Sewa News Stream

S. B. Thomas Agricultural Academy (a.k.a. Mabang College) (Photo taken in January 2012) The Sierra Leone Monuments and Relics Commission currently has sixteen national monuments listed, down from the original 32, according to US-based Sierra Leonean engineer and history buff Melbourne Garber. They include ruins, tombstones, a deserted village site, remnant of stockades, steps, stones and bastions, he adds. "A few of the more well known sites are the Bunce Island Slave Castle, the Maroon Church located not too far from the historic Cotton Tree in the heart of Freetown, St. Charles Church in the village of Regent and the Old Fourah Bay College in Cline Town in the east end of the city." In this article first published in the Awareness Times newspaper, Garber goes in search of a lost monument. S. B. Thomas Agricultural Academy (a.k.a. Mabang College) – Preserving a Sierra Leone Historic Monument   By Melbourne Garber On the banks of the Ribbi River in Kholifa chiefd

President Barack Obama meets with President Ernest Bai Koroma, Cabinet ministers, Kaifala Marah (Finance), Samura Kamara (Foreign affairs),  Alpha Kanu (Information) and  the Sierra Leonean Ambassador to the United States, Bockarie Stevens in the Oval Office, White House, Washington DC on March 28, 2013.

Sewa News 3/26/2013--Nancy Kanu and Fatu Koroma were the quintessential  homemakers, poor, barely able to read or write, eking out a living in rural Sierra Leone. But the women—for whom accessing jobs or economic and technical opportunities was only a pipe dream—now have new skills plus an added source of income as they lead a growing  number of women using techniques that will transform villages and towns across Sierra Leone. Mrs. Kanu is currently director of the Barefoot Women Solar College at Konta Line, Port Loko District, in northern Sierra Leone.  She takes pride in being a mentor, encouraging old and young to get involved with renewable energies. Mrs. Koroma is a senior trainer at Barefoot Women.  She coordinates the college's electronics workshop. The Barefoot Women Solar College has electrified five hundred and fifty villages since it was  established in 2010,  according to Stephen Kargbo, who heads the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

Sewa News 3/25/2013-The Peace Mission Training Center held a farewell ceremony at Hastings, about 15 miles east of Freetown, for members of the Leone 1 Battalion. The more than 850 soldiers, assigned to the African Union Mission in Somalia, will be away for nine months to a year. One of the mandates of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is to monitor the security situation in areas of operation, help the citizens of Somalia and the government to enable them to regain control of the country in order to bring back and reinforce law and order. On March 6, the Security Council extended for another year the mandate of the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, as it continues to consider a revised United Nations presence there, and partially lifted the 20-year-old arms embargo imposed on the country, UN sources said . In a unanimously adopted resolution, the Council also requested Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to continue the UN logistical support package for AMISOM,

Continued form Part One Sewa News Stream - All through March, it's "Women's History Month" in the United States of America—home for almost 30 years to Sierra Leonean transplant, Hannah Faux. Artist, jewelry maker and an award-winning photographer, Hannah's passion for life and art is simply enchanting. Hannah Faux : When I am not out and about on a photo shoot alone or with friends, editing my images, or taking an art class, I may be at home designing and making original pieces of beaded jewelry. I am quite the accidental artist, as it were, never having taking an art class in school or college. I was introduced to jewelry making by my then teenage daughter who wanted to dabble in the art during a summer vacation, several years ago. The rest, as they say, is history and I have sold several hundreds of my unique, elegant, and sometimes one-of-a-kind creations since 1999.

Baltimore 3/19/2013---International Women's Day has come and gone but the celebration isn't quite over on Sewa News. All through March, it's "Women's History Month" in the United States of America—home for almost 30 years to Sierra Leonean transplant, Hannah Faux. Artist, jewelry maker, and an award-winning photographer, Hannah's passion for life and art is simply enchanting. Sewa News caught up with her online to chat about a recent trip to Freetown.  Dried Cockle: Used in stews, jollof rice, etc., offers a smokey flavoring to a dish.  Grains and legumes  Sewa News Stream : You went to Sierra Leone in 2010 to document Sierra Leonean life and came back with some fascinating images. What prompted the visit? Hannah Faux : I actually went to Sierra Leone in 2009 and '11, but the trip in the summer of 2010 with my daughter was significant because she had just graduated that spring and was about to go away to Europe for a couple of years. I k

Sierra Leone Gender Watch founder and talk show host Khadi Mansaray leads a panel of Sierra Leonean women in the International Women's Day edition for "Voices from the Diaspora" on Sierra Leone Diaspora Radio Network

Baltimore, Md 3/8/2013--To mark International Women's Day ,  I celebrate Sierra Leone and one of the most powerful  advocates of Sierra Leonean women. Meet Lee Karen Stow ,  the inspirational photographer and photojournalist behind the '42' Women of Sierra Leone exhibition and project , which  paid tribute to the strength, resilience and beauty of the women of Sierra Leone. "A year into the project I turned 42 and I looked at my life expectancy as a woman living in the West and it's 83, which is almost double [life expectancy for women in Sierra Leone was just 42 in 2007]. So I saw this as a violation of human rights actually, the right of every woman everywhere to have the opportunity to lead a long, healthy and fulfilling life," Stow told the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool , where the 42 exhibition was launched to coincide with the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. 42 ran from March 2011 through June 2012. Prior to the e

Paul Kamara, Sierra Leone's minister of youth and sports, poses in this undated photo taken at the national stadium Baltimore, MD--3/1/2013--Paul Kamara, Sierra Leone's Minister of Youth and Sports, says all the right things at the right time about young people and jobs, but can't quite find the right words in the sports arena.  Less than a week after he was lauded for telling a gathering that the Koroma administration is working to find a lasting solution to youth unemployment he was raking over coals in a long-running controversy.  In what was widely regarded as a controversial move, the minister dissolved the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) last September forcing  FIFA (the International Federation of Association Football) to step in and set up a "normalisation committee" to run the affairs of the SLFA for a period of six months, according to Sylvia Blyden. One report said it was clear that the minister was not happy with the SLF