The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused a crisis of a scale that many of us have never experienced before. The toll it has taken on human lives is heartbreaking, not to talk of the unprecedented economic crisis that it has caused throughout the world. However, in all of these, Caritas Freetown was able to achieve so much from its meagre resources, thanks to the generous support of our partners and the spirit of transparency and accountability with organization functions.

Therefore, as we come to the end of the year 2022, it is proper and fitting that, as Chairman of the Caritas Board, I should express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the administration and staff of Caritas Freetown for a Job well done.

During this year again, we had a number of disasters which caused so much loss of lives and property. In most of those incidents Caritas Freetown staff was among the first responders and they were the last to leave. In this way, they translated into concrete action the Mission and Vision of Caritas; namely, to enable people to experience the love and compassion of God, especially in their moments of dire need.

In this regard, I want to thank all staff of Caritas Freetown who has always been there giving their best in services to the organization and our beneficiaries. Through them, Caritas has been able to reach a larger community of people in service. I thank all of them for their selfless services and generosity, especially in those moments of emergency mentioned above. I pray for them and their loved one for strength, guidance and I protection as we come to the end of the year and enter into a new year.

I should also commend Caritas Freetown for attending to other areas of humanitarian needs through the various projects they implemented; most especially in support of the health sector, such as the construction of the maternity ward at Christ the King Hospital, and community development projects – like the one at Culvert, where they are building VIP toilets and water-wells for the people so they would have a healthy environment.

Caritas Freetown has also participated in other activities in favour of promoting justice, especially for women and girls.

All of these have impressed me so much as the Chairman of the Caritas Freetown Board. As I express my sincere thanks and appreciation to all the staff of Caritas, I would like to pray that God may continue to give them strength and the resources to serve humanity.

I cannot fail to express my deep gratitude to our development partners who stood by us throughout this year by providing us with the needed resources to respond to emergencies and to implement our development projects. In a special way, I thank the Healey International Relief Foundation, Tzu Chi Foundation, Manos Unidas, and the Catholic development agencies for their continuing support to Caritas.