Author: Ger

Reflection for October Meeting

SLIP-A Place of Belonging

This year’s Annual General Meeting is held against a backdrop of the death of two important people who contributed immensely to the making of the nation Sierra Leone in their own way. These people are Sister Hilary and Patricia, Sean’s wife. When Eddie wrote about Patricia and Sean in Kenema and Bo Teacher’s College in the 60s, I remembered my own life when I was just starting my secondary school in the late 60s. It really made me come to terms with the sacrifices you people made in education in Sierra Leone. At that time all the teachers in my school were missionaries.

When the missionaries returned home, they did not forget their past work and life in Sierra Leone, so SLIP was formed to bring life from their good work and to celebrate hope.   SLIP to all of us is a place of belonging, a place to celebrate life and a place where we all cling to the promise of the future. As we conduct the business of today, we must bear in mind that  SLIP is a place of belonging, a place to celebrate lives of those we stand for and a place where we all cling to the promise of the future. The promise of the future is good governance and good education in Sierra Leone.

I want to end my reflection by observing a minute silence in honour of Sister Hilary and Patricia.

SLIP writes to Ministers Coveney and Brophy re 0.7% GNI Overseas Development Assistance:

Minister Simon Coveney, T.D.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Iveagh House

80, St. Stephen’s Green

Dublin 2, D02 VY53.

Re: Towards 0.7% GNI Overseas Development Assistance

10th  September 2020

 Dear Minister Coveney,

The Sierra Leone Ireland Partnership have advocated for Sierra Leone in Ireland for the past thirty years. We have done so since the devastating civil war during the 1990s, during the terrible Ebola epidemic 2013 to 2015 and during devastating climate catastrophes such as the Mudslide in Freetown in 2017 and we continue to be active in the midst of COVID19 pandemic. SLIP have brought together Sierra Leoneans and Irish people who have worked in Sierra Leone (missionaries and development workers/volunteers) over the past three decades on an annual basis. We have run seminars, awareness raising events and the annual Sierra Leone Independence day event. We continue to advocate for Sierra Leoneans integrating into Ireland including reaching out to those in direct provision (refer to website at www.slip.ie for more information on our work).

We welcome the commitment of the Irish Government in relation to overseas development assistance (ODA) ‘to make annual, sustainable progress, ultimately achieving the UN target of 0.7% of Gross National Income by 2030.’ (Programme for Government, Our Shared Future p.129). We are writing to you at this time to call for a specific commitment to continue and increase Ireland’s aid commitment to Sierra Leone which has an overall ‘focus on the empowerment of women and girls’ (Irish Aid, Ireland in Sierra Leone: Mission Strategy 2019-2023).

We note and welcome that Ireland secured the required number of votes (128 of 193 countries) to secure a seat at the UN Security Council for the two year term 2021-2022. Whilst the vote was secret ballot, it is likely Sierra Leone (part of the Africa caucus) supported Ireland’s bid for the seat, as a partner country for Irish Aid.

We also welcome the recent appointment of Dr. Sinead Walsh as Deputy Director General for Irish Aid and for Africa. Dr. Walsh was the first Ambassador of Ireland to Sierra Leone (2011-2016) and served in Sierra Leone during one of its most difficult periods, the Ebola epidemic. Sinead established excellent relations between the embassy in Freetown and SLIP and these valuable connections continue today. We wish her all the best in her new post.

Yours sincerely,

Elizabeth Smith

________________________________

Chairperson

Sierra Leone Ireland Partnership

CC: Minister Colm Brophy T.D., Minister of State for Overseas Development and the Diaspora.