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2022-03-31-accounts

ANNUAL REPORT 2021/2022

Contents

A. REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS OF THE CHARITY

Charity Name: Laughter Africa

Other names charity is known by:

Registered charity number in UK: 1154712

Charity’s principal address in UK: 124 Princes Boulevard, Bebington, Wirral, CH63 5LP, UK

Charity’s Principal address in Sierra Leone: Laughter Africa, Adonkia, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity in Sierra Leone:

Trustee name Ofce (if any) Dates acted if not for whole
year		 Name of person (or body)
enttled to appoint trustee (if
any)
Aminata Sherif Chairperson of
Trustees
Amadu Alpha Bah Treasurer
James Tyrrell Secretary
Shellac Davies
Eric Massallay
Mira Koroma
Mariama Doe
Sinneh Bockarie
Alhaji Safeu Bah
Abubakarr B Sherif
Albert Daniel Gbow
Ansumana Konneh

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity in the UK

Trustee name Ofce (if any) Dates acted if not for
wholeyear		 Name of person (or body)
enttled to appoint trustee(if any)
James Tyrrell Chairperson of
Trustees
David Cartmell Treasurer
Mark Neal Secretary

Names and addresses of advisers

Type of Advisor Name Address
Bankers in the UK Royal Bank of Scotland 1 Dale Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L2 2PP
Bankers in Sierra
Leone
GTB		 12 Wilberforce Street, Freetown
Auditor in Sierra
Leone		 Peter Kamaray &Co 20 Wilberforce Street, Freetown

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Moses Sheriff ( Director of Administration and Finance) (Sierra Leone)

Sia Lucy Ngaujah (Director of the Interim Care Centre) (Sierra Leone)

Abubakarr Kargbo (Director of Outreach) (Sierra Leone)

Abubakarr Zombo (Director of Family Tracing and Reunification) (Sierra Leone)

Isata Samura (Director of Advocacy, Communications and Campaigns) (Sierra Leone)

James Tyrrell (Country Director in the UK in a volunteer capacity)

B. STRUCTURE. GOVENANCE AND MANAGEMENT AovP & ty, •x

Descripton of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document How the charity is constituted

Constitution adopted on 02/04/2013 Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Trustee selection Methods

The existing trustees are responsible for the recruitment of new trustees. Each new trustee must be appointed by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of Laughter Africa.

Trustee training and inducton.

Once a new trustee has been appointed, they will be given all the necessary training in accordance with Laughter Africa’s ‘Trustee Induction Policy’ which outlines the induction, support and training programme involved. As well as training, the following documents will be given to a newly appointed trustee:

A number of publications from the Charity Commission are also provided including the guidance on Charity Law and Public Benefit, the new Charity Trustee Welcome Pack published by the Charity Commission in April 2018 and ‘The essential trustee: what you need to know, what you need to do (CC3).’ This ensures that new trustees are aware of the scope of their responsibilities under the Charities Act 2011 and to brief them on their legal obligations.

Risk management

The Trustees in the UK have established a risk management policy for Laughter Africa. The key to Laughter Africa’s risk management policy is the ‘Corporate Risk Register and Assurance Framework’ which identifies the key risks pertinent to Laughter Africa in meeting its objectives and map out the key controls in place to manage them. The Risk Register is updated annually. The major risks to which Laughter Africa is exposed have been identified and reviewed: procedures have been established to mitigate those risks. The Trustees are confident that strong systems and procedures are in place to manage the risks that have been identified. The Risk Register is available for the Charity Commission to see upon request. Appropriate insurance cover is in place for Laughter Africa both in the UK and in Sierra Leone to cover every eventuality. Laughter Africa also insists that all staff and volunteers receive a DBS check (in the UK) or a Police Clearance certificate (in Sierra Leone) as part of the safeguarding policy and procedures. No safeguarding concerns were reported to Laughter Africa in 2021/22 due to the effective and robust safeguards that we have in place.

Trustee’s remuneraton

All of Laughter Africa trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no remuneration or other benefit for their work with Laughter Africa.

Laughter Africa’s organisatonal structure and how decisions are made

The principles of local ownership and local empowerment are at the heart of all Laughter Africa’s work. We have a local Trustee Board. It is important to everyone at Laughter Africa that only local Sierra Leonean staff are employed; thus supporting national capacity building and the long-term sustainability of our activities. The Trustees both in the UK and in Sierra Leone have delegated the running of Laughter Africa to the five Directors in Sierra Leone. The Directors are responsible for different departments:

All five Directors are responsible for the day-to-day operation of Laughter Africa in Sierra Leone and managing the national staff and volunteers. The Directors report to the Trustees regularly and the Trustees delegate to the Directors accordingly.

The Trustees are responsible for the overall direction and decision making of Laughter Africa. The Trustees are ultimately responsible in law for the charity, its assets and activities. They take responsibility in the following areas ensuring that:

Here is an Organogram of how decisions are made currently at Laughter Africa:

Laughter Africa’s Policies and procedures

The Trustees, staff and volunteers are also held accountable by the Laughter Africa constitution and all the internal policies which can be requested via the open information policy. The organisational policies include:

TreatngDonors FairlyPolicy Supporter Promise
Acceptance ofgifs and hospitality Environmental Policy
Data Protecton Policy (now updated to comply
with the GDPR ) and privacy policy.		 Evaluaton Policy
Dignity, Diversity and Equality Policy Complaints Handling Policy and Procedures
HIV Workplace Policy SafeguardingChildren Policy
Bullying and Harassment Policy Positon statement on vulnerability and
inequality
Health and Safety Risk Assessment Communicatons about children policy
Laughter Africa’s statement of Accountability Security policy
Laughter Africa’s safer recruitment statement Security manual
Laughter Africa’s human resources policy for all
staf working in Sierra Leone (This includes our
grievance policy, disciplinary policy, probaton
policy, redundancy policy, maternity leave,
paternity leave, annual leave policy, sick leave pol-
icies etc.. incompliance with Sierra Leonean law).		 Risk management policy
Laughter Africa’s vision, mission and values Trustee Inducton policy
Whistle blowingPolicy Register of Trustees
Staf Code of Behaviour CapabilityProcedures
Trustee declaraton of interests forms Natonal staf job descriptons and
contracts
Confict of interestpolicy Trustee Declaraton Forms
Health and safety policy Volunteerpolicy
Security Manual version 2 Gender policy
Vehicle policy Laughter Africa’s volunteer handbook
Supply Chain Manual (procurement policy) Laughter Africa’s Open Informaton Policy
Security country plan for Sierra Leone Trustee Job Descriptons
Grievance Policy Disciplinary Policy
End of Contract Policy Redundancy Policy
Probaton Policy Working tme and ofce hours
Maternity Policy Flexible working policy
Annual leave policy Paternity policy
Adopton policy Sickness and Absence policy
Retrement Policy Time of for personal reasons policy

Please note that the financial policies are listed under the financial review (section E). Laughter Africa has every

applicable policy recommended by the Charity Commission.

C. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES DON B05CQ Fambul CVIB¢I

Summary of the Objects of Laughter Africa set out in its governing document

The object of the CIO is the relief of poverty, particularly but not exclusively by the provision of housing, and the advancement of education for street children and other children or young people at risk in Africa.

An explanaton of Laughter Africa’s strategies for achieving the stated objectves

Laughter Africa carries out a wide range of activities in pursuance of its charitable aims. The trustees consider that these activities provide benefit to street children aged 0 to 15. Laughter Africa works with street children in Freetown, Sierra Leone to fulfil their aspirations and to help them to bring about positive change in their lives. Laughter Africa delivers this objective through assisting children in leaving the streets, through the following three-phased approach:

  1. Outreach Work. This involves the social workers meeting the children living on the streets through day or night surveys. The first priority is dealing with the immediate needs of the street children. They may be hungry and need food. They may be ill or in need of medical care. They may be lonely or grieving and just need a listening ear. They may have been raped and need someone to talk to. They may be having legal trouble with the police or judiciary and need someone to advocate on their behalf. Whatever they need, Laughter Africa is willing to provide. Whilst Laughter Africa's trained social workers will try to encourage them to leave the streets, they are not forced to do so.

The Interim Care Centre. The Laughter Africa Interim Care Centre is a safe place for street children to live while attempts are made to find their families. At the Interim Care Centre food, clothing, health care, education, counselling, support and other essentials are provided. Activities such as drama, music, sports, cultural dance, arts and crafts and cookery are also available. The Interim Care Centre is a place where the street children can be children and learn to laugh again.

Home-tracing and family reunification work. This is an integral part of Laughter Africa's approach, through which social workers trace the street children’s families in the hope that the parties can be reunited. Reunification with their families is dependent on whether the family situation is safe and secure. If this is not the case, for instance if there is sexual or physical abuse known to have taken place, then an alternative long-term home will be found. Before reuniting a child with their family, we work with both parties to understand the reasons that led to the child turning to the streets in the first place. Our goal is to ensure that the child feels happier and the original issues that precipitated their move on to the streets are resolved. Once the children have returned home, Laughter Africa offers continued support and pays for their school fees and other school support until they finish their WASCE (the Sierra Leone equivalent of A-levels) or pays for vocational training - whichever option the child prefers. Social workers keep in touch with each child and their family to check on their progress and make sure that all is well. If any problems arise then the staff will intervene before the child is tempted to return to the streets again. Social workers visit the children at home at least once a quarter or more often if necessary.

Through its outreach work, establishment of a safe care centre and family reunification activities, Laughter Africa seeks to protect vulnerable children from the dangers of living on the streets, meet their basic health, education and nutrition needs, and ensure their long-term well being.

Actvites

A summary of the main actvites undertaken by Laughter Africa in order to carry out its charitable purposes for the public beneft:

The main premise of the work of Laughter Africa will never change: the outreach work; the Interim Care Centre and the Family Reunification work. As outlined in last years’ annual report, Laughter Africa is divided into five departments:

The Outreach department

The mobile project takes place five times a week from Monday to Friday from 4pm to 7pm. Each day, medical treatment, food, water, and different activities (such as cultural dance, modern dance, art and crafts, games and sports) are provided.

The main focus of our outreach work in the last year has been the mobile project in Waterloo, a city twenty miles east of Freetown. Between August 2021 and September 2022, our mobile project in Waterloo reached 685 street children. In the final week of the project we reunified 51 street children with their families - a rewarding way to leave the area.

In October 2022, we relocated our mobile project to Grafton, a large rural town outside of Freetown. Grafton was chosen because the majority of calls to our sexual violence helpline come from this area, and we felt compelled to offer the young people in the area some much needed support. Our new mobile project in Grafton opened on 11[th] October 2022 and 147 street children attended. After just three weeks in operation, we have already welcomed 181 street children. So far, we have had at least 100 street children join us every night. Because of the unexpected numbers, we needed to urgently procure extra seats. We first met Agu 6 years ago, when he was living on the streets. He is a mute boy who, with the help of Laughter Africa, graduated from vocational school in carpentry a few years ago. He now owns a carpentry shop based in Grafton, so we commissioned him to make us some benches. He was delighted to help us out!

We introduced yoga as an activity at the mobile in Grafton because of the success of Yoga at the Interim Care Centre (ICC). The lovely team from ‘YAMA’ now work twice a week at mobile: Mondays and Fridays.

Another highlight for the outreach department was when some of our social workers helped with the headcount survey of street children on 22nd April 2022. Although 1,655 children were found living on the streets that night, we suspect that number is understated. However, it gives a good snapshot of the situation.

Another highlight was the story of Sahr K. We have known Sahr for 6 years. Although he still lives on the streets he recently set up a business selling ice cream. It’s going well but he needed a megaphone to help promote his business further, which we provided him with. Sometimes young people just can’t leave the streets behind. But for Sahr, having his own business gives him a feeling of self-worth and dignity, and we are really proud of him. He might be living on the street but he is supporting and providing for himself.

Laughter Africa is always ready to respond to any emergencies that affect street children. On the 17[th] October 2022, a huge fire swept through the Cockle Bay area. Some of the street children lost everything in the fire- their whole lives were destroyed. We responded straight away and reunified 7 of them with their families. We will be paying school for them as soon as they are settled.

We love it when an old Laughter young person “pays it forward” and helps other street children. For example, Foday found a brother and sister, Dennis and Kadeja, living on the streets. Dennis and Kadeja have lived on the streets since the Ebola crisis in 2014, when their mother died. Dennis is a protective big brother and he has kept Kadeja safe all this time. When Foday found them, he brought them to Laughter Africa. We reunified Dennis and Kadeja with relatives, and we are pleased to say that they haven’t returned to the streets and we are about to pay vocational school fees for both of them. Similarly, Kabba, who we’ve known for 6 years, found a young boy, Frank, living on the street in February 2022. Frank ended up on the streets after he was abandoned. Out of sheer starvation, he stole a chicken. He was caught, and his community drove him away. Kabba brought him directly to Laughter Africa. We reunified him with another member of his family, all thanks to Kabba!

Interim Care Centre (ICC)

When children are ready to leave the streets, they stay with us, temporarily, at the Interim Care Centre in Adonkia, a coastal town about nine miles south-west of Freetown. Between 1[st] September 2021 and 21[st] October 2022, we welcomed 175 children and young people into the ICC. Activities carried out in the ICC are the same as outlined in previous year’s annual reports and include:

Since March 2022, we have joined forces with YAMA, a wonderful new local organisation which teaches yoga. The yoga teachers, Babardee, Sulcut, Meeky are all former street children themselves and they teach the children every Thursday. They have been a big hit!

Meanwhile Adamma, one of our beneficiaries who appeared in last year’s annual report, and who studied make-up and beauty, is now providing beauty therapy training to the girls staying in the ICC.

We also celebrated three special days in the ICC over the last year:

We have also welcomed eight interns from local universities into the ICC over the last few months. It has been an honour to train the next generation of change-makers. We found that Laughter Africa was a very popular choice for many students.

Family Tracing and Reunification Department (FTR)

The FTR department duties are still the same as outlined in last year’s annual report. The FTR department’s role is to trace the street children’s families and reunify them. Between 1[st] September 2021 and 22[nd] October 2022, we reunified 276 children/young people with their families. 113 reunifications were children/young people we reunified directly from the streets mainly from the Susan’s Bay and Waterloo areas of Freetown. Our social workers sometimes have to travel great distances to reunify children with their families, sometimes riding on dirt roads for hours. For example, one of our social workers undertook an incredible journey to reunify Emmanuel with his family. It took her three days to get to his village, Falaba, and back again. Emmanuel didn’t know the way and they tried four different villages before finding the right one. In the end, they had to go by river! To see a video, please visit here.

If the children that have been reunified with their families stay at home, we pay their school fees or vocational training costs. We are still in the middle of providing school materials for the 2022/2023 academic year. Between 1[st] September 2022 and 3rd November 2022, we supplied 446 reunified children with school supplies (which includes a bag, shoes, ledger books, pens, vest and socks). We still have a lot more children to pay for between now and the end of January 2023. We hope that by the end of January 2023, we will have provided school supplies for between 500 to 600 reunified children. Before receiving their school supply, each child had to show their report card so we could assess their previous school attendance record. If the child had not been attending school regularly in the previous academic year, we did not provide school support for this coming year. Unfortunately, we have to be very strict, due to the large number of children we aim to sponsor, and the very limited funds that we have. As well as the school fees, we also pay for extra lessons and the required

text books for those pupils who are taking external examinations in the coming academic year (e.g. NPSE, BECE and WASCE), as well as paying for all the additional exam fees and charges.

We also give extra support to the most vulnerable children, which can include transportation costs, lunch, business support, bags of rice, mattresses, ‘help a baby basket’ support kits, rental costs or wheelchairs. One boy, Sahr Augustine, who sat the WACSE, cried after we gave him the transportation money, saying, "without Laughter Africa I would have gone back on the streets a long time ago.” He couldn’t believe that he had made it this far. He has just applied to university to become a social worker.

We provided bikes to some of our former street children, who, living in rural villages, are miles and miles away from the nearest school. Without the gift of a bike, they would have had to walk for hours to get the education they need and deserve to make their lives better. The perfect examples of this are Laughter’s very own three Musketeers: Thomas, Almammy and Abass who live in the village of Rorenka. Last year, a woman took them from the village promising them that they were going on holiday to Waterloo. However, when they arrived, they forced into child slave labour. Eventually they couldn’t take anymore, and they escaped to the relative “safety” of the streets. They couldn’t go home as their village was too far away and they had no money. Thankfully, our mobile project, which was operating in Waterloo, was able to provide the boys with support. We reunified all three boys with their families. We paid for the boys’ school fees, but their school was over four miles away from their home. They each had to walk there every day, getting up at the crack of dawn arriving at school exhausted. They were delighted with the bikes and they couldn’t wait to start riding them.

After the success of our mother and baby training in December 2020, we decided to repeat the training programme in December 2021, with some of the girls who had become mothers that year, and some who were currently expecting. Fifty -one girls attended with their children to develop vital skills to help them through motherhood, such as nappy changing, bathing, paediatric first aid and soothing practices. In addition, we have a psychologist who also works with the girls. This is because some of the girls that we meet are not mothers through their own choice and have become pregnant as a result of commercial sex work or sexual assault. This makes the relationship they have with their baby challenging and sometimes they even feel resentful. The psychologist helps the girls work through these feelings as the girls ultimately want to be the best mother they can for their child. The mother and baby training is very important because the infant mortality rate is so high in Sierra Leone. In the last few months, three of the girls and one of the boys now living at home have lost their children. Isata, our social worker, spent a week visiting the girls who are now living at home to inform them about the training. She came across two girls in Grafton who had recently given birth. One girl had been stuck in her house by herself crying, holding the baby, as she was so overwhelmed. She didn’t have a clue how to care for her newborn baby who had just been born a few days before. Thankfully she attended the training and you could just see her grow in confidence. Another girl who attended the training was Fatmata, the girl who gave birth while staying at the ICC (we mentioned her in last years’ annual report). We’re so proud that she has remained off the streets and is doing a wonderful job at raising baby Fatima. We even paid for her to study hairdressing at vocational school.

In July 2022, Messi visited us at the ICC. We lost contact with her four years ago. We discovered that she had been living with her aunt in a village without a phone network. She had had it tough for the last four years, just working for her aunt after her mum had died. She had tears in her eyes when she saw us again - it was like she knew that life would be okay from now on. She wants to attend vocational school and we will be paying her fees from November 2022. It means a lot to

us that the children know that we are always here for them, no matter how long it’s been. The fact that they never doubt that gives us so much pride.

The FTR department also provide medical treatment for any of the children who remain at home. Most of the staff receive phone calls from the children and their families. Often the children just phone to say hello but sometimes they might need something or have an issue at home. The team are on call 24/7 for the children and respond immediately whenever they are needed.

Communications, Campaigns and Advocacy

Our Communications, Advocacy and Campaigns department started in September 2016 and it has been in operation ever since.

Sexual violence Prevention Programme

This year the main focus for our Communications, Campaigns and Advocacy Department was our sexual violence prevention programme for street children. In our work with street children we hear shocking tales of suffering. But nothing breaks our hearts more than the horrific stories of sexual violence. One child being a victim of sexual assault is unacceptable, but unfortunately in our work we hear of many more. When living on the streets children are particularly vulnerable. Sadly, children we work with have suffered from the most harrowing sexual violence including gang rape, assaults from those in positions of authority, bestiality, and death. Even worse, justice is not guaranteed. One of the girls we support said: “ When

we are raped, the man should get life imprisonment, but they don’t. It’s like the law doesn’t apply to us. That we don’t

matter.” It is usual for the children living on the streets not to take any further action after they have been assaulted. We wanted to change this, and ensure they feel safe and supported to access relevant services and achieve justice. We decided to hold workshops to educate the children on what sexual assault is, what support available is available, and what to do if they or a friend are a survivor of sexual assault (e.g. no washing, keep the clothes that they were wearing).

We created a process for street children to report sexual assault and appointed community advocates in areas with the highest numbers of street children (please see Part 2 for more information). The role of these advocates is to be the person whom the street children can approach if they have been assaulted. The community advocates will then call one of the Network for Street Children Sierra Leone members who will take the street child to the police and then to the Rainbo Centre or Aberdeen Women’s Clinic for medical examination. One of our social workers will accompany the girls or boys the whole time. Our job is to walk alongside them on their journey to justice. We will ensure DNA testing is carried out on any forensic evidence gathered if necessary.

We also decided to train 20 key community members (such as imams, Pastors, priests, youth leaders, teachers and headsmen) in each community and invited them to help communicate the support that is available. We hope that more prosecutions of perpetrators will serve as a message to any future offenders that sexual assault against street children is taken seriously and has severe consequences, so that we will see a reduction in the number sexual abuse offences.

The programme was split into two parts:

October 2021 to June 2022 (Part 1) - The first part of the programme focused on the training of street children and community engagement and sensitisation.

We decided to work within eight communities around Freetown: Funkai, Tombo, Portee, Grafton, Waterloo, Lumley, Cockle Bay and Susan's Bay. They all have a high proportion of street children.

The aim of the workshops was to get justice for any street child who is a survivor of sexual assault. The training followed a similar structure at all the workshops. The first part of the session was an interactive discussion about key terminology (e.g. sexual violence, exploitation, consent, etc) and establishing what the children think these terms mean. This was followed by group work where the street children discussed the following questions:

After the group discussion, Isata explained the new strategy and the pathway to justice. This was the section where we mentioned the fact that you do not wash, do not change clothes, do not take bribes, etc. We also outlined the process that the survivor will go through when reporting the crime to the police.

We concluded each workshop by explaining the role of community advocates and asking the street children who they would like as an advocate.

The street children trainings took place on the following dates:

For a more in depth look at what happened at the trainings, please visit here. To see videos of some of the training in action, please visit here.

Probably the highlight of all the street children trainings was the one which took place in Susan’s Bay. We had nearly 1000 children and young people attend. The street children felt great ownership over the programme and were delighted that we had put on a programme especially for them. There was a slight altercation between the children living at home and the street children over chairs and the street children said with pride ,‘ this is our programme. ’ The altercation was easily solved but we were glad to see them so empowered. During the training, one man in the community was overheard saying to the girls , “0h great - we can’t do anything to you now or they will come after us.”

During the course of the trainings, we decided to expand the programme to also include children who live at home. In fact it was one of the girls staying with us at the ICC who reminded us of the importance of spreading our education to all children, not just those already living on the streets. She was sexually assaulted whilst living at home by her stepfather. “I told my mum and granny but they didn’t believe me. I ended up pregnant but they forced me to have an abortion. Then my stepdad kicked me out of the house and I went to the streets.”

Community trainings

At each community meeting we invited 20 key stakeholders usually consisting of local police, the headsperson, the Chief, the chairlady, the youth chairperson, teachers, the Harbour Master, the local pastor, the local Iman, the Chairman for the Bike Union, the Chairlady for Market Women and the Chairlady for Cookery sellers among many more.

The structure for the community training followed the same format as the street children’s session. The only variation were some of the group discussions. Questions included:

The community trainings took place on the following dates:

Interestingly, each community meeting was scheduled to last for one hour but quite often ended up lasting for 5 to 6 hours which is an indication of how much the communities enjoyed and participated in the training.

Some of the attendees had children who had been sexually assaulted so the issue was close to each community’s heart. The community meetings were much livelier than expected. For instance, at one stage during the meeting in Grafton, a male police officer took offence by the children’s assertion that they are assaulted by policemen. However, a female police officer stood her ground and said, “No it does happen. Maybe not by you, but other police officers do rape girls on the streets.”

Although each community is different, most of the recommendations were very similar including:

July to September 2020 (Part 2)- The second part of the programme focused on implementing the recommendations from the community members and street children themselves.

After we finished the workshops, we moved onto the next stage of the project in July and August 2022 which focused on appointing, training and embedding the community advocates in eleven different communities as well as implementing the recommendations the street children and the community members had from our initial phase of workshops including holding five more community trainings in Waterloo, and Crab Town, in Lumley. The street children in Funkia said that they did not want people in their community acting as community advocates as they didn’t trust them. They wanted an NGO to take that role so the girls would just go direct to the NGO without an intermediary. In this case, the NGO will be Laughter Africa.

On Saturday 24[th] September 2022, we trained fifteen community advocates who live in their community, offering the street children a safe space to go to immediately after they have been sexually assaulted. The session involved training on the survivor centric approach and role play. We also gave the advocates ID cards, megaphones and lots of posters for their community.

The advocates we have trained are fierce warriors. We know that the street children are in safe hands. One of the advocates for Grafton, Marie Sesay, is the chairlady of her community. Even before she became a community advocate she had already reported three different sexual assault cases to the police. Thanks to her intervention, these three men are now in prison. We know that she will be a fantastic advocate and we are honoured that she has agreed to take on the role.

One of the advocates told us that she joined the training because she was raped when she was a child by her cousin but no one believed her. She wants to make sure that something like this never happens again. She doesn’t want another child not to be believed ever again.

We also held a press conference to introduce the new community advocates. Six media houses were invited including Radio Democracy, SLBC, Lion Mountain and Epic Radio. You can watch one of the television reports , here (from 37:10 min). Isata Samura, the head of communications for Laughter Africa, was interviewed for the television programme.

This is not the end of the project: this is just the beginning. Every day we receive calls to our confidential helpline. Although we are receiving calls to report sexual violence to our helpline, so far all the survivors have been children who live at home including a case of a 15 year old girl sexually assaulted by her teacher and a 3 year old girl who had been assaulted by an unknown perpetrator. The Network for Street Children Sierra Leone members respond in person to every phone call that we receive and will continue to do so.

International Day for Street Children

We celebrated the International Day for Street Children on 12[th] April 2022. The theme was celebrating those workers who work with and advocate tirelessly for street connected children.

At Laughter Africa, we have the most amazing team. Our staff not just staff - they are family. The journeys that they have travelled and the obstacles they have overcome in their own lives are so awe-inspiring. Through their dedication, courage and fighting spirit they have changed the lives of so many street children and we are so proud of each and everyone of them. We wanted to celebrate them and show them that their work does not go unnoticed so we made a video about some of their stories. We owe a big thank you to our volunteer, Joseph Little, who helped us with the video.

To celebrate the day, Laughter Africa combined forces with Dom Bosco Fambul, Pikin Paddy and St George’s Foundation and we held a superhero carnival for over 500 street children and social workers. The children in the Interim Care Centre were so excited they were awake at 2am, asking if it was time to go yet. No one at the ICC got much sleep that night. The children and social workers were split into eight teams named after their favourite superheroes and they competed for points through different tasks. Their first task was to build their own shelter using leaves and wood. The other challenges included a group dance competition. They had to choreograph the song ‘Street Pikin Dem’ which our street children wrote,

recorded and performed last year. For a reminder of the song, visit here. They also had a poetry competition, drama performances and a games tournament.

Hassan represented Laughter Africa in the poetry competition. He learned the poem, "We too are!". To see his mesmerizing performance, please visit here. Hassan is amazing. He is a talented dancer, footballer and actor. He succeeds at everything he puts his mind to. Most of all he is the most amazing big brother. He lives on the street with his little brother Alpha (9) and his nephew Mohamed (10). He protects them with his life. Although many teenagers would resent the added burden of being responsible for two younger siblings, Hassan sees it as a pleasure. “I love them because they are my brothers. They

are all I have left. It is my duty to protect them and keep them safe. I am the man of the house. If I don’t look after them, who else will?”

Hassan is 13 years old and had lived on the streets for six months before we found him. He turned to the streets after the death of his mother, “My mum died in 2021. She cried that her belly hurt for a long time and then one day she just died. She didn’t have money to go to hospital. I don’t sabi (know) who my dad is. After my mum died we had nobody to provide for us.” With no place to go, Hassan turned to the streets for the survival of himself and his family. He would collect “cup cup” and scrap metal, just so his brothers would be able to eat every day. He has sacrificed a lot for his family but he never complains. Although Hassan is very bright, he can’t remember when he last attended school.

Hassan, Alpha and Mohamed all suffer from Palmoplantar hyperkeratosis, a condition which affects their hands and feet. On the streets, he was mocked and called names by passers-by, “Some people call us ‘cut cut feet’ or ‘lepers.’ It makes me sad when people are horrible to Alpha and Mohamed or provoke us. I can stand up for myself but Alpha and Mohamed can’t.“

To see some videos and photos from the day, please visit here.

Documentary

Local organisation VAfrica spent 4 days in May 2022 with Laughter filming a documentary all about our work. It should be ready to launch in November 2022. We are planning a special screening for all our children and young people so that they can see themselves on screen. From the bits we have seen so far - it looks amazing!

Administration department

The duties outlined in last year’s annual report remain the same for the administration department. The main responsibility for this department is the Sierra Leonean accounts and the re-registration process with the Sierra Leone Government.

Work in the United Kingdom

Due to Covid-19, the founder, James Tyrrell, remained in Sierra Leone for two and a half years. This meant we couldn’t undertake our usual education and fundraising programmes in the UK.

James spoke at the Consortium for Street Children Annual Conference and AGM online. It went well. Here was an email that he received afterwards from an attendee:

“I just wanted to say that watching your presentation made us feel animated, attentive, inspired, absorbed, amazed at the work you do….as well of course shock, frustration, anger at the way things are still in Freetown. My friend said that it was the most outstanding presentation of them all and will remain in her memory. My partner was equally impressed and, believe me, that takes a lot. Well done again for a brilliant presentation.”

After the success of this talk, he was invited to speak in person at the CSC Fundraising Garden Party in July 2022. While he was in the UK he visited Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Kilburn and also arranged a ‘Bongos Bingo’ fundraising event in Yorkshire.

Due to the election in 2023, the founder will be in the UK for 6 months. During this time he hopes to re-start the school and church fundraising visits.

To see more information about our work please visit our facebook page or our website.

Public beneft

The trustees of Laughter Africa have complied with their duty in section 17 (5) of the Charities Act 2011 and The Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant. The Trustees paid particular attention to the guidance when reviewing, planning and shaping Laughter Africa’s aims, objectives and activities for the year ahead. The trustees have considered how the charity’s planned activities would contribute to the aims and objectives that had been set.

Volunteers

The Trustees would like to take this opportunity to thank all of Laughter Africa’s volunteers in Sierra Leone. Late 2016 saw the creation of our Sierra Leone volunteer scheme. It has been a huge success. We are very lucky to have such a dedicated, hard working and committed volunteer base. We couldn’t have achieved everything we have done, without their support. Between 31[st] August 2021 and 25th October 2022, we have had 14 Volunteers/interns come and join us. As of 25th October 2022, we have three volunteers.

following people who have gone the extra mile for Laughter Africa this financial year:

D. ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE -.1;.1-4rf} •:,AIA i.) @.CHILU

Achievements

The success of our sexual violence prevention training programme.

Achievements
The success of our sexual violence prevention training programme.		 Achievements
The success of our sexual violence prevention training programme.
Our sexual violence prevention programme was a huge success. The major successes of the programme include:

Training4000street children and318stakeholders over twelve months. Our original target was to train 500 street
children so the numbers surpassed our wildest expectatons.

Since our workshops, there hasn’t been a single report of rape against a street child in any of the communites we
visited. This is a huge success and more than we ever imagined possible. Isata has been visitng Funkia over the last
twelve monthsintermitently as since the frst training we hadn’t received any phone calls to our hotline from
Funkia. Isata spoke to the girls living on the streets and the community members who revealed that since our
training – no girls or boys had been sexually assaulted while living on the streets! In fact some of the girls stll had on
them our complimentary cards (with our sexual violence support help line details on) even 1 year afer the training.
They said,“Don’t worry we know to phone you if anyone rapes us.”

The children have been making good use of the phone line to seek support and guidance. Although street children
have been using the phone line, none of the calls has been about sexual violence – instead, it has been about
physical violence, such as beatngs, partcularly from street children in Susan’s Bay and Grafon. Just one example of
one of the calls we have received was a few days afer the training in Lumley. The girl came to the centre afer being
robbed at knifepoint and showed us the complimentary cards we had given out saying“Look I have kept it safe in
my pocket.”She said,“I did everything that you told me to too - I even bit him to get evidence.”She really had
paid atenton to the training and we were glad that the message is sinking in. We gave the girl medical treatment
and also took her to the police staton to lodge a report, and she was able to reclaim some of the money that had
been stolen. In June 2022, one of the girls living on the streets in Susan’s Bay came running to us at the ICC. She had
been thrown at a door, beaten, stabbed in the back, and biten on her face by the father of her child. We supported
her with medical treatment and accompanied her to the police staton, which led to the police pressing charges.
Whilst the occurrence of violence is shocking, it is at least heartening to see progress on justce being served.

The feedback from the girls about the training has been really positve. One girl in Funkai said,“We are really
sufering in the hands of these various men. We were crying but no one was there to give us a hand or a platorm
to come out and express ourselves. Since you are here now. No one will take advantage of us again. We now have
a place where we can go and express ourselves. We have people to fght for us.”

Meanwhile the feedback from the community members was equally glowing. For instance, the head of the Female
Society in Tombo told us,“Other organisatons come here and just talk at us about rape. But none of them talk
about justce. You actually listen to our ideas and show us that justce is possible.”Similarly a mother of one of the
girls who atended the workshop in Cockle Bay found Isata later in the day to say her daughter recited the whole
training word for word as soon as she got home.

The community advocates are very enthusiastc. They have already started to phone us with diferent cases and
remain really motvated.

Examinaton Successes

This year we have seen our best ever set of exam results for the NPSE, BECE and WASCE. For instance, at the end of September 2022, the WASCE results (the Sierra Leone equivalent of A-levels) were released. We’re proud to say we now have 17 young people currently applying to University! The courses they want to study range from social work to nursing, banking and finance, to being a laboratory technician.

One boy that we are particularly proud of is Hassan. We first met Hassan in September 2015 when he was 11 years old. Now 7 years later he has passed the WASCE with flying colours. When he stayed at the ICC, he had quite a bad temper and he had his own catchphrase, ”You offend me hey.” As soon as we heard those words, we knew a fight was imminent. We reunified Hassan with his family in Mabuka and we have been paying for his schooling ever since. He has always dreamed of working in a hospital and now his dreams are about to become a reality. He is currently applying to university to study being a ‘Lab technician.’ However, with his marks we have no doubt that he will be accepted.

The first chicken that the founder, James, ever received as a gift in Sierra Leone was a chicken from Hassan’s family who were so grateful that Laughter Africa had reunified him with them. They had thought that he was dead, since he went missing during the Ebola crisis. We named the chicken Hassan in his honour. The remaining kids in the ICC would tease James mercilessly saying “Five O, Blessing (our housekeeper’s dog) has eaten Hassan” which would descend in a three animal race of James chasing Blessing to make sure that Hassan the chicken was safe.

Hassan has blossomed into a mature and calm young man and we couldn’t be more proud. And each time he sees James, the first thing he always says with great affection is “You offend me hey.”

Another person we are particularly proud of is 20 year-old Mabinty. We first met Mabinty during our girls’ project in Susan’s Bay in 2020. She had lived on the streets for over five years. She has the best WASCE results we have ever seen and is about to apply for university. Just over two years ago she was on the streets and now the world is her oyster!

We are very proud of all our young people who sat the BECE (the Sierra Leone equivalent of GCSEs). The results came out in the middle of October 2022. Over 55 of our young people sat the exams and all of them passed with fantastic marks. A special congratulations to Tony whom we have supported since 2019 - he achieved the highest mark so far: 15. In 2019 we lost of one of our boys called Mohamed. He died after contracting TB and hepatitis. Since his death we have been paying school for his brother John. The good news is that John sat the BECE this year and got a mark of 16. Congratulations John, we know that Mohamed would be so proud of you.

Meanwhile 29 of our young people sat the NPSE (the Sierra Leone equivalent of the SATS) and all did very well. A big congratulations to Al Hassan. We first met Al Hassan when he was 6 years old in 2017. His mother had mental health issues and was unable to care for him. We managed to find a wonderful foster mother for him called Fanta who lives in Bo. Al hassan sat the NPSE this year and scored a fantastic mark of 301. He was admitted into a very prestigious boarding school called Bo Boys. It is a very well renowned school and is very difficult to be admitted to.

The medical care we provide has saved hundreds of lives

At Laughter Africa we provide medical treatment for thousands of children living on the streets. We know for certain that there would be children who would be dead by now if it wasn’t for Laughter Africa. The best example of this is Mohamed. Mohamed is the face of strength, determination and resilience. We first met Mohamed in our Susan’s Bay mobile project in 2017, wearing his Spongebob Squarepants T-shirt. He never took it off. Eventually we took him home and paid school for him but about three years ago, he returned to the streets.

On 24th March 2022, he was attacked in the eye by a fellow street child who beat him repeatedly in the eye with a rock. Rather than coming to us straight away, he decided to visit a ‘nurse’ in Lumley who butchered his eye more by giving him the wrong treatment. She just sewed his eye together. Eventually, we found out about what had happened and took him to two different eye hospitals. Both hospitals recommended that they removed his eye straight away or he would lose the sight in his other eye too.

Before the operation, Mohamed stayed a few nights at the Interim Care Centre. On the morning of his operation, Mohamed knocked on my door at 4am. Blood was dripping from his eye and he was in so much pain. It was horrible not to be able to do anything to stop his pain. I felt so useless but there was literally nothing I could do. All I could do was just sit with him.

On the 31st March the doctors removed his eye. As he was only 17, he still needed the consent of his mother, Fatmata. When we brought her to the hospital, she begged the doctor, “please take my eye instead and give it to him.”

Although Mohamed, his mother and the hospital all wanted the eye removed, the final choice was still with me. To make a choice whether someone loses an eye or not. And let me tell you it is not an easy decision to make. I never cry here. To survive in Sierra Leone, you have to be tough and I suppose I have put a barrier up to protect myself emotionally. That day I couldn’t stop crying. I felt a mixture of guilt and pity. Mohamed assured me a few weeks later that it was the right choice to make and that he doesn’t hate or resent me, which was my biggest fear.

At the beginning of July, Mohamed had another operation and now has a prosthetic eye. I am amazed by his courage, bravery and resilience. He has just brushed himself up and got on with life. He has no time for self pity, “I still have one eye and I can still live a normal life. Yes it was a shock at first but now I am just determined to live life to the full. To make my life count.” Even more remarkably, Mohamed has forgiven the boy, Hassan, who destroyed his eye. “ One thing I have learned is that life is to short to hold grudges. What use is anger? What will that achieve? I just want to move forward and not look back anymore. To do that I need to forgive Hassan and let go of all that anger and resentment. What has happened has happened.”

Mohamed is now living at home again with his mum and has just started JSS1 at a new school. His dream is to be a lawyer and we are determined to help make his dream a reality. He wants to be the first one eyed lawyer in Sierra Leone and we know with his courage and determination that he will achieve his goal!

Just this year alone, since 1[st] January 2022 until 1st November 2022, the nurse has treated at least 1582 young people, including Kingteller who was stabbed in the arm, and Mohamed who badly damaged his leg by falling down a gutter. One of our old boys, Alie came to us at the end of July 2022 and he was at the point of death. Without our knowledge he had had an operation for a hernia a few months previously but the operation went wrong. He was admitted into hospital and has now made a full recovery. But it really was a close call.

Similarly, one boy Joseph nearly died and had to be admitted into hospital straight away as he was struggling to breathe in June 2022. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, a heart condition (his heart is enlarged) malaria, typhoid and sickle cell. But, since his treatment he is as good as new and is back to running around with boundless energy.

One of our girls who now lives at home, Fanta, came to the office with her mother at the end of October 2022. She had found a lump in her breast and she was worried that it might be cancer. Our nurse Isata has taken her for a screening and we are just waiting for the results. No matter the outcome of the results we will be walking alongside Fanta on her journey to recovery. She recently received her BECE results and got a brilliant mark of 20.

Finally, one boy Joseph was admitted into hospital with Tropical Splenomegaly Syndrome in April 2022. We were told by the hospital that he would have died if he hadn’t received treatment when he did. Sadly, when we visited his family to inform them that Joseph was sick, they replied, ‘we don’t care if he dies. ’ They rejected him, accusing him of being a witch.

We want to say a special thank you to our nurse, Rebecca Isata Lebbie. She is indispensable and we couldn’t cope without her.

The successes of the young people we work with

Whenever one of the young people we work with succeed, we share their joy. Here are some of their most amazing

successes:

Sorie

We are so proud of Sorie who recently received his WASCE results. He got 6 credits which is enough to get into any university of his choice! We first met Sorie living on the streets in Waterloo in August 2015. In fact, Moses and I found him when we were carrying out Laughter’s first night survey in Waterloo (in the pouring rain). Sorie turned to the streets aged 13 after the death of his mother during the Ebola crisis. But ever since his reunification seven years ago, he has stayed at home. Sorie now wants to go to university to study social work, and aims to join our team. He said that the

social workers at Laughter Africa inspired him. He said, “ I want to study social work because Five-O and Laughter Africa

have been with me since I was in class 6. They have been supporting me throughout. I want to study social work in order to give back to Laughter Africa and do for other street children what Laughter Africa has done for me. I believe that doing social work will make me be part of Laughter’s life forever.” Sorie will be starting his social work course at Milton Margai University in November 2022 when the new university academic year begins. He has already had his

interview – he is just waiting for his acceptance letter.

Osman

Osman, one of the young people whom we have worked with over the last 5 years, was recently invited to exhibit his latest artwork at an art exhibition at Mango Peak, a local bar in Freetown. It was the first time his work has been on show to the public and he has already been invited back to the next exhibition in December due to the popularity of his work.

Osman lived on the streets for 4 months in 2017 when he was 15 years old. He was maltreated by his grandmother who threw him out of the house and said that she never wanted to see him again. While staying at the Interim Care Centre in September 2017, Osman learned how to make shoes, carpets and bags and discovered a natural flair and talent for creativity. Over the last five years, Osman has been selling bags, shoes and paintings to raise money for himself and his future university fees.

In 2018 Osman started to teach the children in the Interim Care Centre how to make bags and shoes every month. He energises the children and his shoe-making and bag-making sessions are one of the most popular activities at the centre. He spends hours teaching the children and has a great deal of patience. He is a real inspiration to them. Osman says, “I

really enjoy teaching the children. Every time I teach them it helps me remember my past and gives me the courage to continue and not give up despite all the daily challenges I face. Art gives my life meaning. I can escape from my life in my art. When I start painting I lose myself in the work. I am an orphan and whenever I start to get sad when I think about my mum, I just start to draw and it comforts me somehow.”

Osman’s dream is to become a doctor, “ I particularly want to save the lives of street children. When I lived on the streets, I saw so many street children suffering from different illnesses – HIV, STIs, malaria, stabbings. I saw girls having to give birth in the streets. In fact one of my friends died while living on the street. His name was Suliaman. He was 15 years old and died of elephantiasis on 18th August 2017. He died in agony. He was always kind to me. We would play PS (PlayStation) together after sweeping the streets. I just wish that I could have done something more to save him.” This memory drives Osman and still haunts him to this day. Osman has re-sat the WACSE three times in order to get the required grades to study medicine. His dedication and perseverance to achieve his dream is awe-inspiring. He never gives up and we know that he will get those grades eventually - we believe in him! Osman will be starting university in November 2022 - he is going to study ‘ Diagnostic Laboratory Technology.’ He is just waiting for his interview. This is one way for him to start his medical training to become a doctor.

Aminata, Alice and Emma

We are very proud of Aminata and Alice who graduated from their ‘Food and Nutrition’ course at Camp Women, one of the best vocational schools in Freetown, in November 2021. If we rewind to just over four years ago when we met the girls, graduating from vocational school was a distant dream. We first met both girls in 2018. Aminata went on the streets after her father’s death as her mother could not afford to pay her school fees, “Sometimes I went to bed hungry.

My mother was poor and could not take care of me.” Meanwhile Alice said at the time, “I want to do something with

my life. I have never been to school. I was constantly rejected by people on the streets and they called me all sorts of

names. I felt so lonely and didn’t know where to turn.”

She is definitely not lonely anymore. Not only did both girls get a huge cheer from fellow classmates when they collected their certificates but both Aminata and Alice were surrounded by family members with beaming smiles and pride on their faces. It was such a lovely moment that I was honoured to share.

We can’t wait to see what the world has in store for Alice and Aminata but one thing we do know for certain is that the world is their oyster. You go girls! Alice recently completed a two month internship at the Golden Tulip Hotel.

Similarly a big congratulations to Emma who recently graduated from Portee Vocational School in Catering. We first met Emma living on the streets in Grafton in 2018. Since then Emma has worked tirelessly to achieve her dreams. She also got a job. She is now running a restaurant in Jui. We are extra proud of her as it is not really easy to get a job here so this is testament to her hard work and determination. We couldn’t be more proud of her if we tried.

Henry

We first met 19 year old Henry living on the streets four years ago. We reunified him with his father and helped him set up a bakery. He got up at 3am every morning to bake bread, went to school and then sold the bread after school. That’s a full day’s work!

He came running into the office recently saying, “Five-O [my nickname] you will be proud of me now.” Henry was waving his glowing leaving testimonial from his school and had recently sat the university entrance exam.

Now Henry wants to give back to society, and he was recently appointed as the chairperson of a local organisation called ‘Let’s Speak Sierra Leone.’ It’s a new NGO which advocates on different issues affecting young people especially focusing on disability, gender-based violence and human rights. For the International Day for Children, Henry appeared on radio and television paid for by UNICEF and Plan. He was recently invited by the Ministry for training on gender-based violence.

Henry is a real leader and change-maker who is determined to achieve justice for others in society who are truly vulnerable.

I am so proud by his dedication to others. Henry’s goal is to become a lawyer and he’s currently looking for a night job so that he can pay his way through university. He is not scared of hard work and I know that one day he will achieve his dreams and be a real advocate for change.

Sahr Augustine and Abdul

Can you imagine carrying someone 30 minutes each day so they could go to school? That’s what Sahr Augustine did for his foster brother Abdul, a former street child, after his wheelchair broke in October 2021. He never complained either. In his words, “He’s my brother; it’s what you do for your brother.”

We were thrilled to provide Abdul with a new wheelchair in January 2022, so he now has his independence back and can travel to school by himself. And it was worth it. Abdul recently sat the BECE- a year earlier than he should - and he got a brilliant mark of 23. He has just enrolled in SS1 and is one step closer of achieving his dream of becoming a lawyer. Wheelchairs are expensive and in limited supply in Sierra Leone, so we want to say a massive thank you to our friends at Dom Bosco and Cap Anamur who helped make this possible. To say Abdul was delighted would be an understatement, and although Sahr Augustine never complained we think he was secretly happy as well. Sahr Augustine recently sat his WASCE and he got enough credits to attend university. He is currently applying to study social work. Meanwhile Abdul continues to inspire us, even after six years. In his spare time, Abdul coaches a girls’ football team. Kadiatu This year we met Kadiatu. She came to the Interim Care Centre in January 2022. Kadiatu’s kindness shines out from her. One example of this is when she fetched 20 buckets of water from the river to help set up an epic water balloon fight – just so her new friends in the ICC could enjoy themselves. Kadiatu has albinism and has been cast to the sidelines by most people. She grew up with her aunt, who only paid for her own children’s education. Instead of going to school, Kadiatu was made to sell food on the streets. In her 13 years of life, Kadiatu has never been to school. Her confidence has been completely destroyed by the cruel taunts of others. People refer to her as ‘Jus’, a very derogatory term. Kadiatu spoke of her life, ” When I try to play with other girls, their parents stop them. They are scared that I’ll pass sickness to their children so I normally just stay by myself. They call me ‘eye bend’ since I can’t see properly, or ‘smelly,’ or ‘body rough.’ People tell me not to go near them, so I sit and cry by myself. Even my family treat me as if I am not important. The most painful thing is when people see me and they start to laugh.” Kadiatu spent five weeks with us at the Interim Care Centre (ICC). Since she has been with us, she quietly grew in confidence. We took her to a local albinism support group, where she learnt about protecting her skin from the sun. They gave her a pair of sunglasses and a hat and she loves to strike a pose to show them off. For the first time in her life she sees herself as beautiful. Also for the first time in her life she has friends – Kadiatu and the other girls staying at the ICC were inseparable. Whilst there were lots of tears when they left us to be reunified with their community, we are comforted that now when Kadiatu faces the world, she does it knowing there are people who have her back. She is no longer alone and has a new life goal of going to school. Even as she was leaving us at the ICC a young boy yelled out “Jus”. We were not letting that pass, so we responded, “ Don’t call her that, call her by her name; Kadiatu.” Lamin We are really proud of 17 year old Lamin. He really has turned around his life for the better since we met him in November 2020. Before we met him, he had lived on the streets for four years. His life on the streets was engrained in

gang culture. He was a prominent member of a gang and knew all the different rival gang members in Freetown. He lost at least 6 friends who were murdered because of the gang culture they were involved in. Lamin was even stabbed twice himself. He told us that if he didn't leave Freetown and the gangs behind him soon then he would either be dead or in prison.

In the last few years, Lamin has completely changed his life since he moved to the provinces to live with his grandmother. He decided that it was better for him to get away from all the gangs and cliques in Freetown for a fresh start. The village he lives is miles and miles away from a school. It would take him hours to get to school everyday so we bought him a bike to make life that little bit easier. The bike worked its magic: Lamin has just received his BECE result - he got 27.

Amie

We wrote about Amie the footballer in last year’s annual report. She’s finally begun university! She’s studying ‘Public Health’ at Milton Margai University. She started in January 2022. Meanwhile the Female Premier league finally officially launched in October 2022. There were lots of delays. Amie is now playing for SL Police - one of the major teams in the league. Her first game was on the 25[th] October 2022.

Albert

Recently we saw one of our old boys, Albert, driving a kekeh. We didn’t even recognise him as he had grown so much. We first met him in September 2017. Now he is providing for himself by being a driver. He also wants to attend vocational school and learn tailoring which we are more than happy to pay for. His plan is to attend the school during the day and be a driver by night. We are so proud of him as he is making a living for himself.

Parliamentary commitee on NGOs

Most NGOs in Sierra Leone were summoned to a Parliamentary Committee Hearing between March and June 2022. The Committee has 17 Parliamentarians on the panel. NGOs are only given five days’ notice to prepare. In the past seven years, there have been parliamentary hearings but those were only for NGOs who received huge institutional donor funds. However, this time most NGOs were called. On 16th March 2022, we were summoned to appear before Parliament. James, the founder, Lucy, the head of the ICC and Isata, the head of Advocacy all represented Laughter. The Committee wanted 17 copies of documentation from each NGO. We had to answer questions from the MPs and give a presentation about our work. The hearing went well and lasted for only 20 minutes - particularly because we explained that we did not receive any institutional donor funds. We provided all the documents and they praised us saying that we were very organised. The MPs in the hearing even thanked Laughter Africa for our work. We think that James even impressed them with his grasp of krio, tenme and mende!

For some NGOs the Parliamentary hearings have been very antagonistic and some of the NGOs were recalled to Parliament for a second hearing. Some were even charged with contempt of Parliament and asked to pay huge fines.

A month after the hearing, we received a lovely email from one of the MPs in the Hearing asking if we could take on an intern from his constituency for 6 weeks. The fact that he thought of us first before any of the other NGOs, even a month later, showed us the impact we had made during the presentation. At a recent meeting with National NGOs in September 2022, SLANGO (the Sierra Leone Charity Commission) praised Laughter for our presentation to the Parliamentary Hearings in March, particularly in regards to the folders of information we provided. I tend to view things very negatively, so to receive such positive feedback was really affirming.

From the beginning of July 2022, the Parliamentary Committee for NGOs started visiting NGOs all over the country for “oversight visits.” At the end of August, the Parliamentary Committee wrote to Laughter Africa and said that they would like to visit Laughter at the beginning of September 2022. The visit took place on 1[st] September. Moses, the head of Administration, and Lucy, the head of the ICC represented Laughter Africa during the visit. There were 9 MPs, and the visit went well.

In 2022, we’ve had meetings with other government agencies too, including the Director of the NGO Affairs Directorate (in charge of all NGO operations) and with the Human Rights Commission where we met with the Commissioner. We also met with Kadie Davies, the constituency MP where the ICC is based. All the meetings went well. We also finished our re-registration with the Sierra Leone Government in March 2022 and all other agencies required to conduct our work. Meanwhile, at a meeting with all NGOs at the Ministry of Social Welfare in September 2022, Laughter was praised publicly for the quality and consistency of our reporting.

Community popularity and solidification of our support

Over the last year, we have noticed how popular Laughter seems to have become within the communities we work in. Everywhere we go, people know us. One thing we noticed at all the sexual violence prevention workshops was even though there were other NGOs present, Laughter Africa received the loudest cheers by far each time. For instance, when I attended the sexual violence prevention workshops in Portee in March 2022 - it was like Beatle mania. I was crowd-surfed down a hill by a large crowd. One of the young people, Abdulai from Portee, came for school supply recently and said, “Five O if you stood for President - everyone in Portee would vote for you.” As one priest said to me from another NGO a few years ago, “You are by far the best NGO here. You are on the ground. You are much better than us.” At that time I didn’t grasp the reality of what he meant – but this year I finally did. The name ‘Laughter Africa’ and ‘Five O” (my nickname) mean something here and has really spread over all the different communities in Freetown over the last seven and a half years, especially in the last year. For example, during the night surveys in April 2022, one social worker, Abubakarr, was in Calaba Town. When Bakarr explained that he was from Laughter Africa, the first boy he spoke to replied, “How is Five O? Greet him for me.” I have never been to Calaba Town but my name is still known there. Meanwhile one of our volunteers, George, was in town for the night surveys. He was a bit nervous but as soon as he said ,“Five O sent me” all the street kids assisted George and kept him safe throughout the night. Another NGO reported something similar, “Whenever we are doing outreach and we see a street child the first thing they ask us is “Do you sabi (know) Five O?” When we went to Grafton for the sexual violence prevention training in May 2022, the community Chairlady said to us, ” I have heard Laughter Africa’s name from all the street children that you have paid school for- I

have wanted to meet you for a while.” I feel like we have finally proven ourselves. It is like our work is speaking for itself. When you first set up a NGO in Sierra Leone, people are cynical and it does take time for the to accept you but I feel like we are well known and respected within our field now. This is due to the fantastic staff and volunteers that we have. They are so devoted, committed and energized. We are so lucky to have them.

We also have great relationships with all the community leaders in the different communities. For example, when we first approached the headsmen in Portee in March 2022 to ask if we could carry out the sexual violence prevention training, he said to Isata that Laughter Africa is one of the best NGOs who has ever worked in his community. He said that, ”Laughter Africa does exactly what they say they will do. So many NGOs make fake promises but everything you say you’ll do, you

do.” He said that Laughter could do anything that we liked in his community. He asked us to come back and work in his community as he missed us. During the planning of the sexual violence prevention workshops, a much bigger NGO (with a lot of funding) came at the same time. The headsmen said, “You can wait. I am dealing with Laughter first.” It is unusual for a bigger charity to be ignored in favour of a much smaller charity but that truly showed me the impact of our work in his community. Similarly, in the community training workshop in Cockle Bay, one of the staff from another NGO claimed that that they were the best NGO. However, the community members replied straight away, ”We don’t know you. The only organisation that we know is Laughter Africa and Aunty Isata. They are the best.” Although it is not a competition, to be so vigorously defended by the community was humbling. We have developed firm roots in the communities where we do work and have a strong foundation there.

Our stafs’ successes

Whenever one of our staff succeeds and achieves their dreams, we share their joy. Training and building staff capability is important to us. So we want to wish a huge congratulations to our social workers Isata and Zombo who recently received their Masters in Psychomotricity after studying for four years. Psychomotricity is counselling children through play. They are only 22 people trained in psychomotricity in the whole country and two of those are from Laughter Africa. A huge thank you to ‘Child Heroes’ who provided the training and the opportunity for us to take part. We have another four staff who are currently studying at university too. It is important for us that our staff achieve their dreams too.

Challenges

The deaths of some of our beneficiaries

This year we tragically lost three of the young people that we have worked with:

‘Ka ka feet’

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of 20 year old Bockarie aka ‘ka ka feet.’ who died at the end of September 2022. He had been bitten by a snake. Unfortunately, he lived in a village in the middle of nowhere and he was not able to get to a hospital in time. I had the honour of giving Bockarie his street name ‘Ka ka Feet’ in our Susan’s Bay project in 2017. We were joking around one day in the rainy season and we were talking about how smelly his feet were and how dirty his shoes were and suddenly the name of ‘ka ka feet’ just caught on. Everywhere he went people called him ‘ka ka feet’ with such affection. He loved the name and wore it with pride. He was just a cheeky chappie! We took him home to his village in 2017 and have been paying school for him ever since. A few years ago his mum and dad died and he was left to bring up his younger brother and sister – a task he did without complaint. It wasn’t easy for him and his family, but he made so many sacrifices in order for his siblings to have the best life possible. He grew old before his years. He had just started SS2 and we were about to provide his school supply for the new academic year when we received the tragic news. When our social worker, Lamin, went to the village to pay our respects, his brother just ran up to Lamin and burst into tears. In memory of Ka ka feet, we will be providing schooling for his brother. He has just started JSS1. Ka ka feet – forever in our hearts! We’ll miss you buddy!

Princess

One of the girls living in the streets in Susan’s Bay, Princess, died on 28[th] March 2022. We first met Princess five years go at our mobile project and she visited our mobile project intermittently throughout the years. She died after being beaten to death by two men. Rest in Power Princess!

Aisha

Sadly one of our former street children Aisha, who was now living at home, passed away in mid-December 2021. Although we paid medical treatment for her in August 2021, this wasn’t enough to save her life. To add to the sadness her baby recently died as well. In August 2021, she was rushed to hospital with a swollen belly and after many scans was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis, typhoid and malaria. We found out she recently gave birth in secret and received some traditional healing.

The upcoming election

The Sierra Leone election is scheduled to take place on 24[th] June 2023. This will cause huge disruption to our work. Usually 6 months before an election, Parliament closes and the whole country pretty much shuts down. Life solely revolves around the election campaign. There are political rallies every day and traffic increases tenfold. We are already planning to scale down our work next year during the whole period of the election campaign due to staff safety.

Cost of living crisis

Like many other African countries, Sierra Leone has been particularly badly affected by rapid inflation caused in part by the war in Ukraine. Inflation rose to almost 28% in June 2022, fuelled first by the Covid pandemic easing and then the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Food inflation is at the highest level in decades, almost doubling since September 2021. In recent months doctors and teachers have gone on strike, with demands for pay increases to meet rising inflation. The prices of rice, onions, tomatoes and beef had all risen by about 50% over the last year, with the price of fuel and palm oil roughly doubling. We are really struggling with the increase in prices as our income has decreased. The increase in prices is also having a knock-on effect with crime rates increasing. In desperation, more people are turning to crime. In September 2022, the founder of Laughter Africa was the victim of a robbery in a taxi in broad daylight. The thieves stole some money. Thankfully he wasn’t hurt.

In connection to this are the serious riots that took place on the 10[th] August 2022. The protests were against soaring inflation and the rising cost of living all over the country including in Kamakwie, Makeni, Mabuka and Freetown. Thousands of people were involved. The anti-cost-of-living demonstrations degenerated into violent clashes between security forces and protesters. Businesses, government offices, police stations and buses were charred or destroyed completely in the violence. At least six police officers were killed. People are scared of similar riots happening again before or after the election. A lot of the street children witnessed these riots and have been left traumatized. We’ve been providing comprehensive counselling to these children and will be focusing more on peace building within the next year in the build up to the election in June 2023.

The cost of living crisis is also hitting the income of Laughter Africa. We have noticed a huge reduction in the numbers of donations received in 2022.

E. FINANCIAL REVIEW
The Trustees of Laughter Africa have established a general Reserves Policy
Brief statement of the
which is in place to protect our overseas programme work from risk of
charity’s policy on
disrupton at short notce due to a lack of funds and other fnancial risks that
reserves
the organisaton faces, while at the same tme ensuring that we do not retain
income for longer than required. The trustees have determined that Laughter
Africa’s general reserves should be equivalent to approximately three months’
running costs and expenditure for each country programme where Laughter
Africa is based. The trustees believe that the reserves should be maintained at
this level as it will ensure that Laughter Africa’s core actvites could contnue
for at least 3 months during a period of unforeseen difculty. At the moment
Laughter Africa is only working in Sierra Leone so the reserves are quite low.
However in the future, the Trustees hope to expand Laughter Africa’s work in
other African countries too which would increase the reserves needed.
Laughter Africa reserves are held in our UK bank account. The Trustees have
estmated that 3 months running costs for Laughter Africa’s work in Sierra
Leone is around£5000.The trustees will review Laughter Africa’s reserves
policy each year, ensuring a balance between spending on the immediate
needs of our charitable programmes and setng aside a reserve to protect
Laughter Africa and our work by providing tme to adjust to changing fnancial
circumstances. The basis of determining the target reserves level is kept under
periodic review and will be adjusted as perceptons of risk and other factors
change. By the end of this fnancial year, our reserves were £5000.
Details of any funds materially defcit Not Applicable

Laughter Africa’s principal sources of funding and how expenditure has supported the key objectves

Laughter Africa’s principal sources of funding in the financial period came mainly from donations from supporters, schools, churches and Trusts and Foundations. In the financial period the total raised from supporters was £99,323.13 (unrestricted). £11,961.78 (unrestricted) was raised from Gift Aid. £0.12 (unrestricted) was earned through bank interest. £4,180.59 was kindly donated by different Trusts and Foundations (unrestricted). In total, £115,465.62 was raised in 2021/22. Laughter Africa had £20,100.19 (unrestricted) remaining from the previous financial year. In total, £135,565.81 was available for Laughter Africa’s use in 2021/22.

None of the money we have received from supporters is spent in the UK (apart from bank charges for the transfer of funds to Sierra Leone). All money received is spent directly on in-country operational costs and we are proud of the fact that Laughter Africa is managed entirely by volunteers at the central level, with no administration, fundraising or organisational support costs.

The trustees have purposely decided to stay away from government institutional funding sources such as the European Union or the UN for the time being. The trustees have also decided that Laughter Africa will not fundraise via direct marketing methods or telephone fundraising and instead will concentrate on generating funds via individual supporters, schools, churches, community groups, businesses/companies and trusts or foundations. All of our fundraising plans have sadly had to been postponed due to Coronavirus.

We are committed to achieving the highest standards in fundraising. We comply with all relevant statutory regulations, including the Charities Act 2011, the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016, the Data Protection Act 2018, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 and the Telephone Preference Service. We adhere to and comply with the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice and the Fundraising Promise, which set the standards for fundraising activity throughout the UK. We also comply with laws relating to health and safety, the environment and UK data protection legislation including the General Data Protection Regulation (May 2018). Laughter Africa does not use any third party fundraising agencies otherwise known as ‘Professional Fundraisers’ to undertake fundraising on our behalf. Our ‘Treating Donors Fairly Policy’ outlines how we manage fair treatment of all supporters and potential supporters and how any individuals who may be in vulnerable circumstances or are unable to make an informed decision are protected. We log and respond to all complaints. In 2021/22, we received no complaints related to our fundraising activity.

The trustees would also like to say a big thank you to all the organisations and trusts and foundations who gave a

donation to Laughter Africa in 2021/22:

Thank you to every person who has given us a donation over the last financial year. We have been so touched and humbled by your incredible kind hearted support and generosity particularly when we know that times are tough for everyone in the UK and around the rest of the world particularly with the cost of living crisis. I can't say thank you enough to all my amazing friends and family for all your help. We are so, so grateful - and none more so than the children and their families!

Discussion of how Laughter Africa spent the money and how this expenditure has supported the key objectves.

Laughter Africa’s total expenditure in the financial period was £123,527.10 and there was £7,127.56 held in the bank accounts and petty cash at the end of the financial year. A total of £130,654.66. Laughter Africa lost £4,911.15 via multi currency exchange rate losses. A total expenditure of £128,438.25 was spent in the 2021/2022 financial year. You can see a full breakdown of our costs in the table below:

Expenditure in Sierra Leone

Type of expenditure Cost (Pounds)
Rent for the Interim Care Centre for 1 year £7,637.40
Salaries for Natonal Staf £18,114.05
Food £8,983.52
Non- food items £5,223.68
Games and entertainment Costs £7,510.02
Staf travel costs during reunifcatons £3,541.76
Educatonal equipment £19,855.49
Generator fuel for the ICC £482.54
Street children travel costs £2,865.24
School fees/vocatonal training £16,589.57
Medical costs for the street children £7,353.21
Volunteer costs £4,144.55
Travel subsistence for staf £136.93
Family support for the street children £2,319.10
Clothing £1,590.23
Campaign and Advocacy £941.67
Toiletries £353.12
Staf travel accommodaton £344.73
Travel subsistence for the street children £21.56
Audit fees (legal requirement in Sierra
Leone)		 £896.78
Water supplies £1,396.71
P.0. Box (legal requirement in Sierra Leone) £24.71
Community Development £187.64
Bank Charges in Sierra Leone £594.08
Safeguarding Costs £6.60
Hire of Premises for Mobile £480.90
Asset ( A generator for the ICC department) £712.31
Electricity for the ICC £361.70
Insurance (legal requirement in Sierra
Leone)		 £162.51
Work permit and residental permit (legal
requirement in Sierra Leone)		 £239.59
Annual leave allowance for Natonal staf
(legal requirement in Sierra Leone)		 £2,430.39
Medical Treatment for Natonal Staf (legal
requirement in Sierra Leone)		 £2,510.82
Country Registraton fees 1,453.93
NASSIT (legal requirement in Sierra Leone) £1,900.24
Telephone costs £365.93
PAYE (legal requirement in Sierra Leone) £1,182.89
TOTAL £122,916.10

Expenditure in the UK

Type of expenditure Cost (Pounds)

Bank Charges in the UK		 £611
TOTAL £611

All the above expenses are part of our charitable objectives, without them, Laughter Africa couldn’t function.

Costs associated with all three departments: Outreach, the Interim Care Centre and Family Tracing and Reunifcaton (FTR)

Some of the costs overlap between the three different departments. For instance, medical care is provided for all children at the mobile project, the Interim Care Centre and for those who have been reunified with their families. The total cost of medical care was £7,353.21. Similarly, food is provided at both the mobile project and the Interim Care Centre. The total cost spent on food in 2021/22 was £8,983.52. Coupled with this is the cost of non food items, (both at mobile and the Interim Care Centre) which totalled £5,223.68. Non food items include things like coal, washing powder, towels, bleach and plate/cups, etc. £7,510.02 was spent on teaching the children income generating skills/games and entertainment including art & craft materials, hairdressing materials, cultural dance, yoga, modern dance at both mobile and the Interim Care Centre. The travel costs of the street children across all three departments was £2,865.24. Meanwhile staff travel across all three departments reached £3,541.76. This travel was for the payment of school fees and reunifications. All the social workers in all three departments are given monthly phone credit. This is because the street children are constantly phoning the social workers about different issues so the social workers need credit to phone them back. The total spent on telephone costs was £365.93. Water supplies for the children at the ICC and mobile totalled £1,396.71 for the year.

Costs associated solely with the Outreach department

The only payment solely associated with the outreach department was £480.90 for the rent for the mobiles in Waterloo and Grafton. All the other expenditure such as food, non-food items, medical care and games and entertainment are listed above.

Costs associated solely with the Interim Care Centre

The main expense connected to the Interim Care Centre is the rent which was £7,637.40 for one year. Other costs associated with the interim Care Centre include clothing (£1,590.23) and toiletries (£353.12) for the street children. Meanwhile the cost of electricity for the ICC totalled £361.70 while £482.54 was spent on fuel for the generator for the ICC. All the other costs are listed above like medical expenses, food/non-food items and income generating skills. Without an Interim Care Centre, we would not be able to carry out our key objectives: it is crux to our work. This year we paid a 250,000 leones payment per month to the headsman in Adonkia for community development where the ICC is located. This totalled £187.64 in 2021/22. We feel that it is important to give back to the community that we have called home for over 7 years.

Costs associated solely with the Family Tracing and Reunifcaton Department

The three major expenditures in the Family Tracing and Reunification department (FTR ) were school fees/vocational training (£16,589.57), educational equipment (uniforms, school bag, school shoes, stationery, equipment for vocational schools, text books) (£19,855.49) and family support for the most vulnerable street children once they have returned home (£2,319.10). This support could be a mattress, a bag of rice, a wheelchair, business support, baby support or rent. It is expected that these costs will increase in the next financial year as Laughter Africa will continue to pay the school support for the children we worked with between 2015 and 2022, as well as the new children with whom we will work in 2022/23. Family reunification is a key objective of the work and paying for school support is a major factor in keeping the street children at home. Other costs associated with this strand of work include; travel accommodation for staff during the reunification process (£344.73); travel subsistence for staff during the reunification process (£136.93); and travel subsistence for street children during the reunification process (£21.56).

Costs associated with the Campaigning and Advocacy department

In 2021/22, the communication and advocacy programme for Laughter Africa revolved around the International Day for Street Children (12th April) and the sexual violence prevention programme. The total cost spent on advocacy and campaigning was £941.67.

Costs associated with stafng

The biggest expenditure was on national staff salaries which was a total of £18,114.05. However without staff Laughter Africa wouldn’t be able to complete its work or charitable objectives. It is Laughter Africa’s policy that only national Sierra Leoneans will be appointed as staff. Laughter Africa will never employ an international staff member in Sierra Leone. By the end of the 2021/22 financial year, Laughter Africa employed 13 full time staff. We have achieved gender equity in pay. All our female staff are paid the exact same as their male counter parts in the same roles. All staff are paid above the minimum wage and receive medical care (£2,510.82) and GPA insurance (£162.51). Laughter Africa also paid NASSIT (£1,900.24) and PAYE (£1,182.89) which are tax payments and are legal requirements from the Sierra Leone government relating to staff. Similarly Laughter Africa complied with all the labour laws in Sierra Leone including annual leave allowance (£2,430.39). The staffs’ work has been greatly enhanced by the work of volunteers. During this financial year Laughter Africa had a total of 14 Sierra Leonean volunteers. Costs associated with the volunteers totalled £4,144.55. At the time of writing this report (October 2022), Laughter Africa currently has 3 volunteers; Marion, Abibatu and Komba. Safeguarding costs reached £6.60 this financial year as all volunteers have to receive a police clearance before they are able to work at Laughter Africa.

Country registraton and other associated fees

In this financial year we had to pay re-registration fees to SLANGO and MOPED (the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development). The total cost of re-registration was £1,453.93. To be re-registered as a charity in Sierra Leone, an audit must be completed. The audit costs were £896.78. Another legal requirement is that any international volunteers must have a residential permit/work permit so this was purchased for the founder James. This cost was £239.59. To be recognised as a registered charity in Sierra Leone, one must have a PO Box. Laughter Africa has one at a cost of £24.71 per year.

Assets

A generator was purchased in April 2021 for the Interim Care Centre due to the unreliability of the electricity supply. The cost of the generator was £712.31.

Bank charges in Sierra Leone

The bank charges in Sierra Leone were £594.08.

Bank charges in the UK.

The only expenditure in the UK is for bank charges when money is transferred to the Laughter Africa Sierra Leone Bank Account. This is because the Trustees believe that the money entrusted to us by supporters should not be spent on fundraising or administrative costs in the UK but on the street children themselves. The Trustees see each donation as an honour and a privilege as there are so many other charities which people could chose to support instead. The total cost of bank charges in the UK was £611.

Principal Financial policies in force throughout the year

Laughter Africa has the following financial policies in place:

Laughter Africa’s Earmarking policy Foreign currency and exchange rate policy Laughter Africa’s Paying staff policy Sierra Leone Financial procedures Reserves and investment policy Anti- bribery policy Fraud and loss policy Acceptance of donations policy Policy on safeguarding resources from terrorist abuse Credit card policy Authorisation of expenditure policy Payment of expenses policy Internal financial controls policy Laughter Africa’s Accountancy manual

The trustees have also prepared financial templates and documentation for Laughter Africa including assets registers, chart of accounts, budgeting templates etc. All are available upon request.

Investment Policy

At the moment, Laughter Africa has no investments as the charity is still so new and we use every penny we receive for our work in Sierra Leone. However, there is an investment policy in place for when the charity is ready to make investments. This policy governs how cash resources are managed, which institutions may be used, security ratings and risk management etc. The policy is as follows:

The objective of the investment policy is to maintain high liquidity while ensuring maximum security by avoiding risk to capital. This is to comply with Laughter Africa’s ethical standards and to achieve the best possible return within these limiting parameters. To meet this objective, the charity plans to invest in sterling deposits with financial institutions that hold a high security rating, ordinarily spreading the total invested across fixed terms from overnight to 12 months, and limiting the amount invested with any one financial institution. In response to the increased risks highlighted by the credit crunch, Laughter Africa plans to have limited deposits to UK domiciled banks for shorter periods to enable the charity to react more quickly to the fluctuating financial environment. The Trustees annually review Laughter Africa’s investment policy. The charity has no long term investments.

F. OPTIONAL INFORMATION

Future Plans

Over the next year, we do not plan to introduce any new components to our work due to the upcoming election in June 2023. We will just continue our normal outreach, Interim Care Centre and Family Training and Reunification work. We plan to close completely for the whole of June 2023 and will monitor the situation regarding the election carefully before we re-open again in July 2023. The safety of our staff and volunteers is our paramount concern. Even schools are only opening for two terms for the academic year 2022/2023 rather than the usual three. The only new work we plan to introduce in the next year is our new advocacy campaigns, which will mostly take place after the election.

Our new Advocacy Campaign 1: Sexual violence commited by police ofcers

We have chosen the focus of our next advocacy campaign for the year(s) ahead. Over the last three years our advocacy work has followed a certain trajectory. In 2020, our advocacy work focused upon the government strategy for street children. Sadly, none of the recommendations made by ourselves or the street children were included in the strategy. However, as part of that advocacy campaign, Laughter Africa organised a consultation with 112 street children about what they would like included in the strategy. Through this consultation, the street children revealed that many of them had been sexually assaulted at the hands of the police and/or foreign fishermen. These were two of the most crucial issues identified. This led to our advocacy campaign in 2021/2022 where we trained 4000 street children about what to do if they are sexually assaulted, trained community members in twelve areas, appointed and trained community advocates and established our sexual violence report helpline. Our new advocacy campaign runs along similar lines: to repeal the loitering law. We believe that if the loitering law is repealed, the numbers of sexual assaults perpetuated by law enforcement officers will be greatly reduced.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is the court that has jurisdiction to determine cases of violations of human rights that occur in any member states in West Africa including Sierra Leone. A case was lodged in ECOWAS in May 2022 by the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa on behalf of plaintiff AdvocAid. The defendant is the state of Sierra Leone. The relief sought by the plaintiff is the repeal of Section 7 of the Public Order Act 1965 and national police human rights training. The plaintiff argues that the loitering law discriminates against girls and women, and those from poorer socio-economic backgrounds, who are frequently arrested under the law to facilitate the police force’s sexual and financial extortion. The case claims the law to be an unreasonable curtailment of the right to freedom of movement. The first hearing will be in November 2022. Until then additional submissions may be made to support the case, otherwise known as an amicus curiae or amicus brief. The Consortium for Street Children informed us about the court case and recently submitted an Amicus Curiae to ECOWAS which focused on the effects of the loitering law on street children. Laughter Africa helped CSC in the writing of the brief by providing evidence, research and advice. Rulings from ECOWAS are binding but there are reports of non-compliance by some member states, for example, Liberia. So it will be our job to keep up the pressure in order to convince the Government of Sierra Leone to change the law. Just one example of when a recommendation from ECOWAS became law in Sierra Law was the issue of pregnant girls attending school. So change is possible.

In October 2022, Laughter Africa carried out a consultation with 124 street children (57 boys and 67 girls) about the impact of the loitering law on their lives. To see a copy of the research please visit here.

The age of the respondents varied from 9 to 25. It soon became apparent from the discussions with the young people that there are four major consequences to the loitering law:

A summary of the findings.

mary of the fndings.
Raped by Police
ofcers
Beaten by police
ofcers
Arrested for loitering
Number of Boys 5 50 19
Number of Girls 19 50 44
Total (%) 19% 81% 51%

1.Sexual violence committed by police officers:

Many of the young people (19%) admitted to being raped by the police. Most of the time, the young people were threatened with arrest for “loitering.” Most of the girls had been raped more than once by the police and usually there was more than one officer involved. A further ten girls admitted that they had experienced attempted rapes by police officers.

Many girls believed that the reason they were raped or beaten was because they refused to give the police money as expressed by Mariamma,

“I have been raped by the police twice. Each time I was raped by two policemen at the same time. Once on the way back from a club, the policemen stopped me as they recognized my face and started to search me for money. After searching me, they tried to take my money from me. But I refused to give them the money so they raped me instead.”

It wasn’t just females who were raped by the police. Our consultations revealed that males had also been sexually assaulted by law enforcement officers. One of the street children Abdulai is openly gay and he claimed that he was raped countless times by different policemen at night. The policemen say to him, “You should be having sex with women but since you want men we’ll give you men.” Abdulai continued,

“I feel pain afterwards. It even hurts when I walk. Its so painful. They rape me to humiliate me and make me feel worthless. They want to show me that they have all the power and control. I am so angry but there’s no justice- I can’t report it as I have to report it to the police-the very same police who raped me. They will protect each other and drive me away.”

Meanwhile another boy called Amadu confirmed,

“I was raped by one police officer. He threatened to shoot me if I did not allow him.”

Ibrahim, aged ten, declared,

“Two officers butterwaiss (a kreo term for male gay sex) me and beat me. They tied my hands behind my back and they also had a gun.”

2. Physical violence committed by police officers

By far the most common consequence of the loitering law is physical violence. 81% of all those interviewed admitted that they had beaten by police for loitering, both boys and girls. One boy complained, “I was just sleeping on a market table and the police man woke me up flogging me. They tasered me.”

The physical violence takes place in many different forms - slapping, kicking or beatings. Many times the street children were beaten with weapons including canes, cables or sticks. One disabled girl, Fatmata, was arrested by the police who flogged her with a cane 12 times.

As Mabinty explains,

“I was sleeping on a market table and a policeman woke me up shouting, “What are you doing here at this time of

night? What are you doing in the streets. You were not given proper training at home. You are stubborn. You are wayward. You should be at home. You shouldn’t be here” Then he started hitting me on the head and slapping me.”

Lamin continued,

“At night the police beat us to stop us sleeping on the streets.”

While Patricia told us,

“The policemen would beat me at night for loitering. I had nowhere to go yet they still beat me.”

As Sahr commented,

“The police think that if you beat a street child then they will go home. Its not true. Beating, raping or arresting street children does not encourage them to go home.”

Osman agreed saying,

“I have nowhere to go. How can I be arrested for loitering when the street is my home? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Just because you beat us doesn’t make the problems that we have at home magically go away. Do you think that we would live on the streets if we had any other alternative?“

3.Arrests of minors

The reason most children on the streets are arrested in Sierra Leone is because of loitering. 51% of all those interviewed had been arrested and spent time in a police cell. The majority of those arrested, from our research, seemed to be female. Many of the young people shared that they had been detained up to a week without access to a lawyer or food. And the only way to be released was to pay money.

Esther explained,

“ I was arrested for loitering. I was put in a cell for one week at Eastern Police. I had to pay to be released. 250,000 leones. The law says that if you are arrested, you must be released on bail after 72 hours. That didn’t happen. I was there for a week. I didn’t have a lawyer, I wasn’t given any food. They don’t care about us. They forget about us.”

Another girl Emma confirmed that she had been locked in a cell after being arrested for loitering. She had to pay 100,000 leones to the police in order to be released.

Amidu shared,

“I was beaten and as I had no money to give the police, I was dragged on the ground to the police station and locked

up. They asked me to give them money before they released me.”

As Kadiatu commented,

“They release you once they realise that they are not going to get any money from you. If no one comes for us after 2 days they just leave us. “

Ibrahim confirmed this,

“I was sleeping in a garage in a car with a friend and some policemen came and beat me mercilessly and left me bleeding. They didn’t arrest me as no one would bail me out and they wouldn’t get any money. They told me that it was not worth the hassle. I had a huge cut on my leg after their beating.”

Being detained also led to sexual exploitation and violence. Mamusu confirmed,

“I was arrested for loitering and detained in a cell for two days. I didn’t have money so I was made to have sex in the
police staton at night with one policeman when the other police ofcers had lef.”
This is was reiterated by Fatmata,
“I was beaten with a cane. I was arrested and locked up for 3 days. I was raped by one police ofcer at night.”
4. Stealing by police ofcers
Most of the young people were also robbed by the police during their arrest or beatngs.
Mabinty said:
“They put their hands in our vagina to look for money. They make us open our botoms so that they can see if our
money is there. They search anywhere that we could keep money on our bodies.”
Similarly Posseh shared a story,
“I was coming home from Salone bar one night. At Shell there was a checkpoint. There were 3 policemen. They asked
why I was out late. They asked for money but I refused to pay them so they stole my bag but couldn’t see any money.
They tore my skirt and knickers and found the money that I had hidden in my underwear. They beat me and took the
money.”
Meanwhile Umunatu exclaimed
“The police beat me. They arrested me once but didn’t take me to the cell as I had money so they took my money
instead.”
Along a similar theme, a huge amount of extorton seemed to take place. Some of the girls gave money so that they
were not raped. As Kadiatu explained,
“If you give them money- they won’t rape or arrest you.”
Suggestons from the children and young people in regards to the loitering laws included:
1.
Repeal the loitering law. As one girl said,“The reason why the police get away with beatng and raping us is
because of the loitering law. If you take away that law, then you take away their power over us.”
2.
Beter training for the police so that they learn not to beat or sexually assault street children, One girl
commented,“I want you to talk to the police. We beg them please stop raping us.”Meanwhile another girl
said,“The policeman torment us on the street.”

3. Stricter discipline measures or procedures, so for example if a police officer is found guilty of beating or sexually assaulting a street child then they are imprisoned and dismissed immediately. As one child said, “ Fire bad police.” As another girl said, “ The government need to advise the police to stop raping us. To stop beating us.”

  1. Implementation of an independent complaints mechanism to which street children can go in order to report any police officer who beats or sexually assaults them-perhaps a phone line.

5. “Free legal representation for street children” and ensure that any arrests of minors follows the strict rule of law.

6. “Make police work in pairs. Preferably one male and one female officer - rather than two men.”

7. “There needs to be a different procedure if a girl or boy has been raped by a police officer. Under current rules, you must report a rape at the nearest police station. What happens if the police officers who carried out the rape are stationed at the same police station? There needs to be new laws introduced regarding police brutality and a specialized procedure to report an assault by law enforcement officers. Maybe have a specialized police complaints centre where survivors of assault by police officers can go.”

As Isata, the head of Advocacy and Communications, who carried out the consultations said,

“It seems that the law of loitering has become hijacked and weaponised to brutalise, beat and rape street connected children. And this practice needs to end immediately. The police think that they are untouchable and can commit any crimes with impunity. The only way to stop them is to repeal the loitering law. If the law of loitering was repealed, I believe that we would see a huge reduction in the number of street children being beaten, raped or arrested by police officers. If this law is repealed, it would make a huge difference to the lives of children living on the streets now and in generations to come. Please make the right choice. I beg you. I implore you. Repeal the loitering law today.”

Laughter Africa submitted this research to the Consortium for Street Children when they were writing the Amicus Curiae. The Amicus Curiae focused on how the loitering laws contravene the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Even though we have only played a small part in the whole process, it will be one of our ever biggest achievements if the law is actually repealed. We allowed our children’s voices to be heard. We were the ‘voice of the voiceless’ and this will make life better for generations of future street children.

The next steps

If ECOWAS rule in favour of repealing the loitering laws, then this is our plan of activities for the year(s) ahead:

the laws say one thing but the reality is different. If the loitering law is repealed then we intend to make sure that that it happens in praxis.

The timeline for these activities depends on many factors including:

All these plans are moot if ECOWAS decide not to repeal the loitering law. However, at the moment we are waiting in anticipation and hoping for a positive outcome. Many African countries have successfully repealed loitering laws or found them to be unconstitutional, for example, Angola Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. In 2020, the African

Court of Human and People’s rights issued an important advisory opinion that vagrancy laws are in breach of

international law, including the African charter on the rights and welfare of the child. The courts observed that “children who are routinely in conflict with the law often belongs to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society, including but not limited to the children living on the streets.” It found that these laws violate children’s rights to non-discrimination, a fair trial and to be treated with their best interests as the primary consideration so there has been a precedent already set. This is our priority over the next year.

Our new Advocacy Campaign 2: Sexual violence commited by Foreign Fishermen

In the middle of October 2022, we had a meeting with one of the UN agencies about the abuse that the girls living on the streets are facing from the foreign fishermen. We were delighted by their commitment and dedication to the issue. We know that any action will take a long time but the fact that the UN are aware of the issue and are taking it seriously is a huge positive step. If it was not for Laughter Africa, they would not have even been aware of the issue in the first place. It’s only the first step on the road to change and justice. But sometimes the first step is the most important and difficult one to take. Although the project is only in its infancy and still at the planning stages, it is looking likely that a formal research project will take place about the issue. From this research, changes in the law might occur and extra protection measures put in place. Laughter Africa will do anything to help the UN in this endeavour.

G. DECLARATION hDES15IPLE i*-

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s)
Full name(s) James Francis Robert Tyrrell Mark Quentn Neal
Positon(e.g. chair or secretary) Chairperson Secretary
Date 8/11/2022 8/11/2022

----- Start of picture text -----
Laughter Africa 1154712
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period 01/04/2021 31/03/2022
To
from
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Donations 99,323.13' - - 99,323.13' 100,634.11'
Gift Aid 11,961.78' - - 11,961.78' 12,121.02'
Trusts and Foundations 4,180.59' - 4,180.59' 16,861.20'
Bank Interest 0.12' - - 0.12' 0.96'
Consortium for Street Children - 7,450.23'
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total (Gross income for
AR) [ 115,465.62' ] - 115,465.62' 137,067.52'
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - -
Total receipts 115,465.62' - 115,465.62' 137,067.52'
A3 Payments
Charitable Activities 120,712.93' - 120,712.93' 120,072.20'
Bank charges (UK) 611' - - 611' 634.50'
Bank charges (Sierra Leone) 594.08' - - 594.08' 600.49'
Governance 896.78' - - 896.78' 951.40'
Multi currency exchange rate loss 4911.15' - - 4911.15' 4082.07'
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total [ 127,725.94' ] - 127,725.94' 125,870.20'
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
Generator for the Interim Care
470.46'
Centre 712.31' - - 712.31'
- - - -
Sub total [ 712.31' ] - - 712.31' 470.46'
Total payments 128,438.25' - 128,438.25' 126,340.66'
Net of receipts/(payments) -12,972.63 - - -12,972.63 10,726.86'
A5 Transfers between funds - - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 20,100.19' - - 20,100.19'
Cash funds this year end 7,127.56' - - 7,127.56' 20,100.19'
----- End of picture text -----

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

27/10/2022

1

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Categories
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
B1 Cash funds
B2 Other monetary assets
B4 Assets retained for the
charity’s own use
B5 Liabilities
B3 Investment assets		 Signature
None
Details
Details
Generator for the ICC
Funds in Sierra Leone
Funds in the UK
Reserves
Details
Details
Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
None
Details
None		 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
839.01'
-
1288.55'
-
5000'
-
7,127.56'
-
OK
OK
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
liability relates
Amount due
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Print Name
James Francis Robert Tyrrell
Mark Quentin Neal		 Endowment
funds
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
OK
Endowment
funds
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
When due
(optional)
Date of
approval
06/09/2022
06/09/2022

In accordance with the Charitable Incorporated Organisations (General) Regulations 2012 the Trustees confirm that:

and b) the CIO does not have any debts outstanding at the date of the statement of assets and liabilities which are secured by an express charge on any of the assets of the CIO CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 2

27/10/2022

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Sectlon A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Laughter Africa On accounts for the year ended 31" March 2022 Charity no (if any) 1154712 Set out on pages I report lo the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity I'the TTusI-) for the year ended 31103 120Z2. Responsibilities and As the charrty trustees of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation basls of report ol the acLounts in accordance wrth the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {'the Act.). I ieport in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in Carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515){b} of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material mallers have come lo my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause lo believe Ihal in, any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance with Section 130 of the Act or the accounls do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's statement I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination lo which allenlion should be drawn in order lo enable a proper understanding of the accounts lo be reached. Slgned: Date: 26[LJl IOLL Name: Relevant professlonal qualificationls) or body Irf any): The In5tltute of Chartered Accountants of 51erra Leone Address: Peter Kamaray & Co 20 Wilberforce Streel ,, j.fTER KAMARA Y & CQ. h'4R TEIED ACLOU¥TINT5 J JILEEPFgRG&-HREtr f folrfN. Sltr RRA LEOAE. Freetown. Sierra Leone IER October 2018 .

Sectlon B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs lo highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brfef details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. , PETER kAMARA Y & CO. CIIIPIIRED ACCOUNIAIIT5 ILBEPT RGE 5YREET IER October 2018