{{Orphan, date=June 2015 The Judy Trust is a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

-based charity based in Rokel (near

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

) in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

. Its aims are relieving poverty and preventing violence, starting within this community and working out. Rokel was selected due to its notoriety for violence in the recent

Sierra Leone Civil War The Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002), or the Sierra Leonean Civil War, was a civil war in Sierra Leone that began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), with support from the special forces of Liberian dictator Char ...

. The charity aims to provide basic healthcare to the surrounding community, and to this end have built and equipped a clinic as a base for this work.

History

The Judy Trust was formerly part of Quaker Peace Networks West Africa (QPNWA). The charity was set up by Abdul Kamara, who, having refused to fight in the Sierra Leone Civil War, had escaped after much suffering via

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

to the UK. Having become part of the Quakers, Abdul was to set up QPNWA to help the communities in Sierra Leone that he had been part of. In 2014 the charity split into the Dorothy Peace Centre and the Judy Trust. The Judy Trust is named after Judy Akinbolu, from the UK, although she worked as a VSO in the 1960s at the University of Science and Technology,

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...

. Judy gave time, effort and resources to the charity until her death in 2013.

Key Initiatives

Health Education

In 2014 Rokel suffered in the

Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in Western Africa, was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and S ...

. The Judy Trust provided education to the community in how to prevent Ebola transmission. They also provide education in the prevention of other common diseases in the area such as

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

and

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

Clinic

The charity has built a clinic in Rokel to provide healthcare to the community, which is run by a district nurse. It also hopes to provide family planning.

Other

Several wells were built while the charity was still under the banner of Quaker Peace Networks West Africa, providing clean water for those in the Rokel community. The charity is also helping to provide

Arborloo An arborloo is a simple type of composting toilet in which feces are collected in a shallow pit and a fruit tree is later planted in the fertile soil of the full pit. Arborloos have: a pit like a pit latrine but less deep; a concrete, ferroceme ...

s and mosquito nets.

References

Judy Trust

Dorothy Peace Centre
Charities based in Sierra Leone Medical and health organisations based in Sierra Leone