Poverty and Death

The war caused Sierra Leone to become a country with the highest rate of infants' death. Many of infants and children suffer from malnutrition. The annihilated bridges and constructed roads majorly contribute to starvation by delaying the food transportation. The clinics throughout the country are having hard time distributing the food because there are simply not enough foods. Sierra Leoneans struggle to live with one meal a day, while we waste our food every meal. They not only starve to death, but they also die from food itself. Even though, many suffer from severe diarrhea and vomiting, people are reluctant to ask for help, because they are embarrassed; a woman who did not get proper help in the clinic due to her embarrassment eventually died from diarrhea. Mothers beg to not to discharge their children from clinics where meager amount of food is provided for children with malnutrition.

The 40 percent of children under age of 5 die from Malaria. Even though, the cause of the malaria is widely known, people have no money to pay for insect repellent or mosquito net.
The infants who die during their births are buried with cardboard coffins. I wonder what I can do to help those in Sierra Leone. I could give donation, but who knows where it goes? There is no way for me to make sure my donation helps those who are in need of it. I recall South Koreans' effort to help the poor in North Korea ended up helping Kim Jung Il. What could we truly do to help our neighbors?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7495161.stm

www.slaahunger.org/

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/sierraleone_39463.html

Postwar Drinking

Before the civil war, Sierra Leone had been known for having low drinking rate. However, during the war, rebels as well as government militia consumed alcohol to incite themselves in killing countless civilians.

So, what happened after the war?

Many people had strongly alleged that denizens in Sierra Leone would continue to drink due to 'heavy drinking war'. However, those plausible assumptions have been proven to be wrong; citizens in Sierra Leone seems to be returning to their traditional lives quite easily. Many managed to reconstruct their villages with strong collaboration and helps of various non-profit organization. Even though many have been exposed to modernization through refugee camps in Freetown, they somehow managed to maintain their cultural beliefs. Following their traditions, many indigenous people have succeeded in not drinking alcohol. Unlike most of the villages in Sierra Leone, however, Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown seems to have been excluded from the benefits of traditions. Freetown shows the highest drinking rate throughout the country. As a capital, Freetown is a multicultural city where true modernization is portrayed. Due to its modernization, people find themselves relatively free from customs as well as religious beliefs. It seems as though tradition is what holds Sierra Leone together; customs seems to work as a catalyst to expedite postwar reconstruction. The traditions in Sierra Leone show contradictory aspects. Even though millions of women suffer from female genital mutilation, there are those who actually benefit from it.

http://www.fafo.no/pub/rapp/496/496.pdf

Genital Mutilation in Sierra Leone

“They used a crude penknife, it was so painful. I bled excessively for two days and fainted when I wanted to walk.”
-Turay at the age of 11.

The female genital mutilation severely violates women rights. Unlike, Muslims who coerce women circumcision for religious beliefs, women in African countries including Sierra Leone suffers from genital mutilation with no particular reason; people in Sierra Leone execute women circumcision only to follow their traditional beliefs. The female circumcision is executed for girls as young as 8 months. The whole purpose of the female circumcision is to clearly amputate clitoris. One of the victims of genital mutilation says she was forced to be circumcised twice, because her first circumcision was not properly done. The elders in Sierra Leone seems to justify female circumcision, alleging that women who are not circumcised are detested by their husband due to their 'smell'.
Unlike, male circumcision, female genital mutilation does not benefit women whatsoever. In fact, it only worsens women's health condition as well as psychological condition. Even though postwar women in Sierra Leone strive to extend their rights, female genital mutilation seems to be left prevalent due to people's desire to uphold their traditions after the treacherous civil war. Rugiatu Turay, one of the victims of severe female genital mutilation suggests education of women as a solution to this issue: “Educating people is empowering them. It is only through their minds that you can change the attitude of people” The women's literacy rate in Sierra Leone is as low as 18%; it does not seem to improve as much, due to the civil war which utterly damaged educational system in Sierra Leone.
From lower wages to female mutilation, women around the globe suffers from various injustice. At first, I thought women rights in Sierra Leone must be improving, but now I am not so sure anymore. Even though, women seems to be perpetuating their roles in politics and economy, they still suffer from circumcision that is upheld by people in the name of 'tradition'. Should this tradition be nullified? Do we have rights to interfere in altering other countries' amoral traditional beliefs?

http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/83/11/news21105/en/index.html
http://fgmnetwork.org/news/show_news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1217718897&archive=&template=

http://www.marclamonthill.com/mlhblog/?p=2542

Postwar Women in Sierra Leone

Women in Sierra Leone are striving to expand their rights after the civil war.

Women's rights differ from various areas in Sierra Leone; relatively, women in northern Sierra Leone has limited rights compared to other parts of the region. The treacherous civil war left many women widowed or separated from their husbands. Those women has no way of living, unless they are allowed to own and cultivate their land. Postwar circumstance in Sierra Leone is coercing its traditional culture to open up more opportunities for women. Nowadays in Sierra Leone, group of women as well as youths are striving to expand their rights through campaigns and broadcasting systems. I recall women in United States were able to elevate their status in social hierarchy through World War II; women worked as a labor force while men fought in the war. Postwar women in Sierra Leone and in United States seem to show interesting correlation; war inadvertently gave rise to women's right in both cases.

Even though women's role in society seems to be growing, there are still many women still suffering 'silent war' and postwar side effects such as HIV/AIDS. Ironically, despite the rise of social reforms, the number of rape cases are higher than before or during the war.

I wonder if regional differences are somehow engaged in creating this inconsistent social status women throughout the nation.

http://www.ndi.org/whatsnew.asp

ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/ah243e/ah243e00.pdf

Sierra Leone's Ghetto Taxpayers

Locals carry tax receipts in holders around their necks


"I don't have a job, but I have paid my tax"

-Mohamed Bangura, 38-

"I paid the tax because I want to rehabilitate the country"
-Salu Koroma, 28-

Sierra Leone is recovering from the civil war with its denizens' adamant endeavors to reconstruct the country. Unlike ghettos around the globe, ghetto in Sierra Leone is full of people who wear "tax receipts in holders around their necks." Most of the people who pay the taxes are unemployed and struggles for their living every day. However, their poverty and unemployment does not seem to stop them from participating in reconstructing their country; it is amazing to see significant number of tax payers in a country where 70% of people live under poverty line. Due to total obliteration during the war, schools as well as incalculable number of homes and businesses have been utterly destroyed. Sierra Leone's literacy rate is one of the lowest in the world. To ameliorate their country, citizens in Sierra Leone offer whatever they have that might contribute to reconstruction. This article reminds me of one of the parables in the Bible: when Jesus saw a widow offering all she has to God, he said she offered more than any other men with affluence. Sierra Leone might be considered as the most impoverished country, but it glows brighter than any other countries around the globe with their invincible efforts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7610267.stm

Silent War

"Mosquito was the first person who raped me. Then he ordered his men to continue the act. Nine other men continued to rape me. . . . After misusing me to their satisfaction, the rebels left me alone in a very hopeless condition. . . . Even now the pain is still in me, which is creating problems in my marital home, because my husband drives me from my home and says that I am barren."

Surprisingly, disparity exists even among the victims of Sierra Leone civil war. Unlike men and boys who recover from the most terrible war through various reintegration programs, women are excluded from those programs and left alone to fight their continuous 'silent war'. The indigenous culture in Sierra Leone forbids women to publicly come forward and speak. Many women who were courageous enough to discuss their problems were left bereaved and secluded from their society. The relentless rape during the war gives sharp rise to HIV/AIDS or other types of sexually transmitted diseases rate in Sierra Leone. In 2001, U.N. stated that among 170,000 of people who were infected to HIV/AIDS, about 90,000 of them were women between the ages of 15 and 49. Even though, women are having hard time reintegrating to their community, the disparity in their culture keeps them silent. If Ishmael were not a boy, but a girl, he might not have been able to publish his memoir. Both women and boys confront post-war dilemma. What Sierra Leone needs the most is compassion and recovery of love and respect. What happened to Sierra Leone that used to boast its genuine hospitality? What happened to people who valued the community as a whole? Even though the war has been stopped, people in Sierra Leone still suffers from silent war where they have to count on their own.

http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol18no4/184sierraleone.htm

"Call me Ishmael, but don't call me a fabulist!"

Ishmael Beah's bestseller "a long way gone' is challenged by Australia, "Rupert Murdoch's Aussie broadsheet". Australia avows that Ishamael was not recruited as a boy soldier for 2 year, but for 2 months. Ishmael Beah denies Australia's accusation emphasizing his honesty.
The accusations began when an Australian mining engineer found out that one of his employees could potentially be Beah's father. When the engineer contacted Beah to let him know that Beah's father might still be alive, he replied that the miner cannot possibly be his father. Beah, his editors and his agents concluded the mail, saying "we are deeply concerned that this issue not go further" Later, it turned out that the man in the mine is not Beah's father, but one of his distant relatives. Even though, Beah and his agents' assertion was proved to be right, their hostile reaction to a news left the engineer puzzled: "wouldn't a man bearing good news that Beah's father was potentially alive be embraced?" This incident aroused more suspicion and Australia presented several witnesses to corroborate their accusation. Australia finds the timeline in "a long way gone" controversial. With several witnesses, they have arguing that Beah's town was actually attacked in 1995, not in 1993 as Beah narrates in his book.
I thought this article would give me an answer to determine which side to believe. However, this article only made me MORE confused;both Beah's and Australia's assertion sound plausible. Luckily, the fact that Beah actually served the rebel army as a boy soldier is not proven to be controversial. Even though, I believe what Beah depicts in his book is not fictional, I would be furious if Beah used plausible adversity to earn fame and money. However, regardless of the book's authenticity, "a long way gone" represents the cruel misery of countless children in Sierra Leone. There are many children who lose their parents and serve the rebel army for many years. Instead of trying to prove an individual's probable falsehood, we should pay attention to stories of countless voices in pain.

http://www.observer.com/2008/ishmael-beah-defends-himself-and-his-memoirs-against-accusations-misrepresentation
http://www.slate.com/id/2185928/pagenum/3

The Cruelty of RUF

"We hid in the nearby bushes and listened to gunshots and the screamed of men, women and children" (Beah 93).

The civil war left Sierra Leone absolutely chaotic with no proper orders. The rebels does not spare women, children or elders from the indiscriminate killings. In "a long way gone", Beah notices rebel's unbelievable rudeness and violence to the elders, for people in Sierra Leone is known for respecting their elders. Every civilians are subjected to killing; RUF presented no mercy. The rebels rape any women they like and sometimes they force civilians to rape their own family. The sexual slavery is prevalent and one of the boys in the "a long was gone" tells his friends how he witnessed his sister being raped by several rebels continuously.

RUF sets civilians as their major targets to convey their antagonism against the Sierra Leone government. They find civilians useful in the war they have created; they use civilians as numbers to "ensure their future existence".

"They needed to use civilians as a shield against the military"(Beah 24).

"One of the main aims of the rebels when they took over a town was to force the civilians to stay with them, especially women and children. This way they could stay longer, as military intervention would be delayed" (Beah 24).

The insurgents in Sierra Leone considers civilians as crucial 'tools' to win the war against their government. By using civilians as human shields, they protect themselves and reserve their numbers. They also use women and children as their hostage to delay the military intervention. It is awful to see how the rebels use lives to fortify their strength. They claim themselves as freedom fighters, but are they really? Are they truly fighting for freedom when women, children and elders are exploited till the day they die? Are they honestly bringing freedom by coercing women to become sex slaves and drugging children to become their unconscious puppets? It saddens my heart to perceive how the term "liberty" is abused to justify the most abhorrent violence.

http://www.cbsnews.com/

http://liberiaandfriends.blogspot.com/2008/03/former-npfl-fighter-alleges-taylor.html

http://www.hrw.org/reports98/sierra/Sier988-03.htm#P214_31229

The Dilemma of the Boy Soldiers

Child soldiers around the world.

"Young boys were immediately recruited, and the initials RUF were carved wherever it pleased the rebels, with a hot bayonet. This not only meant that you were scarred for life but that you could never escape from them, because escaping with the carving of the rebels' initials was asking for death, as soldiers would kill you without any questions and militant civilians would do the same" (Beah 24).

The young boys in Sierra Leone is "immediately recruited" by RUF as soon as they are found or captured. The rebel group coerce boys as young as 11 or less to fight the war they have created.
The boys are not only targeted for RUF, but also for villi ages they pass by. In "a long way gone", Ishmael and his friends constantly confront villagers' hostility.
Simply, "people stopped trusting each other, and every stranger became an enemy" (Beah 37).
The young boys are in the most vulnerable position in this war. They are not treated well by neither the civilians nor the rebels.
Instead of being a subject that should be protected by everyone, their daily lives are threatened by cruelty of the war.
They are forced to fight the war for rebels and after they are freed, they are tried for what they were coerced to do.
In order to free the boy soldiers from their dilemma, special court for juvenile soldiers has been created by both U.N. and government in Sierra Leone. Instead of imprisonment, those boys will be "sentenced to truth and reconciliation mechanism" and eventually will be released to their community. The boys who were younger than 15 year old when they committed to the war, are not subjected to trial.
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/journals/jihr/v2/8/

http://africannewsanalysis.blogspot.com/2007_03_18_archive.html

http://freethoughts.splinder.com/archive/2004-12

Juvenile soldiers...What do they face?

Once the boys join the rebel army, they are forced to "enjoy" cruelty, following their commanders' orders.

"We are going to initiate all of you by killing these people in front of you. We have to do this to show you blood and make you Strong" (Beah 34).

In "a long way gone" Ishmael and his friends are forced to watch killings because the rebels want to make them "strong". Sometimes, the boy soldiers in Sierra Leone are ordered to kill their own friends to make them stronger and crueler. The children are boiled 'alive' or forced to eat human flesh for punishment. They are drugged to be brainwashed and follow the orders from their commanders.

"We walked toward the dead bodies, giving each other high fives"(Beah 19).

As a result of drugging and constant brainwashing, boys adapt to cruelty; their senses toward brutality becomes numb. They are not horrified from dead bodies or massacre anymore, because they have gotten adjusted to the longest war. They do not feel neither physical nor emotional pain anymore. It is terrible how they get used to massive killings. It is as though killing became their routine just the way they eat or wash everyday. The civilians in Sierra Leone are against special court for juvenile soldiers. They assert boy soldiers should be punished the same as the rebels are punished. Due to severe brainwashing and drugging, boy soldiers do commit the same unspeakable crimes as rebels do. However, should they be blamed for what they have done? Did they have any choices? The civil war left Sierra Leone confused and apathetic.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1020341

Peace Treaty

Sankoh (left) and Kabbah (right) in Lome, Togo.


Lome Peace Treaty
*Held in Togo, from the 25 May 1999, to 7 July 1999.

*RUF continues to violate the peace agreement
-Not allowing humanitarian access to areas under RUF's control.
-Continue to loot Aid Workers' property.
*Promised to return them in Peace treaty, but only few of them were actually returned.
-Mutilation, murder and abduction were still prevalent.

On January 18, 2002 President Kabbah declared the civil war officially over.

http://www.sierra-leone.org/lomeaccord.html
http://www.un.org/Depts/DPKO/Missions/unomsil/UnomsilB.htm
http://www.un.org/Depts/DPKO/Missions/unomsil/UnomsilB.htm

Revolutionary United Front

Foday Sankoh
*Leader of RUF who caused the civil war.
*He was trained militaristically in Nigeria and in Britain

In 1971, he was put into prison for his attempted coup against Siaka Stevens.
Later, he joined guerrilla camp in Liberia. There he met Charles Taylor, future president of Liberia.

He returned from Liberia to Sierra Leone for the formation of RUF in Sierra Leone.

Major Goals of RUF

1. Enhance the education system in Sierra Leone

2. Eradicate social injustice.

Revolutionary United Front
*Rebelled against Sierra Leone government to seize control of diamond production.
*No definite preferences on political system.

*The diamond mines were used as a financial resource for the war. It always guaranteed the continuous relationship between RUF and Liberian president Charles Taylor.

Charles Taylor from Liberia aids RUF militaristically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Leone_Civil_War
http://ftp.fas.org/irp/world/para/ruf.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1065898.stm
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5475.htm

Civil War in Sierra Leone

The war began in 1991, when RUF led by Foday Sankoh attacked the towns in Sierra Leone along the border.

RUF targeted civilians and many people died in amputation.

In 1994, RUF took over diamond mines in Sierra Leone, but those areas were later liberated in 1995.

In 1999, Lome Peace Treaty was signed in Lome, Togo. However, RUF continued to violate the treaty, jeopardizing human rights.

On January 18, 2002 President Kabbah declared the civil war officially over.

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/africa/01/18/diamonds.timeline/

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0g0u6Eo1W38TE