Ever since the novels Vanity Fair (1847) and Jane Eyre (1848), the orphan has been a standard fixture in literature. From Oliver Twist to Harry Potter, via Tom Sawyer and David Copperfield, readers have followed the difficult lives of vulnerable young people as they are forced to make their way in the world. Over the […]

Covid-19 is a new experience for most of us, but for Sierra Leone, it is a recurring nightmare. First, the small West African nation endured a long, vicious, devastating civil war, in which rebels amputated people’s hands as punishment. Then in 2014 came Ebola. Now, it is Covid-19. It’s hard to get a clear picture […]

These are challenging times, right across the globe. A suicide help-line in southern California reports that in March it had 21 phone calls, while in April, after a few weeks of lockdown, it had 1,800. Even without a pandemic, our trauma counsellors in northern Uganda cope with difficult circumstances in the aftermath of a devastating […]

Most of us have a friend or relative who treats us like a free counselling service: we do our best to be attentive when they want to talk about their problems. Yet, in some cases, it isn’t a two way street. Perhaps they aren’t keen on listening when we want to vent, or they take […]

Unless you live in rural Africa, it is hard to grasp just how difficult it is to find affordable medical help when you need it. However, people in the developed world who are without sufficient health insurance may understand how quickly life can spiral out of control when you become unwell. The same applies in […]

Often, when someone from the global north asks what Network for Africa does, we are told, with a wistful smile, that people in Europe and America could also benefit from the services we offer. This is true now, during the pandemic, more than ever. We train people in Africa, living in difficult circumstances, with simple […]

This update from Network for Africa is different from the others we publish. This time, we are making a special appeal for funds for our work in Sierra Leone, in West Africa. The Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Sierra Leone was so impressed by the work of our local partner during the 2014 Ebola […]

“God gave burdens; he also gave shoulders.” Yiddish proverb This is, appropriately enough, Mental Health Awareness Week, and people around the globe are working to come to terms with the unwelcome burden of stress on their shoulders, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. A little kindness from others has never been more important for our daily […]

Most of us are absorbing a tsunami of news bulletins and articles about COVID-19 on a daily basis. From China to Italy, and then in our own communities, we have followed the alarming progress of the pandemic through the developed world. But from now on, we may see increasing media coverage of how the virus […]

‘Komera’ is the Rwandan word for courage; these words were spoken by a genocide survivor who has seen her share of catastrophes. She doesn’t underestimate the challenge posed by the coronavirus, but she has a sense of perspective that not all of us share at the moment. Many people in Africa are not surprised when […]