Ambassador’s Scholarships Helps Girls Stay in School

A normal day for a typical 13-year-old rural schoolgirl in Sierra Leone starts at 5:00 am to fetch water from the nearest well or river. Go to story

Fistula is a devastating injury for women. It occurs as a result of obstructed labor, usually when emergency care is unavailable, and results in a laceration between the bladder and the uterus or the bladder and the rectum.Go to story

In Sierra Leone most of the population lives on less than one dollar a day, making hunger a constant menace. Go to story

With Sierra Leone’s diamond sector expected to increase dramatically in the next few years, USAID launched a series of initiatives starting in 2007 to assist the people of Sierra Leone to derive greater benefits from their nation’s diamond wealth.Go to story

Sierra Leone’s diamond mining industry, which helped fuel its brutal civil war through illicit sales of “blood diamonds,” has declined over the past few years.Go to story

Training Traditional Birth Attendants educating pregnant women and mothers

Birth and death are closely related in Sierra Leone. Infant mortality rates are high as pregnant women often cannot afford to pay for medical treatments or even to reach the nearest medical facility to give birth.Go to Story

Helping Women Seize Their Future

For generations, women in Sierra Leone remained on the political sidelines. Traditional roles denied their participation in politics and even in decision-making at the local level.Go to story

U.S. Embassy Grants $13 million for PAGE

Ambassador June Carter Perry on November 20 launched the Promoting Agriculture, Governance, and Environment (PAGE) 4-year, $13 million program funded by the U.S. through USAID.Go to story

Rebuilding a war-torn village

When fighting from Sierra Leone’s civil war came to their village in 2002, the inhabitants of Koromasilaya fled their homes for safety elsewhere. Go to story

Sierra Leone Elections: Women Challenge Male Domination

The West African state of Sierra Leone has successfully pulled-off its third consecutive peaceful, democratic and credible election, since the end of the country’s brutal civil war in 2002.Go to Story

“I Now Read Short Stories with my Children”

“My name is Amara Kamara from Koinadugu district. In my native Sierra Leone I never had a chance to attend school. At forty five years old, I still did not know how to read or write.Go to story

Women Mobilize for Election in Sierra Leone

In Othmen N’Yellah’s village of Porto Loco, on the northern coast of Sierra Leone, 70 percent of girls do not attend school because of poverty. N’Yellah wants to change that. As a candidate running for local elections in July, she feels the time has come for women to have a greater voice at the community and national level. Go to story

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