By Davida Spaine Solomon
Freetown, 24th December 2025- For generations in Sierra Leone, the responsibility for a child’s health has rested largely on the shoulders of mothers and overstretched health workers. This December, a group of men decided that they had to change.
With blistered feet, aching bodies, and unwavering resolve, members of the Fathers for Life Club walked more than 400 kilometres across the country to deliver a message many communities are still reluctant to hear: a father’s involvement can save a child’s life.
The eight-day walk, held from 15 to 22 December, took the men from Kailahun in the east to Lumley Beach in Freetown, passing through Kenema, Bo, Moyamba, Tonkolili, Port Loko, and the Western Area. It was not a protest, nor a publicity stunt. It was a moving classroom on fatherhood, responsibility, and survival.
Founded in 2024, the Fathers for Life Club was born out of concern over Sierra Leone’s persistent infant and maternal mortality rates. Many deaths, health experts say, are preventable, often caused by delays in seeking care, missed immunizations, or lack of support for women during pregnancy and childbirth. The group believes one key figure has been missing from these conversations: fathers.
“Too often, society believes a father’s duty ends with providing money,” said Dalton John, Team Lead of the Fathers for Life Club, speaking at the end of the walk. “But money alone cannot save a child in an emergency. Fathers must be present, informed, and involved.”
Along the route, the team stopped in towns and villages to engage men directly, sometimes under trees, sometimes at busy junctions talking about practical steps fathers can take. These included accompanying partners to antenatal visits, knowing immunization schedules, and personally taking children to health facilities when they fall ill.
Dalton noted that health workers themselves recognize the importance of male involvement. “We’ve been told that when fathers bring children to hospitals, they are often attended to more quickly. That shows how valuable a father’s presence can be.”
The idea for the club, he explained, came from painful observations. When women die during childbirth or children are lost to preventable illnesses, fathers are rarely questioned or engaged afterward. “We saw a silence around men’s roles in these tragedies. We knew that silence had to be broken.”
The walk was far from easy. Members battled heat, fatigue, and injuries along the way. “Our bodies were covered in wounds,” Dalton said. “But we reminded ourselves that a child dying from an avoidable illness suffers far more than any pain we felt on that road.”
Each member made personal sacrifices. Dalton took time off from his role as Program Manager at Health Alert. Smart Kwame, one of the walkers, briefly stepped away to attend his graduation—barely prepared due to the journey before returning to rejoin the team. Others, including David Joseph Alieu, Abdul Karim Sankoh, who documented the journey, and Kemo Cham, who handled communications, pushed through exhaustion to ensure the message reached communities along the way.
In their conversations, many fathers admitted they were overwhelmed by the daily struggle to provide for their families. The team acknowledged those realities but urged balance. “We told them that even three days in a month taking a child to the hospital or accompanying their wife can make a difference,” Dalton said. “Giving three days out of thirty will not make any man poor.”
The journey ended at Lumley Beach, where the team was received by Lynda Farma Grant of the Ministry of Health’s Child Health Programme. She commended their determination, describing the initiative as timely and impactful. She encouraged the group to continue and expressed the ministry’s interest in future collaboration, particularly around immunization outreach. “This work is not only about funding,” she told them. “It is about commitment.”
Walking through remote communities also gave the team a deeper appreciation for frontline health workers. “We experienced the distances, the heat, the isolation,” Dalton reflected. “It made us think of nurses and community health officers who do this every day just to save lives.”
Although Sierra Leone has sixteen districts, the Fathers for Life Club covered eight this year, calling it only the beginning. The group says their work will continue beyond the walk, with more community engagements planned, including outreach on Boxing Day.
“This is our country,” Dalton said. “We cannot wait for policies or budgets before acting. Our children’s lives are our responsibility.”
The National Walk for Child Survival was more than a long trek across Sierra Leone. It was a powerful reminder that fatherhood is not passive. Fathers are not bystanders. Their choices, presence, and actions can determine whether a child lives or dies.
As the Fathers for Life Club calls on men nationwide, their message is simple and urgent: stand up, walk with your family, support your partner, and take your child to the hospital when it matters. Child survival is not just a mother’s duty or a health worker’s burden. It is a father’s responsibility too.
