Concord Times (Freetown)
Ibrahim Jaffa Condeh
2 June 2008
Freetown — Moa wharf is home to an estimated population of seven thousand people, many of them children. Many of these children are affected illness due to the poor sanitation of the community.
Many of the children of Moa wharf do not attend school, as they are too busy working as fisherman.
These young children, between the ages of nine and sixteen, consider fishing as a lucrative job for them to get money to support their family, as some are the sole bread winners of their families.
Life in Moa wharf, as in many Sierra Leonean slums, is difficult and unhealthy. Hundreds of thousands of people suffer in conditions too poor to sustain a healthy life.
Many people have migrated to Freetown from the provinces, either for jobs or for other reasons in order to improve their circumstance, but they are finding that life is no easier in the big city.
Residents in the Freetown slums find that life is worse than the places they've come from, with no pipe-born water, no healthcare centres, or even accessible schools.
It is very difficult to enter Moa wharf, the stairs leading to the community are treacherous. The area is divided into two sections, the upper Moa wharf and the lower, but fishing remains a predominant occupation for everyone's survival.
The wharf is considered to be a major business centre for the exchange of goods, hundreds if not thousands of people go there to do business..
Mabinti Suma said her mother has been a fish monger for the past thirty years. After the death of her parents, she too became a fish seller, in order to take care of her four younger sisters.
"I have to sell these fish for us to have our daily food to eats", she said, adding that she has seven people who she employed as workers who she must pay monthly.
One of these workers, Maraima Kargbo said that she is staying at the shell old road, wither two sons.
Everyday she comes here for work in order to sustain her family. "My husband is dead and I have to strive hard to have food for my kids, I must come here (so) my children can survive." Moa wharf is home to many extended families, and up to twenty five people are said to sleep in a two bed room apartment with ten to fifteen children sleeping in a congested parlour. In the raining season many of these houses can be flooded.
The Chief of Moa wharf, Ya Alimany Kamarkeh, said that the government and NGOs must to come to the aid of the community and its people, which have been ignored to this day.
Moa wharf has become a dumping ground for garbage and the drainage facilities are not functional. It is a breeding ground for malarial mosquitoes. Poor toilet facilities mean that men, women and children go to the sea side to defecate.
The community has a school, but it is dilapidated.
Despite this, a few of the pupils in Moa wharf are proud to have received good grades at the end of every NPSE examination.
"We voted for the APC parliamentarian candidate, within the constituency 104 ward 371, Tumde Luwalie, (but he has) not paid a singular visit to the people of this community. The community is still looking forward to his co-operation", said the Chief.
The crime rate in the community is not high, but petty crime is a problem. Many young men are involved in the snatching of mobile phones from people. Some of these cases can be settled by her, while others are referred to the police station for the law to take its course.
Mariama Kamara, age fourteen years, said she have been a fish seller for the past two years. It is the only way she can have money to buy cloths and help her mother to feed the house of seventy people. Her parents did not make her go to school because they could not afford school fees. Eight of her brothers and sisters have not set foot inside a classroom. Four of her brothers are fishermen.
Youth leader of Moa wharf, Alimany Kamara, said sanitation is the biggest problem the community faces.
As flooding occurs in the rainy season, no man sleeps soundly during the rains.
The former Councilor of constituency, Hamid Samba Kamara, said he contributed to the community by constructing six toilets stalls close to the river side, which have been of a major help to the people.
Kamara wants to be elected again as Councilor for the area, during the government of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) he was elected as an All Peoples Congress Councilor (APC). He wants to regain this position, and feels the call from his people to serve.
He plans to construct a bridge that will provide access to the community, and better access to the toilet.
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