Staff at a clinic in the coastal slum of Kroo Bay, in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, are keeping a diary of their working lives for the BBC News website.

Here, Adama Gondor, who runs the clinic, talks about the challenges of its malnutrition programme and renovation works on the clinic building.

“Every Friday we distribute a corn-soya blend with oil and sugar mixed in for making porridge.

Every Wednesday we distribute plumpy nut - a peanut-based paste with all the nutrients a malnourished child needs, which comes from the World Food Programme.

We started more than three months ago and have now started to discharge our first patients.

First we had 60 in the programme, now we have 102. When we discharge we admit new ones.
We’re often low on food. I think we didn’t expect to find so many malnourished children.

It is because everything is expensive now. People cannot afford to buy food and the nutritional status of people has dropped.

If a mother who is breast-feeding is not eating properly, how can she have a healthy baby?

The plumpy nut is for severely malnourished children and at the moment we have 17 children who fall into that category.

Every day now, food prices is all people talk about.

It is poverty and rising food prices that are making people suffer here in Kroo Bay.
We are seeing many more cases of malnutrition - even though the children we treat are gaining weight from the food we give them.

We only discharge them when they are 85% of their ideal weight for three consecutive weeks.

It is difficult to discharge the children because the parents often get upset, they want the food which is a real supplement to what they can afford, they have come to rely on it.

They beg me not to discharge their children, they need the food for survival.

I try and explain that their children are no longer dangerously malnourished and other children need the food, and they leave sad and sluggishly.

It is so hard to discharge them, children here are vulnerable, they need good food.

Rebuilding

About a month ago, reconstruction work in the clinic started. It is very exciting.

We are really happy knowing that in four or five months we will have a new, extended clinic.
Now we are getting three wards and an under-fives area. In the wards we’ll be able to admit patients for up to 72 hours.

The construction workers have just completed the foundations. On top of the new wards they’ll put an extra floor which will be my staff quarters, meaning I can always be on call for serious cases.

So far all the work is in the hall and although it is loud and dusty, it is not bothering us because we really want the clinic to change and be clean and hygienic.

The work is being done by Save the Children in collaboration with Concern, and I want to say thank you to all the people who have donated.

We really appreciate them sharing their earnings. We sincerely hope they’ll continue helping us - once the clinic is finished we’ll need drugs and equipment.”

Sierra Leone’s reggae diva Khady Black performs Mr. Government. Filmed on location in Kingston Upon Hull - UK.

As Sierra Leone’s first female reggae artist, Khady Black has a lot of legacy to protect. She plans to reign supreme in Sierra Leone’s Reggae industry by continuing to dazzle Fans and music lovers with her lyrics that provokes or addresses real life situations. In her own right, Khady Black is a social activist, “I like to sing so that when people hear the words of my songs they understand that I am trying to make a positive contribution,” she said. “The only way we can effect change in Sierra Leone and in the world for that matter is through an understanding of the minds”

Mobile phones of all type this day are common in Freetown and the desire for it is mounting especially among young people, there is great competition among young people with regards having recent and decent mobile phones, for the ladies, they desire decent mobiles phones not only to communicate, but also to add to their price, value and integrity, Most ladies this days in Sierra Leone, one of the ways they determine the financial capability of  a guy is by the type of mobile phone he is having (first impression)
The guys also need it for also most the same but, mostly to add up to their value and seduce ladies.
An old man told me that, if you have the three M’s (Money, Motor-car and Mobile Phone) Sierra Leone, then ladies are not of a problem. That sounds sooooo true.

Last month I and my club members went to a big night club to enquire the price of booking for one night to make a music show, Smokey (my friend) was in front talking to the lady on the desk, she was not talking with a cam and polite voice, by then I was outside on the phone, I just pop in with SPV-M500 mobile phone in my hand. Whiles taking to her, she was busy watching my hand and after she responded in a more cam, polite and sweet voice, in-fact she was smiling.

As a result this mounting desire for mobile phones, some young people goes out to get it by hook or crook, recently mobile phone theft is common, the commonly reported cases on daily basis in police stations are mobile phone.

When I return from the UK, I came with lots of second hand Mobile phones, I shared it as gifts to friends and love ones, I was having two, one was first stolen and yesterday, the remaining one was finally stolen in town, am so sick of it.

This is the highly acclaimed track from Barmmy Boy.
HIV Dangerous has been a big hit for Barmmy in Freetown.
He hopes the track will influence and educate young people of the dangers of HIV and Aids.

Barmmy Boy visited Hull to work with young people and tell them about Freetown through his lyrics and raps.

Throughout 2006 and 2007, film-makers Jon Robson and Murray Clark, together with journalist Matt Stephenson – all members of Hull-based media and education organisation Cafesociety.org - have been working closely with Creative Partnerships Hull, the British Council, the Freetown Society and Wilberforce 2007 to develop a variety of educational resources looking at the lives of young people in Freetown and Hull.

During visits to Freetown in May and September 2006, Cafesociety.org made a range of short films with young Sierra Leoneans. These films focus on a diverse range of topics such as the role of football in post-civil war Sierra Leone, the story of an ex-child soldier, the life of the city’s market traders and many more.

During a citizenship, literacy and media project supported by Creative Partnerships Hull, these films were then shown in five Hull schools, and the Hull pupils made films in response, revealing aspects of their own lives to their Freetown counterparts.

Both the Hull and Freetown films will be shown at the British Council in Freetown when Cafesociety.org return to the city during March 2007. A printed teaching resource supporting this work, looking at the history of Freetown and contemporary life in the city, is also be available, free-of-charge from Creative Partnerships Hull.

Furthermore, Cafesociety.org and Winifred Holtby Secondary School, in association with Hull Museums Educations Service and the British Library’s ‘Making an Impact’ slavery education project, have also developed a workshop programme inspired by Wilberforce’s campaign, giving young people the skills to develop their own campaigns and change their own lives.

“At Cafesociety.org we believe that by learning about the cultures and people of the world we can come to a greater understanding of ourselves.” explains Cafesociety.org’s Jon Robson, “Our hope is that we can provide the spark and skills for the people we work with to use their voices and improve the world.”