On the 8th of January 2020. KieraVictoria Chaplin the granddaughter of the filmmaker Charlie Chaplin, the Director of Desert Flower Foundation Walter Lutschinger, and team arrived in Freetown the capital city of Sierra Leone. The purpose of the visit is to commission the Kiera Chaplin Desert Flower School, at River No 2.
Kiera Chaplin and Desert Flower team on the 9thJanuary 2020 had an interactive session with three government ministries which are, the Hon. Minister Peter konteh of the Ministry of Works and Public Assets; the Hon. Deputy Minister Mohamed Haji-Kella of the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Hon. Deputy Minister Emily K. Gogra, Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education on how they can work together to complement the government free and quality education. After the visit, a press conference was held at the Caritas Freetown Coordinating Office, Saint Edward’s Compound, May Park, Kingtom, Freetown. Talking to media houses, the Executive Director of Caritas who double as the President of Desert Flower Africa, Rev. Peter Alpha Konteh appreciates and welcome each and every one that attended the program. He further gives brief background of Desert Flower foundation. In his statement, he said that, the Desert Flower Foundation Sierra Leone, however, in partnership with caritas Freetown was established in Sierra Leone in 2014 by Waris Diris– Founder and CEO. The Foundation is a non-profitable Organization working on girl’s empowerment and protection against female genital cutting until they are 18 as enshrined in the child right act Sierra Leone.
In a similar vein, Michael Bamie Sam, who is the Project Coordinator for Desert Flower Foundation starting with an introduction of Desert Flower staff and highlighted some of the areas Desert Flower operate. He further explains that the Foundation signs a sponsorship contract agreement with the parents of the girls. Furthermore the, girls have to attend school and their parents have to participate in educational programs organized by Desert Flower. The Desert Flower Foundation will support the families with food, medical service, monthly sponsorship support and school support. The Desert Flower Foundation targeted beneficiaries ranging from age 0-18 yrs. The program, since its inception has saved over 1,000 girls across the country.
He further explained that, from the backdrop of educational constraints of children in River No. 2 community, the foundation thought is fit to build a school that would savage such situation in the community. Walter Lutschinger gave a statement about the Kiera Chaplin and Desert Flower Foundation. In his statement, he said that the foundation was Found in 2002 byWaris Diris a Somalia activist, model and actress to raise awareness on FGM, which she experiences when she was a young girl. He further said that Desert Flower currently runs eleven (11) organizations in Europe, and their two large organizations are in Germany and France were kiera chaplin is the president. Kiera Chaplin who is the president of Desert Flower France expresses her gratitude to the entire staff of Desert Flower Foundation for their effort and support to make their dream a reality. She further explained that, she has been engaging in women’s empowerment for a very long time, now that she is part of the Desert Flower Foundation she can give all her best to make sure that plenty girls have the opportunity to go to school, because knowledge is power.
On Friday the 10th January 2020, the commissioning of the Kiera Chaplin School at river Number 2 started at around 10:00 am with a match pass by the sierra police brass band. The event attracted a large audience (government ministries, NGO’s, Media houses, Parents and community stakeholders) in and out of the community. Edu-drama, traditional dance and musical performance were displayed by the kids. It was indeed an electrifying experience for their parents, Kiera Chaplin and team who for most part of the day was kept on the adages of their seats as captivating and inspiring activities unfolded leaving them wanting for more.
