I hadn’t counted on National Cleanup Day. A country with no garbage pickup—no recycling. On windy days plastic bags swirl like leaves. But not on National Cleanup Day. The only vehicles on the roads belong to police, or the military or politicians. Everyone else is ordered to remain at home, sweeping one’s compound of trash. […]
freetown
A few days among the Mende in Sierra Leone
This is a “live” post from Sumbuya, Sierra Leone. I ask your forgiveness for spelling or grammatical errors—I’m in an NGO office, the lights are blinking and, well—this is going to be one draft only. I’m here to tidy up loose ends. Tomorrow I’ll attend the opening of the school that our family and friends […]
Back to the beginning….
Thanks to my agent, Drea Cohane, My Heart Is Not My Own is finally getting into the hands of acquiring editors. And so my thoughts return to the beginning…. In 2000, during the civil war in Sierra Leone, I visited a refugee camp in Freetown. I remember several images from that trip, but one in […]
On standing out….below the radar, in Sierra Leone
I’ve often been asked if I’ve ever felt uncomfortable in Sierra Leone. The answer is yes, when I was there in 2000, during the war. It was a year after ‘the second coming of the demons’, which is how Sierra Leoneans often refer to January, 1999, when the rebels retook most of Freetown. When Joseph […]
Rocking in Freetown
Imagine a circular building with a stage in the middle. Open all the doors and windows. Give all the women fans. Have a balcony encircle the entire building. The place is packed. Women in print dresses and matching hats–big floppy ones. Men in white shirts and ties. Everyone dressed for a wedding—but it’s only Sunday. […]
Return to Freetown
Freetown has changed. In 2000 it was a place of U.N., ECOMOG and Sierra Leonean soldiers. Too many sneering boys in combat fatigues with fingers twitching along the barrels of AK-47s. A nation of people who hadn’t slept in a decade. The airport is still chaotic but there are fewer uniforms. Bags still fall off […]