Edward Emmanuel Remembered for Advancing Disability Rights in Sierra Leone

Edward Emmanuel, founder and executive director of One Family People, was remembered on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, for more than two decades of work challenging the exclusion of vulnerable people in Sierra Leone.

Tributes at his funeral service at Let My Gate Be Opened – Solution Cathedral, also known as Revival Power Assembly, described a career focused on disability rights, social inclusion and creating practical opportunities for persons with disabilities, street-connected children and other vulnerable groups.

From Walpole Street to national advocacy

Hadiatou Diallo, Emmanuel’s life partner and co-founder of One Family People, said their service journey grew out of difficult years on Walpole Street. The Great Walpoleans later created opportunities, community and a voice for children and young people with disabilities through music, dance and drama.

The Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone recalled that Emmanuel first came to the Court in 2004 and developed a relationship with its outreach activities from 2007. The Court also reported that he worked with street-connected children before registering One Family People in 2008.

According to the Court’s tribute, Emmanuel once spent nights with vulnerable people sleeping in an abandoned bus station to better understand their circumstances from their perspective. That account was presented as a reported recollection.

One Family People subsequently developed into a disability-focused human-rights organisation working in advocacy, capacity building, partnerships, resource mobilisation and inclusion. Its activities included employment support, housing assistance, education, healthcare, livelihoods, community mobilisation, research, disaster preparedness, disability awareness and specialised services for children.

Emphasis on empowerment

Francis Kabia said Emmanuel believed support should help people build lasting independence rather than rely on temporary charity.

“We should not give persons with disabilities fish; we must teach them how to fish and stand by them every step of the way,” Kabia said.

The organisation also worked with parents and caregivers to strengthen their ability to support children with disabilities. Its 2015 annual report listed a broad network of government institutions, national disability organisations, international development partners and community-based organisations.

One Family People’s records, as described in the tributes, show that the organisation allocated billions of Leones to partner organisations supporting children with disabilities in health, education, livelihoods and social inclusion.

Jamesina E. L. King credited Emmanuel’s advocacy with contributing to disability-rights efforts associated with Sierra Leone’s Persons with Disabilities Act, 2011. In 2021, One Family People also engaged the National Disaster Management Agency on incorporating the needs and voices of persons with disabilities into disaster preparedness and response.

Projects aimed at inclusion

The organisation’s work continued through several initiatives in recent years. In March 2025, the United Nations in Sierra Leone visited children at the Mahanaiem Rehabilitation Centre in Grafton and engaged with Emmanuel.

A sensory room opened in Grafton in May 2025. The Calabash described it as Sierra Leone’s first sensory room for children with severe and multiple disabilities.

One Family People also launched the Programme for Inclusion and Empowerment in 2025, focusing on children and young people with disabilities. Shortly before his passing, Sulaiman Jabati said Emmanuel discussed a solar project intended to create jobs and opportunities for persons with disabilities. The status and implementation timeline of that proposed project were not provided.

In a 2022 statement to beneficiaries and partners, Emmanuel described persons with disabilities as “powerful, radiant agents of change.” The ICDI team remembered him as an activist “through and through.”

The Residual Special Court said Emmanuel often ended conversations with the words: “God bless you and God be with you always.” His colleagues, partners, beneficiaries and friends said his work would continue through One Family People and the people he had empowered.