized the rights of children and admonished the teachers to make effective use of the certificates by spreading the knowledge gained from the workshop.

Holy Rosary Regional Leader, Sister Elizabeth Ezeabasilli, commended the teachers for continuing with the training despite the lack of any incentives. “Don’t put your certificates in your pockets somewhere, you have to pay for them,” she said.

Trauma Release and Healing Manager, Sr. Elizabeth Onuwama, said the programme was not meant for Catholic schools only, as other non Catholic schools have benefited. She praised Caritas Germany and commended the efforts of the Caritas County Director, who was unavoidably absent at the ceremony, for the provision of much needed funds for the programme.

The ceremony ended with the distribution of certificates to the 47 teachers and a rendition of the popular “Tell Papa God Tenki” (thanks be to God) Christian medley.

Taken from an article written by Samuel Serry Jr. for The New Citizen’s Publications, Freetown