One More Girl Back Home

Ishatu* is 10 years old and lives in the Western part of Sierra Leone. Since her parents’ separation, she has been living with her father and stepmother. Ishatu eagerly looks forward to school, but often her stepmother requires her to stay home and watch over the rice plot so birds don’t eat it.

This is all too common for girls in Sierra Leone, to not be valued, especially if she is the stepchild. Biological children will be able to go to school consistently, but not Ishatu since she is seen as ‘lesser than.’  

In her own words, “My stepmother beats me daily using different tools such as a cane, stick, cooking spoon, belt, electrical cable, and slippers. This is because I want to attend school and my stepmother forces me to look after the crops.”Additionally, she stated that she doesn’t get food to eat or is always left with the scraps because they claim there isn’t enough food for the whole family. 

After enduring another brutal beating, this 10-year-old girl set out alone on the dangerous streets of Sierra Leone, in search of a mother she hadn’t seen in a year and a half in a town she only vaguely remembered. I cannot help but think how desperate this precious little girl must have been to find safety. 

Ishatu left home and started walking at 2 PM. After five hours of walking, she reached an extremely busy area known for market shopping. At 7 PM, she was alone, vulnerable, and scared as it started to get dark. 

As the tears started streaming down her face, a concerned gentleman stepped in. PRAISE GOD! (This is the exact situation where often a girl becomes a victim of sexual abuse and/or trafficking.) He brought her to the Allen Town Police Station, where she spent the night. Our new Interim Care Center (ICC) received a phone call from the police, and we immediately rejoiced at the opportunity to receive Ishatu.

Once in our staff’s care, she could BE SAFE and begin to FEEL SAFE. She was surrounded by love and reassured by the five other girls we had recently rescued. Her needs as a child were being attended to. We took her to the hospital (as we do with every new girl) to have her medically checked out. She tested positive for Malaria, which we were able to treat with medicine. 

As her physical and emotional needs started to be met, she began to open up to our staff. She had no certainty of where her mother lived. Our staff went to many police stations to see if anyone had reported her missing. Nothing. Our staff started the tracing process to locate her mother to no avail.

Ishatu’s biological mother was not informed that her daughter had been missing for nearly a MONTH. Once she found out, Shear panic and terror overwhelmed her as she thought about what happened to her daughter. She went from one police station to another for many days until she reached Allen Town, where they could tell her she was safe at Princess Promise ICC. 

Exactly one month after receiving Ishatu, we safely reunified her with her mother on July 29, 2024. It was an extremely emotional reunion as we also found out Ishatu has a twin sister. When the parents split up, the mother was forced to hand over one of her daughters to the father, entirely against her will. There wasn’t a day that Ishatu’s mother hadn’t ached to have her daughter home with her.

Upon this reunification, the government gave Ishatu’s mother full custody. Ishatu will remain under the umbrella of Princess Promise, enabling the family to receive half a bag of rice, cooking oil, charcoal, and hygiene products. We will also be supporting the family by paying for her school fees. Ishatu also received her very own pink Bible so she could read for herself the love her Heavenly Father has for her.

We praise God that He is in the details, cares tenderly for his children, and allowed Princess Promise to be a part of her redemptive story. 

YOU are the reason a new chapter has been written for Ishatu and her family.