The All African People's Development and Empowerment Project (AAPDEP) is engaged in several development projects in Sierra Leone, a West African country that despite its immense mineral wealth has consistenly been ranked at the bottom of the UN's Human Development Index due to the low standard of living of its people. Sierra Leone has the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world, only 22% have access to clean water, and the life expectancy is a mere 39 years.
From subsistence fishing to economic development in Oloshoro
In the coastal village of Oloshoro in the country's capital, Freetown, AAPDEP is working with local fisherman to develop a community owned and operated commercial fishing enterprise that will help to supply an inexpensive source of protein to local residents, provide a sustainable source of income for local youth and women, and will be used to fund other development projects such as the building of schools and community sanitation facilities.
"The fishing project will provide
employment for our youths and generate resources that can be used for basic social and economic development...It will help to solve the problems of women and children and the elderly."
- Mr. Bai Turray, Chairman
Oloshoro Community
A community of over 2000 people, Oloshoro is located on the western coast of Sierra Leone in the country's capital, Freetown. Established in the early 1980's by Africans from the rural interior looking for employment in the city, Oloshoro was later expanded by families who relocated there after having been displaced during the Sierra Leone civil war.
Like most of the country, Oloshoro lacks basic services and infrastructure. There is no electrical grid, poor sanitation, residents have very little access to clean drinking water, and there is no medical facility. Though some of the people of Oloshoro are skilled agriculturalists, engineers, health care professionals and craftsmen, about 90% of the community is unemployed and must live on less than $1 a day.