Join our Big Give to help children stay out of Child Labour and break the cycle of poverty!

Children occasionally helping with small, safe tasks in their parents’ work can help them access enough food to eat and build their family’s income. However, when this interferes with their education or puts them in harms way it becomes a threat to their wellbeing, and our projects seek to protect children and families. Through Big Give appeal you can help families avoid dangerous or exploitative child labour, so that their children can build a positive future.

Sawo is a small holder farmer and mother of four from Sierra Leone. Since she lost her husband, she has had to work long hours in the rain and occasionally wounds herself with her farming cutlass. Despite her hard work, money remains an issue and so she is often forced to take her children with her, exposing them to the dangers of the farm.

Her children complain of itches all over their body, cutlass wounds; some don’t have good shoes that could stop them from harming themselves on the stones. Unable to afford medical supplies, Sawo has only salt and herbs to reduce the loss of blood.

This is why it is so important to provide families with a way of accessing income without resorting to child labour. We’ll bring children back to school and tackle the poverty driving child labour so that children can learn, grow, thrive and break the cycle of poverty. From 12pm on Tuesday 29th November till 12pm on Tuesday 6th December, every £1 donated to our Big Give here will be doubled, so anything you can do to help has twice the impact!

If Sawo had her way, her children would be going to school and accessing an education, so they can go on to support their families adequately, as is the right of every child. But, because of the family’s poverty, her wishes remain unfulfilled.

We are going to work with 1600 small-holder farmers in Sierra Leone, providing training and skills sessions so that people like Sawo no longer have to choose between putting their children in harms way or putting food in their mouths.