The Sierra Leone Civil War lasted from 1991 until 2002, killing around 70,000 people and displacing approximately 2.6 million according to the United Nations Development Programme.
Hands for Africa is a non-profit organization that is raising money in order to help Sierra Leone and the refugees displaced by the war today.
“Over 80,00 people had their arms and legs amputated as a form of punishment, or to stop people voting a certain way,” said Shyanne Riberal-Norton, a community outreach specialist for Hands for Africa.
The main objective of Hands for Africa is to boost Sierra Leone’s economy by donating prosthetic limbs to amputees in order to get them back into the workforce.
“We provide prosthetics for the farmers and rehabilitation to help them get back on track,” said Kevin Graham, the third community outreach specialist for Hands for Africa.
The policy of Hand for Africa is to give those affected a “hand-up” instead of a “handout” in order to give them the ability to support themselves and their families.
“We’re just out here spreading awareness and asking people to donate to help us,” said Riberal-Norton.
Hands for Africa is not only about raising money for prosthetic limbs, but about providing education to Sierra Leone’s youth.
“We have over 40 scholarships for their children to go to school because a lot of them are orphans,” said Riberal-Norton.
Only 2.8% of Sierra Leone’s state economy is budgeted on education, resulting in a 48.1% illiteracy rate among citizens 15 and up, according to the Hands for Africa website.
There are many other non-profit organizations assisting Sierra Leone with issues such as disease and famine, but none with the same objective as Hands for Africa.
“We are the only non-profit right now that does this, for this specific reason,” said Riberaal-Norton.
Hands for Africa is based in Southern California and travels around from campus to campus in order to raise awareness among students and receive whatever aide they possibly can.
“The non-profit portion of it and what it all goes towards got me into the program,” said Genove Ortega, another community outreach specialist for Hands for Africa.