Continued support for the Zinc House Kids of Sierra Leone.

Thank you for helping to support the Zinc House Kids of Sierra Leone. With your help we provided 242 children with a Christmas envelope.

As well as a gift for Christmas we have been paying for medicines, hospital tests and treatment, school fees, rent on zinc houses, food, clothes and the birth of babies. We also helped a baby recover from malnutrition and saved a man's life by paying for his surgery and subsequent food and medicine.

Money is transferred using the World Remit app. Once in Sierra Leone, our trusted contact, Grace/Georgia Adams collects the money and distributes it accordingly. She then provides us with photographs and videos once the people have received the money.

I have now visited Sierra Leone five times. Alexandra Piha has been twice. Our next trip is planned for May 2025. During our last visit; on the night before we left to return to London, we witnessed zinc houses, belonging to our families, burn down with the fire brigade powerless to save them. This left the families homeless and without clothes and money. In order to best see how to support people there, we need to be in the thick of it and we really were that night.

Three years ago, I started sending food, clothes (including Islamic dresses and head scarves), books, medicine and other essential items. These have been primarily for the Zinc House Kids (photo) and their families, as well as the mission’s clinics, schools and orphanages. More recently, we sent, 10 desktop computers with monitors, 4 large folding tables with 12 seats each, 11 large school tables, playground and nursery equipment and much more.

During our 2023 visit to see the zinc house kids we met a woman who after a severe stroke in 2017 had lost the use of her legs. She had spent 6 years sleeping on the floor and unable to leave her windowless zinc house. On our return we managed to send her a new wheelchair, bed and commode. The tailor at the zinc houses also asked if we could send him a few cotton reels for his sewing machine. We managed to find around 50 industrial size cotton reels and thousands of buttons. This donation allowed him to continue supporting his family and friends.

Financial support has paid for school and university fees, exams, school uniforms and equipment, medicine, hospital tests, yearly rent, food, mobile phones, setting up businesses, Christmas and birthday presents, weddings and sadly funerals and a gravestone.

The most difficult aspect of helping the mission and Zinc House Kids is locating the funds. Here are examples of some of our costs which are almost weekly.

£50 - £60 will treat malaria and typhoid as well as other diseases.

£10 is the equivalent of 1 week's wages and will pay for 15 "square meals".

£10 will buy a party dress and shoes.

£40 - £80 will pay for one term at school.

£50 will pay the freight cost to Sierra Leone of a large suitcase.

£60 - £80 will pay one year's rent on a zinc house.

We are also in desperate need of all children’s ‘off-the-shelf’ medicines and vitamins, sanitary towels, ibuprofen tablets and gels, paracetamol, old suitcases and large holdalls.

Please help us to give hope to the Zinc House Kids of Sierra Leone.

Irrespective of their religious beliefs, we help children and families, most of which, we have met personally.

You can catch updates of our work in Sierra Leone by watching our monthly cable TV programme, Table for Two on Hellenic TV. Also available on YouTube by searching for "hellenic tv table for two".