By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters) -
From Monday, people all over the world
can become virtual neighbors to the residents of a Sierra Leone
slum, plagued by infant mortality and rampant disease, through
an Internet campaign by the charity Save the Children.
For the past two months the charity has had two people
living in the Kroo Bay slum, which straddles what is in effect
an open sewer in the capital Freetown, compiling footage and
stories of the resident's daily struggle to survive.
From this they have created a virtual reproduction of the
community so that from Monday, by clicking through the
charity's Web site at www.savethechildren.org.uk, people will
be able to enter it interactively on the Internet.
"You really are in Kroo Bay. You really are immersed in
these people and their community. It is about the hardest place
in the world to bring up a child," said a spokeswoman for the
charity.
The goal is to raise money for Kroo Bay to help cut the
huge incidence of infant mortality and disease, and at the same
time allow donors to watch how their money is being distributed
and chart the community's progress.
"People don't react well to guilt. But with this you can
actually see individuals and families benefiting," the
spokeswoman said.
Sierra Leone, a former British colony in West Africa, is
one of the poorest countries on the planet and is still
struggling to recover from a brutal civil war that ended in
2002.
According to the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), for every
1,000 births, 270 children die before they reach the age of 5,
the highest mortality rate in the world. Life expectancy is 41
and the adult literacy rate is 35 percent.
Some 6,000 people live in Kroo Bay, more than half of
children, said Save the Children.
More than one in 10 of the families have suffered a death
in the past month and in an average month, 3,841 people will
have malaria and 3,844 will have diarrhea, the charity said.
The Kroo Bay campaign is part of the charity's wider drive
to stop 10 million infant deaths a year. It has chosen this
method because of the direct relationship it creates between
donors and recipients.
"NET is 5 pounds and buys a mosquito net, NUT is 1 pound 50
and buys a day's supply of micronutrient peanut butter while
SALTS is 1 pound and buys oral rehydration salts," the
spokeswoman said.
The other terms refer to water filters, blankets,
vaccinations and thermometers.
"Through the Web site we will be able to actually show
people receiving the goods that the money has bought and over
the next three years they will be able to see the community
benefit generally," the Save the Children spokeswoman said.
Virtual visitors to the Freetown slum will be able to pose
questions either generally or to individuals. The charity will
have someone available to record an answer and play it back.
(Editing by David Clarke and Mary Gabriel)
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