About Us

Caring Hands Foundation is a nonprofit organization that was established in September 2017 and dedicated to providing support for people with disabilities, including, but not limited to the blind and visually impaired. Caring Hands Foundation offers phenomenal support for blind adults, children, and teenagers, empowering them with the skills (soap making, gara tie-dying, home management, and other Technical Vocational Educational Training – TVET) to become independent and employable, which will enable them to live a life of possibilities.

In addition, we engage with various communities and organize social mobilization activities in line with the sustainable development goals to include climate action and agricultural activities in a bid to achieve some of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Caring Hands has a strong belief that disability must not and should not limit anyone from reaching their full potential in society if given the necessary training and opportunity.

Caring Hands Foundation is based in Sierra Leone, Freetown, in the historic capital of freed slaves, Freetown. To some extent, people with disabilities in the Sierra Leone area, where possible, are able to participate in activities that are meaningful and which give them a sense of belonging equal to their able-bodied friends and family members. However, Caring Hands firmly believe that disabled individuals should not be limited in their ability or opportunity to do those activities.

The objective for which caring hands are established is charitable. Its focus will include human services, more specifically to offer training primarily to the blind and visually impaired, which in essence, will enable them to earn a livelihood. Caring hands will focus on both social and emotional needs. Caring Hands Foundation will explore opportunities and embark on lobbying and advocacy activities to support the blind. Caring Hands will fully involve the individuals we serve in all activities to promote their confidence, which is the most critical developmental stage of a blind person. We will also render social-emotional career training in preparation for employment. We also intend to provide dependents of the blind persons we serve with tangible support as required and feasible. In addition, Caring Hands Foundation will explore programs that will provide or enhance access to quality education for the young dependents of our clientele.

The approach to advocacy that Caring Hands Foundation has adopted is premised on the belief that it is critical to consider all the elements that a blind or visually impaired person needs to succeed. As such, caring hands has established a two-prong suite of programs, as described below.

First, in order to empower blind or visually impaired persons to become small-scale, independent artisans or to enable them to be gainfully employed, Caring Hands provide skills training primarily in soap making, tie dying, entrepreneurship, home management, and nutrition/health. Caring Hands is particularly passionate about this intervention because of the widely held belief that the creative arts and craft disciplines tend to increase critical thinking and promote ingenuity, and critical thinking skills, all of which are, in turn, the key to success in the artistic-based enterprises.

Second, Caring Hands will participate in advocacy work through direct engagement with community stakeholders, which include government officials, constituency representatives, community religious leaders, and traditional leaders. The main thrust is to promote policies and programs for increasing the well-being, independence, and full participation of the blind/visually impaired community in society. As such, Caring Hands have put the eradication of prejudice or discrimination towards members of that community at the forefront of its advocacy work, relying on dedicated volunteers as well as members of the community themselves to research and articulate their rights, abilities, needs, and challenges.

Caring Hand’s sources of funding are currently derived from direct financial contributions from its officers, friends, family, and others, and other innovative fund-raising methods and channels. To expand its programs and serve additional beneficiaries, Caring Hands Foundation intends to bolster its donor base to increase the scope and volume of donations, grants, loans, and funding it receives from individuals, organizations, corporations, and other bodies. It will use these funds to support and conduct, in any manner, any lawful activities in furtherance of the foregoing charitable, scientific, and innovative volunteerism purposes.