Giving a nation a helping hand… slums to sustainable living

It gives the trustees and staff great pleasure to let you know that our founder Nigel Hyde has been awarded an MBE in the Queens Birthday Honours List.

CONGRATULATIONS NIGEL!

Nigel will now become a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)

Nigel’s citation is as follows –

Founder, Mission Direct, Founder and Chief Executive, Home Leone, Sierra Leone For services to international charitable work helping the poor and homeless, particularly in Sierra Leone.

In due course, Nigel will be awarded his honour by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

I am sure that you will all want to join me in congratulating Nigel for this well earned and highly deserved award for a lifetime of sacrificial commitment to helping and caring for people in need throughout the world.

May God bless Nigel and give him strength to continue with his fine fine work.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Freetown, Sierra Leone, live in unimaginable squalor. An EU funded report declared that over 280,000 homes were needed by 2028; few have been built. We own 25 acres of land and are building Destiny Village, near Newton.  We have now built the first 60 affordable homes,  a primary school and part of a secondary school, we operate 6 businesses, delivered a long term clean water supply, installed solar power, an environmentally friendly waste incinerator and moved over 200 people to a new life.  There is much more..

We have interviewed hundreds of families in designing our 7-pillar relocation strategy.  We’ve gained government enthusiasm, with support particularly from the the Ministries of Economic Planning and Social Welfare.  we continue our sensitisation for moving program in the slums. Selection criteria were initially developed with our partner the Federation of Urban and Rural Poor (part of Slum Dwellers International) and now considerable experience with residents .  This has provided us with great learning.  Our initial goal is to complete 25 acres of development, moving over 2,000 people.  This pilot is proving scalable , sustainable, comprehensive and right for its time.

The current Vice President visited our village.  He noted how our initiative was in line with government hopes and priorities to address low-cost and affordable housing in Sierra Leone.  As we meet other government leaders, they express how what we are doing not only address national issues but can see the potential to replicate across Africa.

We need your help, sharing this amazing initiative with those who could get involved.  If you would like to join us in this transformational initiative then do get in touch with Nigel Hyde at nigel.hyde@homeleone.org.