Orange Foundation SL Partners with Sierra Leone Autistic Society

CYBERCRIME BILL:  SCARY

By Feima Sesay

Orange Foundation Sierra Leone has on Wednesday 31st March cemented partnership with Sierra Leone Autistic Society to celebrate the world Autistic day which will be on the 2nd April 2021.

The event took place at their head office Hill Station Freetown.

The partnership is geared towards raising awareness in the country on how important Autistic children are in the society.

Director Orange SL Foundation, Madam Justina Bett in her statement said, this is the first time Orange SL will be partnering with an organization that deals with kids that has disabilities.

She expressed excitement about being part of the celebration, noting that Autistic disability is a complex circumstance and she mentioned that the county needs to be aware that such children do exist and a lot of them have exceptional talents as compare to normal people.

“So what Orange Foundation SL wants to do, is to start creating the awareness in order to put them in the minds of people, for us is not a positive thing when you have a child who is autistic. I was so happy to hear that we have such organization in the country,” she said.

Madam Bett said as a company, they have so much to do in order to help these children, as they have been very impactful in certain areas in the country.

She said the Autistic Society foundation has societal issues that the company wants to tap into by creating awareness and how also the foundation will include these kids in terms of digital inclusion.

According to her, the partnership of Autistic is only to create awareness but as time goes the company will offer more of their support to see that children with Autism are recognized in the country. She said though they have disability problems but they should not be side line as they are children who crave for love and attention of not only their parent but the society they are living in.

Madam Bett therefore assured Autistic Society of the Company’s support in creating the platform for raising awareness in the country as she said the company wants to be part of the daily life of these kids because they deserved to be cared for.

Mary Penn Timity Executive Director of Sierra Leone Autistic Society in her statement said the organization is to help children with Autism, adding that they are grateful to Orange Foundation for coming to their aid in celebrating the world Autistic day and raising awareness in the country.

She said the celebration is more of a family affair due to the Covid-19 pandemic and holiday which is on Friday 2 April 2021 that world Autistic day is celebrated.

She said Autistic children are children with brain condition and therefore should not be stigmatize.

Director Penn said her child who is now 14 years is a victim of autism children and that because of the stigma she went through, she saw the need to establish a centre for autistic children.

She said the Autistic Society was registered in 2017 but has been in existence since 2014.

According to her,the organization has school called Browne Penn Special Education School Wellington with an under five centre at Lumley.

She said they also have youth club in Bo, Makeni, and Kabala that caters for 180 children.

Whiles explaining some of their challenges, she said they challenge with school space and transportation as they have only one bus in the country.

She said there are so many children on waiting list because of the space, adding that with bigger space, they will be able to accommodate more children.

According to her, the early learning center for the under is a diagnostic center for the children.

She therefore called on the continuous support of the parents and the country as whole for the development of these autistic children

Govt Lifts Ban On School Celebrations

The government of Sierra Leone through the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education (MBSSE) and in Consultation with Nacoverc has lifted the ban on all school celebrations.

The decision is informed due to the zero recording of COVID-19 Cases for the past week; says MBSSE.

Below is a press statement from MBSSE.