| Sierra Leone March 2002 - October 2003 |
| While I may work with refugees and displaced people in complex emergencies, I prefer rehabilitation to emergency response. I never had a strong feeling to go to a war zone. So, if someone asked me if I wanted to go to Sierra Leone back in 2000, I'd honestly say "no". I never had a dream to go to Sierra Leone even though I had been working with Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea. The war seemed to have no end and it was encroaching into the area I was working. That all changed in the fall of 2001. On September 15th, some friends (Chris and Brad) and I, hopped on a World Food Program helicopter for a long weekend break in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We had been working like dogs in Guinea and it was a good time for a rest. Obviously, there was no better place to visit than a city under Martial Law. We had the deluxe option of laying out on white sandy beaches eating lobster under the armed protection of Blue Helmeted Nigerians nestled behind their AK 47 in sand bag bunkers. While the tragic events in the US earlier in the week soured our mood, the trip gave me the bug. I was hooked. When IRC advertised a Gender-Based Violence position in January, I jump at the chance to get back to Sierra Leone. The past 2 years have been an incredibly dynamic time for Sierra Leone. People had begun the process of rebuilding their lives that was shattered by 10 years of nasty violent war. While some people don’t believe that cooperative international intervention --- run by the UN, actively backed by a rich powerful international player --- can have beneficial impacts, Sierra Leone is a testament otherwise. If it was not for the neutral legitimacy of UN, the security maintained by nations providing Peace Keeping forces and Great Britain’s financial and military support, the dreadful nightmare that Sierra Leoneans suffered would continue to this day. These three pillars – neutral intervention, security and financial support- allowed ordinary civilians to take back control of their lives. Sierra Leoneans picked up the pieces; even though they had seen their children raped and murdered; even though they were asked if they wanted long sleeves or short sleeves as a rusty machete was held above their limbs; even though they saw their parents humiliated before they were killed or maimed; even though they were kidnapped, forced to do drugs, marry the men who raped them or commit atrocities against their elders; even though they spent years exiled in a foreign country often without knowing if their daughter, son, mother or father was still alive; even though their homes had been burnt to ashes. Under the right conditions people started to feel safe to rebuild. I was lucky to arrive at the beginning of this transformation. Initially I worked in Bo. The IRC in Bo assisted refugees still escaping war in Liberia and Sierra Leoneans returning to rebuild their homes and community. After six months I was transferred to Kono. I spent the last 12 months of my contract assisting returnees from refugee camps within the country and Guinea rebuild there lives. |
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| Cheif's wife. Kissytown, Kono |
| Boy at ICC. Yengema, Kono |
| Old Man. Kangama, Kono |
| Old Woman. Kagama, Kono |
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| Market Women. Koidu, Kono |
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