Disables cry for help

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By Alfred Koroma

A group of persons with disability in Magbaft Village, Waterloo are desperately calling for help as the rains draw closer.

Close to two years ago, about 460 persons living with disability decided to settle in the village to avoid the street, but hash living condition in the community, coupled with rising cost of living, have pushed many back to the street.

Last year rainy season, eight of them died due to heavy downpour of rains, and those presently living in the community fear they might face similar situation as another rainy season approach. 

The disable community is located in Waterloo after Newton, 4 mile. The community lacks water supply, toilet and medical facilities, the residents told Sierra Leone’s state broadcaster, SLBC in an interview.

“This is too much for us. We are begging you for help,” one of the residents and chairpersons of the group, Santigie S Kabia lamented.

“So now the rain is coming again. We are calling on government to pity us. There is no place to sleep. We lack medication, no toilet facility. All these facilities are not available,” he said. “This is why most of our colleagues are going to the street.” 

We are really struggling. We have been here for two years without water, toilet, Margret Conteh, a disable widow in the community, reechoes. 

There is a stream around where we manage to scoop water. But for the toilet, it’s horrible. We don’t have a place to pray. We don’t have a church. We don’t have a mosque. The rain is coming and we are worried. We don’t have a house; we sleep in verandas, she added.

According to SLBC, there is a running tap at the main line of the village, but disable residents cannot access it. And where they live, have no such facility.

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