Skills training for former child soldiers

Ex-civil war combatant Aminata Sesav (in yellow) is training as a hairdresser with Caritas Makeni [Annie Bungeroth]

Caritas Makeni provides vocational training for former child soldiers, such as Aminata, during Sierra Leone’s civil war

Abducted by rebel fighters and conscripted into battle, Aminata was rescued by her father and re-trained by Caritas Makeni to be a hairdresser.

Caritas Makeni invites community businesses to train an ex-combatant without payment as a contribution to the rebuilding of their community.

Mabiatu Koroma, a Makeni hairdresser, agreed to be Aminata’s trainer. Aminata goes to her tiny salon everyday to train.

On graduation Caritas Makeni provides each new graduate with a kit to set them up in business.

“At the centre I chose hairdressing because it felt like something I could do,” says Aminata. “I would like to open my own hairdressing salon and work for myself.

"I’d like to get my start-up kit and train others. Before the war my parents looked after me.

"Now, I look after them.”

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