New charity poised to fight child trafficking, exploitation

CEO Adam Whillington added that Gambia is one of the most vulnerable countries from their research.

The charity donated two taps on Thursday to the community of Kuloro for easy access to fresh potable water. The charity’s intervention is also in line with helping children from violence and exploitation.

Speaking in an interview at Kuloro, CEO Whillington, said: “We wanted to come to The Gambia and introduce a programme that we have been doing in other countries; that is to help children who were trafficked and exploited, and we believe within The Gambia, we can do so much to help the children. So that’s why we came to The Gambia, and we also wanted to help the local people as well. Predominantly, we are helping children from trafficking and exploitation.”

“We actually did a lot of work in Benin, Kenya, and we have just started in Uganda as well. So it’s very important for us to help as many communities as possible. So within the last two weeks, we have actually partnered with these families here to provide a rescue center so when children are rescued, when we are working in cooperation with the Gambia Police and Immigration as well as the Tourism Board, we will house the children here to give them a safe place,” he further added.

“So what we have done within the last two weeks here, we draw our drill fresh water for the borehole and we have also had electricity connected for the first time. So now the center, we wanted to be self-sufficient, fully self-sufficient, to help the children.”

“Challenges so far within The Gambia, there have been no challenges. As in other countries, we deal with a lot of corruption, but so far within The Gambia, everything has been welcomed by the authorities and we are very grateful for that, because we cannot do these ourselves. We need the authorities; we need the local people to help in cooperation for basic needs.”

He added that the communities have been very welcoming on their coming and in return, they would provide the local people with basic needs and facilities. “It’s a joint venture. We cannot come here to do everything by ourselves. We need everybody to be part of this.”

“So for us to get children to safety, we also have to try and help to prosecute offenders. Now, we know in many countries these offenders do not get prosecuted enough. We want to work in partnership with the Gambia Police to ensure that Gambian laws are enforced. This is the only way Gambian children will be safe, is to enforce the law. So what we are trying to do is, hunt those who hunt children by gathering evidence of violence and provide the authorities as much information as we can so they can then use it in the Gambian courts to prosecute.”

He reiterated the problem of cultural setbacks at times, which entails people not wanting to speak. He added that these horrific crimes perpetrated on children could only be stopped if people speak. He concluded that they would soon be engaging in an awareness raising campaign to break the culture of silence.

David Bass, a resident of Kuloro, thanked the charity for the good gesture and assured that it is highly welcomed and appreciated by the Kuloro community.