Freetown — In a bid to minimize the high rate of street girls in the country, especially in the northern headquarter town of Makeni, Help a Needy Child International Sierra Leone (HANCI-SL), a non governmental organization with a passion for street kids, is presently hosting some 120 teen mothers under the project "Street Girl" funded by Comic Relief in England.

Talking to this medium, the project coordinator Madam Fatu Victoria Conteh said the young girls were forced into what she referred to as sex slavery, which often resulted to pregnancy thus hindering their progress to achieve their aims. The project which started in 2002 came about as a result of the violations and abuse young girls faced in the hands of various fighting forces.

According to Madam Conteh, the targeted teen mothers faced constant segregation from close friends and family members and were therefore left with no option but to live and fend for themselves in the street.

She maintained that through the night tracking method initiated by HANCI-SL, these under privileged girls are persuaded off the street and provided with free medical facilities, three meals a day and are all schooled by HANCI-SL. The HANCI-SL project coordinator beseeched parents to show love to their kids as articled on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Child Rights Act of Sierra Leone (CRA) as the street is not meant for them.

Talking to some of the teenage mothers who are presently residing at the orphanage centre in Makeni, they said they are appreciative of HANCI-SL and Comic Relief for transforming their lives and promised to contribute to national development after they should have completed their academic pursuits.

Mr. Mohamed Kamara, an octogenarian residing in Makeni, said the importance of HANCI's presence in Makeni cannot be overemphasised as most of the girls who were engaged in commercial sex activities have now been transformed and re-integrated with their families and are now engaged in various works of life, contributing in their own little ways to national development.