City of Rest

IT is grimly ironic that the most damaged and broken people in the small
west African nation of Sierra Leone are housed in a falling-down old
building no longer fit for purpose.
Though the organisation itself — City of Rest — is a longstanding and
reputable refuge for men and women with addiction and mental health
problems, those who run it are only too willing to admit its obvious flaws.
Rats scurry, space is limited, there is no adequate running water or
toilet facilities. The “kitchen” is a stone shed where meals are cooked
over an open fire.
City of Rest is only rehabilitation centre in a country recovering from a savage civil war, and which is now rife with alcohol and drugs abuse.
This is a place for the misfits nobody wants, the people who have nowhere else, or
whose families’ simply cannot manage them.
Set up by Pastor Morie Ngobeh, who has worked with street boys since the 1980s, the 70-something-year-old still manages the facility and is assisted in the day to day
running of things by Dutch woman Heleen van den Brink, who joined in 2007.
The charity is also supported by a local board made up of seven local professional Sierra Leonean men and women committed to developing and overseeing its work.
Referrals to the centre come from the courts, the police – but mainly from families who have no where else to turn.
Many are here involuntarily and some of the men are chained up for
security reasons. Although they don’t like it, staff say there is no
other option.
Walking around City of Rest, it is clear that it is highly unsuitable.
But the best is made of what they have. A faith-based programme — though
it is open to anyone who accepts the Christian character — there is
counselling, basic classes in life skills, as well as a spiritual
programme.
According to Ms van den Brink, if the residents only have an addiction problem
they can be out in six months, but for those with a mental disorder and depending
on family situation, they can end up staying for years.
“We don’t want to keep them that long, but for some it can’t be helped.
We don’t have the right medication because it is not available in the
country and some are very violent and hard to manage and cope with them.”
Although it is a tough working environment, according to Ms van den Brink, the appeal of City of Rest is that it is a local sustainable charity.
But the place is literally falling apart, she says.
“We are very grateful the building is given to us with very little rent,
but during the day there are more than 50 people and no working toilet.
Water is a big issue. We don’t have water. We try to store in a tank but often doesn’t work.”
Although this the case for many Freetown residents, when you are dealing with a large number of people in a small space, it becomes all the more acute.
Talking to the residents, however, the importance of the work quickly transcends the surroundings.
One man, 31-year old Mohamed (pictured below bottom left) says both of his parents were
killed in the war, when he was just two years old.
He is excitable and talks about adventures in Holland and across Europe.
It is difficult to tell what is real and what’s not in his jumlbled tale, but he has ended up here at City of Rest where he has been on and off for five years.

Other residents are former “child soldiers” — but not all were involved in fighting, and as Ms van den Brink points out, life since the war ended has been so horrendous that it can overwhelm people as badly as the war did.
Many inhabitants seem too disturbed or incoherent to speak too. One boy in handcuffs has just been brought in, no-one knows why. Is he mentally disturbed or on drugs? It is impossible for staff to make a diagnosis, and even if they can, they have little access to medication which might help.
“The whole frustration and trauma of poverty and lack of perspective damages people. There are no jobs, a bad healthcare system — so many
children and mothers are dying,” Ms van den Brink explains.
“People have trauma all the time, they hardly have a chance to process
what happened during the war because if they did really think about it
they would fall apart and not be able to function.
“I hear horrendous stories from people and I think how do you function
but they just carry on because they have too,” she says.
“Some of them are ex-combatants who fought during the war. Many youths
were introduced to drugs during the war, the most common being
marijuana which causes a lot of psychosis. We are seeing more cocaine and heroin now too.”
But for all the good work that goes on at the facility, its lack of
funding and space — about 40 residents live in cramped and dingy
conditions — are serious barriers to progress.
There is hope however, as City of Rest was awarded three acres of land
by the government and a building project for 70 residents — men, women
and youths — about three miles outside Freetown is underway.
“We have started building, it’s what we call a faith project. There is
no funding for it, we have just started and trust it will come together.
It’s for 70 people, 30 youths, 20 men and 20 women.
The purpose built facility when completed will provide much better facilities enabling them to include vocational training, life skills, and communication classes, and opens up the possibility of an income generating scheme.
There will be a lot more security, and it’s a lot more attractive. We will have our own gardens and space for people. All we need now is the funding to get it built.”

For more information or to make a donation log onto:
www.cityofrest-sl.org