saturday
freetown
my first morning in my father’s country!!! i am in africa !!! every morning i woke up in stages but always with a smile in my spirit. gratitude to anne and her family for facilitating my journey and supporting me during this time. anticipation regarding my family that i was going to meet soon. love for my parents who raised me to be an independent thinker and to trust that i would always be provided what i needed or the inspiration to create it!!!
the 1st stage was the rooster crowing in what i initially thought was themiddle of the night and gradually grew to accept that it was actually pre-dawn. soon after I became aware of the muslim morning prayers from a nearby mosque. i am not sure where the mosque was located but I assumed it was some distance from the house, but because it was so early and solemnly quiet, sound -especially prayers, made it’s way to my receptive ears.
the first day we took care of some errands; exchanging usd for sll, stopping by the hair store and visiting lumely beach.
while driving around town , i was able to get my first un-biased glimpse of sierra leone. prior to coming all the pictures on the internet show amputees, desperation and poverty and understandably so after a brutal 12 year civil war. unfortunately the pictures forget to show the strength of the average sierra leonen in persevering for a better life, the intelligence and light emanating from the children and the fact that freetown is a city with an infrastructure, public facilities, and businesses. granted electiricty is still sporadic and unavailable in the evenings for most areas and garbage pick up is still a concern but evidently much improved recently from what i was told. we were fortunate to celebrate with the rest of freetown residents when street lights in the evening hours were restored for the first time in over 20 years !!
needless to say not having all the modern conveniences of other countries is not a crime and does not make for a destitiute country. i saw 5 star hotels near the beach, a university near the british council, functioning government offices, busiensses, restaurants and several internet cafes. i share this so that others can have a more balanced viewed of a country in the long process of rebuilding. i am sure some may feel my view is overly optimistic and perhaps it will be tempered with time, but i also believe that our realities are a reflection of our beliefs.
while driving around town I was able to see offices for the following ngo's:
unhcr, msf, christian aid, africare, action aid, unicef, and soka gokkei international. that does not include the countless individuals and organizations who are quietly and consistently working to improve the lives of sierra leonens every day like ujima and others.
i was surprised to count at least 5 internet cafes located through out the city. easily accessible information is critical to not only nation building but in advancing the opportunities of its citizens. i also noticed the following countries had some sort of presence within sierra leone:
china (chamber of commerce and china town) germany, lebanon, ghana, japan. i am sure not all are there for altruistic purposes.
that night we had dinner at “checkpoint” at the beach and I had a delicious mackeral entrée.
freetown
my first morning in my father’s country!!! i am in africa !!! every morning i woke up in stages but always with a smile in my spirit. gratitude to anne and her family for facilitating my journey and supporting me during this time. anticipation regarding my family that i was going to meet soon. love for my parents who raised me to be an independent thinker and to trust that i would always be provided what i needed or the inspiration to create it!!!
the 1st stage was the rooster crowing in what i initially thought was themiddle of the night and gradually grew to accept that it was actually pre-dawn. soon after I became aware of the muslim morning prayers from a nearby mosque. i am not sure where the mosque was located but I assumed it was some distance from the house, but because it was so early and solemnly quiet, sound -especially prayers, made it’s way to my receptive ears.
the first day we took care of some errands; exchanging usd for sll, stopping by the hair store and visiting lumely beach.
while driving around town , i was able to get my first un-biased glimpse of sierra leone. prior to coming all the pictures on the internet show amputees, desperation and poverty and understandably so after a brutal 12 year civil war. unfortunately the pictures forget to show the strength of the average sierra leonen in persevering for a better life, the intelligence and light emanating from the children and the fact that freetown is a city with an infrastructure, public facilities, and businesses. granted electiricty is still sporadic and unavailable in the evenings for most areas and garbage pick up is still a concern but evidently much improved recently from what i was told. we were fortunate to celebrate with the rest of freetown residents when street lights in the evening hours were restored for the first time in over 20 years !!
needless to say not having all the modern conveniences of other countries is not a crime and does not make for a destitiute country. i saw 5 star hotels near the beach, a university near the british council, functioning government offices, busiensses, restaurants and several internet cafes. i share this so that others can have a more balanced viewed of a country in the long process of rebuilding. i am sure some may feel my view is overly optimistic and perhaps it will be tempered with time, but i also believe that our realities are a reflection of our beliefs.
while driving around town I was able to see offices for the following ngo's:
unhcr, msf, christian aid, africare, action aid, unicef, and soka gokkei international. that does not include the countless individuals and organizations who are quietly and consistently working to improve the lives of sierra leonens every day like ujima and others.
i was surprised to count at least 5 internet cafes located through out the city. easily accessible information is critical to not only nation building but in advancing the opportunities of its citizens. i also noticed the following countries had some sort of presence within sierra leone:
china (chamber of commerce and china town) germany, lebanon, ghana, japan. i am sure not all are there for altruistic purposes.
that night we had dinner at “checkpoint” at the beach and I had a delicious mackeral entrée.
1 comment:
Dear Francesca,
My name is Abu-Hassan Koroma AKA Askia, born, bred and schooled in Mattru Jong. The Conatehs are family friends going back to a friendship between my late father, Alhaji Hassan Koroma. Across from the Conateh parternal home in Mattru Jong, live my first Cousin, Kaday who was married to the great Islamic scholar, Momodou Lamin, a Mauritanian who settled in Mattru Jong and became its lead muslim Imam.
This is just a quick contact to introduce myself and, hopefully build on it. I live in the United States, initially in Madison, Wisconsin and right now in Fortwashington, Maryland. I was in Sierra Leone from March through October, 2007. If while in Mattru you heard of the Mosselleh project, then you may have probably heard about me....otherwise check out these websites: www.mattrujong.org and www.africanartville.org. You can always reach me via email at akoroma@mattrujong.org.
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