1. The Gatherings 2019
Edinburgh – Aberdeen – Inverness - Glasgow

2. Guest speaker: Jeanne Kamara
Christian Aid Sierra Leone
We were delighted that Jeanne Kamara, head of Christian Aid in Sierra Leone was able to come to Scotland for a week to meet with supporters.

3. Thank you!
• 4 locations • 250 supporters • 4 inspiring speakers • many ways to stand together

4. 10% of health workers were killed during Ebola
‘In developed societies, there are safety nets. In Sierra Leone, there are no safety nets at all.’
Jeanne Kamara
Ebola had devastating effects in Sierra Leone, where an already impoverished health system struggled to cope with this highly contagious disease. Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluid, including sweat, meaning that for 18 months no one could touch anyone else. Christian Aid is not a medical charity, but our team were central to supporting communities to deal with this. Being a faith-based organization we were able to get faith leaders to speak openly about Ebola, ensure that they were able to dispel myths and ask them to be at the forefront of championing the behavioral change needed to stop the spread. In Churches the sign of peace had to change to a ‘wave’ of peace. We made available hand washing stations in communities and trained people in basic hygiene. Our partners also noticed a basic correlation between the number of people who died and poor education. Community-led training was a really important way of communicating health messages and giving people the tools to adapt and keep themselves safe.

5. Women are resourceful
‘Village Savings and Loans Associations mean that women have money to access medical services. They can make decisions in and for the household, including sending kids to school.’
Jeanne Kamara
Christian Aid has been implementing Village Savings and Loans schemes for a while now and really seeing the benefit. With £100 seed money, communities are not only able to save, but are trained in dealing with governance, transparency and documentation. This has proven to be very empowering for communities.
Christian Aid has encouraged communities to name not only their problems but also their strengths. This flip in mindset has enabled people to realise that they have agency of their own. Women and people with disabilities have been the focus of this training and their new confidence has been transformational, to the point that a disabled women from one of the communities is now standing for election.

6. Gender model families
Christian Aid supports men and women in Sierra Leone to have gender equal marriages. ‘My home is happier, my wife is happier. We help with household chores until our mothers come to visit...’
Gender model families – inspiring women and men to take on equal roles and to have equal influence within the home is at the heart of the gender work that we do - is key to lifting communities out of poverty.
The men have been encouraged to be partners, helping in the house and helping with the childcare. The results have been really interesting – men and women have identified the benefits, however the key part of the feedback is the quote you see here – men were happy to do it until their mothers came. This is a really interesting example of how it is often women who oppress other women and the conversations we need to have around that.

7. 10 women die in childbirth every day in Sierra Leone.
‘Last year, I know four or five women who died giving birth, leaving toddlers. These are not statistics. This is real to us.’
Jeanne Kamara
Sierra Leone holds the unenviable record of being the most dangerous place in the world to give birth.
Providing safe, well resourced clinics is a key part of the work Christian Aid do. Part of the issue is ensuring women are empowered to come to the clinic. Village Savings and Loans schemes ensure that women have the money to pay for medical care. But often, mothers-in-law have significant influence on where a women gives birth. They tend to pressurise women to go to traditional birth attendants. To ensure that women are accessing the best maternal care, mothers-in-law have been included in awareness-building projects.

8. Mothers are giving birth in the dark.
‘Women often don't access health service due to lack of trust. They tend to do what their mothers, grandmothers did or what their mothers-in-law advise.’
Jeanne Kamara
Current health services are very basic. Ten percent of health care professionals died from Ebola. There is also a huge emigration of trained health workers with people leaving to find better jobs overseas. Training and keeping staff is an on-going challenge.
Christian Aid partners have been refurbishing heath centres, installing solar panels and water wells and providing basic accommodation so that the government are then able to send a trained nurse to communities.

9. Stand together
‘Christian Aid’s long term aim is to get women in Sierra Leone into public office. So keeping mums alive is our top priority.’
Jeanne Kamara
This year at Christian Aid Week, we’re highlighting maternal healthcare in Sierra Leone.
Ensuring that women have safe places to give birth is a crucial part of lifting the communities out of poverty.

10. 10% of children die before their 5th birthday
‘A small injection of your support can flip around people's lives. You can never imagine.’
Jeanne Kamara
So much of what Christian Aid does is about campaigning for justice. The fact that Sierra Leone, a country rich in mineral resource still has high infant mortality rates is testament to the fact that the wealth is not staying in the country. Much of our partner work is in economic justice, campaigning for taxes to be collected from companies and then used to provide essential services for the population.

11. Christian Aid Week 2019
Thanks to your continued support, our partners in Sierra Leone and around the world are able to lift people out of poverty.
Thank you

12. Photo credits,: All slides Christian Aid/Tom Pilston except slide 1: Christian Aid/Esme Allen; slide 7: Christian Aid/Juudit Breakey Scotland charity no. SC Company no The Christian Aid name and logo are trademarks of Christian Aid. Christian Aid is a key member of ACT Alliance. ©Christian Aid March 2019