Who We Are

Our Story

Support Sports in Sierra Leone is an organization whose mission is to promote youth development in Sierra Leone by using sports to engage young people.

 

The organization was formed by a group of citizens of the United States who, after learning that their maternal or paternal ancestry was traced back to Sierra Leone, traveled to Sierra Leone to become dual citizens of Sierra Leone and the United States. The organization was formed to raise support for the development of Sierra Leone by investing in young people. The goal is to combine participation in sports with programs to enrich the lives of young people, address food insecurity, promote education, and teach civic responsibility and pride.

 

The people of the small West African country of Sierra Leone have centuries-old cultural, historical, and blood ties with the United States. The transfer of labor and technology from Sierra Leone to the southeastern region of North America during the Atlantic Slave Trade led to the rice production industry that created the wealth that much of the United States was founded on. The organization aims to serve as a vehicle to allow diasporan Sierra Leoneans in the United States, and members of the greater citizenry of the United States, to contribute to a country that has provided so much to the current United States.

Mission 

Our mission is to use sports to engage underprivileged pre-teen, teen, and young adults in Sierra Leone and provide support to address the issues that affect them, such as:

  • Challenges to the pursuit of education
  • Food insecurity
  • Obstacles to participation in extracurricular activities
  • Lack of a spirit of civic responsibility and civic pride