The Fig Tree Children

The Fig Tree Children is a Brisbane based charity that provides opportunities for orphaned and vulnerable children in Sierra Leone, West Africa. According to estimates, children in Sierra Leone grow up without their parents, many of them as a result of the 10-year Civil War. of them have been orphaned due to AIDS. The Ebola epidemic, which started in 2014, left many more children without parental care. We started offering sponsorship of children on September 1st 2015. We have two full-time program managers and a couple of part-time workers on the ground and we partner with Caritas, Freetown in Sierra Leone who volunteer their time and resources to help us meet our mission. We also have 6 people here in Brisbane who are all dedicated to our cause. Jane Shakespeare is our founder. Her life was turned around 180 degrees after first visiting Sierra Leone in 2006 to research the impact that microcredit had on women’s lives. She was blown away by the poverty and how disadvantaged these orphaned children were and knew something had to be done. Today, the charity sponsors 85 children, 49 girls and 36 boys aged between 2 and 23 years. 14 of the children (youths) have finished school and we now have the challenge of helping them all become self-sufficient and realise their dreams in a country where 60% of youths are unemployed or under employed. Jane has started a social enterprise - The Fig Tree Gift Shop, to help raise the funds needed for our ‘Pathway to Employment’ program where with the help from partners on the ground we will be providing skills training or help start micro-businesses.