From Loss to Hope: Creating Safety for Sierra Leone Children

I know what it feels like for a child to suddenly lose the world. I lost both of my parents just three weeks apart, and that kind of emptiness follows you. It teaches you what it means to feel unprotected… unseen… alone.

Years ago, I returned to Sierra Leone to establish a small school. These children in the photo were my students — my children in every way that mattered. When life circumstances forced the school to close, a part of my heart stayed behind with them. Their faces, their hopes, and their struggles never left me.

And today, too many children in Sierra Leone are living that same heartbreak I once knew. Little ones with no one to hold them. Girls and boys who fall asleep hungry. Children growing up without safety, guidance, or love.

No child should feel the kind of pain I carried. No child should face the world alone.

This is why I’m building a Safe Haven — a home where vulnerable children are protected, nurtured, and given the chance to grow. A place where their suffering can finally become hope.

I’m returning to Sierra Leone in January to begin the work. With your support, these children will have what every child deserves — a home, love, and someone who refuses to give up on them.