The National Commission for Social Action (NaCSA) yesterday gave a reparation package of three hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars to about 329 amputees in the Western Area.
The funds are from the United Nations Peace Building Fund (UNPBF).
The Reparation Manager, Amadu Bangura, said that the programme targets about 340 amputees from the Western Area.
The amputees who will benefit from this reparation exercise have already been registered.
He said they have a total of about 240 amputees in the Urban and about 100 in the Rural Area “all of them are going to benefit from the programme as long as they are alive and they have been verified for this. This is not only happening in Freetown but the same is happening all over the country.”
The Programme Manager said that each of the amputees will receive Le 940, 500 (nine hundred and forty thousand five hundred Leones) and the other categories including war wounded, rape and other victims, will each receive Le350, 000 (three hundred and fifty thousand Leones).
Mr. Bangura said that the money will help them rehabilitate themselves as they will not be able to give back to them what they lost during the war.
The Reparation Manager also said that this is not the first time that reparation package has been given to the amputees.
Mr. Bangura said in 2009, they gave a package to them and that was the time they registered all of them and gave them a social security number “so this is the list we are using whenever we have package for them and the list also helps us to know the amputees and war wounded.”
He said that they also have other programmes for them including youth developments programmes, and for this, he said they are going to liaise with the Youth Commission so that amputee youths will be trained.
The other programme, he said, is that they have provided skills training and they did this training from UNIFEM.
Mr. Amadu Bangura stated that they also have symbolic reparation for each Chiefdom which is restoring the cultural dignity that the war defied.
An amputee, Aminata Jalloh, said that she is happy because the process is free, fair and transparent. She said she will use the money to pay her rent because the only way she can get money is through begging.
Revealing her ordeal during the war, Aminata said she was hit by a bullet around Guard Street during the January 6 invasion.
Ibrahim Koroma another amputee said he is satisfied with the process and that he will use the money to take care of his family, as they are in dire need of food, medical attention and other items.
After the verification process, the amputees and other categories were given an ID card and a cheque which guarantees them immediate payment from the Bank.
By Betty Milton