Tell us about you

My name is Hilton James Bockarie Yambassu, I Studied Development Communication and have Practiced as a Journalist and Communicator for over 10 years now. Also an Advocate for Youths and Children including Girls in rural communities. Have led several Advocacies on issues affecting Children, and Youth. I am Currently heading humanitarian activities in My Community. Am the Founder of HAPPY CHILD FOUNDATION which caters to less Privileged Children in deprived Communities in My Country. Am a team Player and believe in delivering Goals. 

Tell us the story behind your nonprofit and the impact so far 

One day, I decided to take a stroll to a nearby village in the Malen chiefdom Sierra Leone west Africa where I found a highly malnourished girl child whose mother told me that the father had aborted them for another woman this blew my mind as a Youth, it hit me so hard that day so I decided to take action to see the young girls life get back and today she is fine and happy I was the one that bought her the first shoes to wear.  If there’s anything worse than the death of a child, I said then surely, it’s the preventable death of a child.

Happy Child Foundation is a charity organization founded in Sierra Leone to help fight against hunger, diseases, homelessness, and drug & alcohol abuse in Sierra Leone communities. We will expand our mission to assist poverty-stricken communities in Sierra Leone with food, clothing, housing, healthcare, and more. We are hopeful that your financial and other kinds of donations will make a difference in someone’s life in our communities.

Happy Child Foundation was born out of the vision that a self-sufficient, healthy, and educated community is the key to improving capacity in our Communities. 

Today, there are Testimonials about the impact of reaching out to children of all kinds, making them feel important even when they are in deprived communities. The Foundation has not only Catered to the physical well-being but also the Mental health of the children we reached out to. 

What inspired your nonprofit journey?

From early childhood, I saw how my parents helped out in our local communities, and I was taught that anything is possible.

Unfortunately, factors outside of anyone’s control make it hard for some people to reach their potential: things like when they were born, who their parents are, where they grew up, and whether they are a boy or a girl.

I wake up every day determined to use my resources to create a world where everyone has the opportunity to leave a healthy and productive life. Most importantly, I believe that all lives have equal value. That’s why I made the decision to use the little I have to help others. (Children).

What challenges do you face running your nonprofit?

Wow, Humanitarian work in my developing Country is always impossible and it’s very real. 

When you say you want to be involved in it, they term you as rich and you want to throw away your money this Makes a lot of people not to be involved in it at all.

I once shared my vision and passion for humanitarian work with a very Close Friend and he clearly told me that I should focus on myself first before going into that and that he can not try that now, but the question I asked him was when will you ever start then? Most people around you will never buy into Your vision. A key challenge here is Finance, imagine as a Youth you are not on Salary but yet you want to do activities for Humanity it’s so difficult that experts we ask ourselves, write assistant letters to people e.t.c 

Also moving to these Communities sometimes prove so difficult since they are hard-to-reach communities and we don’t have Mobility on our own. 

Sometimes even My Team would nearly want to leave me because nobody is paying them but their passion drives them. These are some Places we have gone where they reject us and it takes us risking our lives to get to those places. 

Celebrate your wins. What is your most outstanding achievement so far in your nonprofit?

So far we thank God for how far he has brought the Foundation ; 

We have several Successes but I can just list a few : 

1. We have been able to Make the Foundation a household name in rural communities because they call us to report issues affecting Children since they know we operate in that. 
2. As of now, we have over 200 Vulnerable Children in various communities to which we reach out. 
3. In December last year, we did Child fair activities in three Communities where we Provided Food and other Merriment to over 500 children. 
4. So far we have a hectare cassava Farm that the Foundation cultivated. The Proceeds from that farm are going to be used to support some of our activities.
5.  We have a robust Monoutring on our Children under our Education scheme. 
6. We have so far done 4 face to face engagements with Children on training them on daily live activities etc. 

Apart from your nonprofit what other passions do you have?

I have a passion for Agriculture and Communication 

What is running a nonprofit like in Sierra Leone?

Very Challenging, because not everyone believes in it let alone invests in it. Since nobody is paying anybody, it’s very difficult for people to volunteer to be involved in it. 

Where do you see your non-profit in 5 years?

In 5 years time, I would want to have the Foundation’s presence all over My Country as there are huge demands for it. Also to Meet all the Objectives of the Foundation. It to also be a hub for Training other Non-Profit organizations and being better equipped to help the Nonprofit Function well. 

What is the day you will never forget in the course of running your organization?

Wow, the day I will never forget is the day we finally Launched the Foundation and had over 10 of our Children instilled in School. 

I remember the first Girl Child who was so Malnourished her Teenage Mother gave up on her. We met her and took her to the hospital and we were the first to buy her shoes to wear. Today she is going to school under our scheme. This brought me so much Joy and I tend to do more.

Any specific projects you’ll like to get support on?

Yes, We have these burning projects we want to embark on which we sincerely need support for: 

1. We have a project called Mentor Micro Women; wherein we want to empower single and vulnerable Mothers whose children are under our scheme with an interest-free loan to help them become self-empowered so they can, in turn, be self-reliant. These loans will be revolving loans where more women will benefit from them. Under this Project, the women will be trained on how to start a Business, and how to maintain a business. 

2. Presently, we want to Build a 3 class Room School Building for one of our Communities where there is no school building for children. We want to have that done before September this year. 

3. We have a Project we want to embark on for school girls who are ripe for Menstruation; to get experts to teach them about Menstrual hygiene and support them with Free Pads. This is what we want to do in the celebration of world Menstrual day. 

CONTACT DETAILS

Phone No: +232 75 795989

Email: hiltonyambassu@gmail.com