Sierra Leone | Archive Postcards





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Violence: the New Normal for Fourah Bay College Clubs, Fraternities and Sororities

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Alhassan Jalloh, a former student at Fourah Bay College (FBC), graduated in the 1990s. Comparing the level of violence on campus now to his time at FBC, he said it is a "totally new phenomenon." Club initiations were "a bit physical but not in this kind of way,” he said. Alhassan, whose cousin fell victim to (violent hazing) said that when visited his old club during a trip from the United States, he found things were different from the way it used to be. He blamed the present scenario on post-war mentality. Dr. Edward Nahim, the only Sierra Leonean psychiatrist for years, defined violence as: “infliction of physical or psychological harm on an individual for him or her to feel severe pain or discomfort.” He said that though student violence is not new, the war and (mind-altering) drugs have accelerated the rates of violence among students. He pointed out that the main reason for students embarking on violence is drug abuse. “I spoke a lot about drug abuse at the u...
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Remembering January 6, 1999: Zainab Bangura honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice

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Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura is a Sierra Leonean politician and social activist. She was appointed as Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict in September 2012.  "Today, on this very solemn day, I want us to remember all those who gave their lives to save the city after the January 6 attack. " By Christmas Day 1998, the rebels led by the late Solomon A.J. Musa were at Waterloo and Freetown was under siege. As though by some divine intervention, S.A.J Musa died a mysterious death on the outskirts of the city before the year rolled over.  His death delayed the attack on the city as we were later informed.  Following reports of his death, we knew it was just a matter of time before all hell broke loose. The civil society coalition was now working with ***ECOMOG, the *** Kamajors and many more people. We no longer had an Army. Our military had turned against us and they were on the move to slaughter us. Severa...
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Solomon Berewa: the Sage | by Lans Gberie

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Archive AFP photo of former Vice President Solomon Berewa On my last day in Freetown recently, I visited Solomon Berewa, Sierra Leone’s former Vice President and unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2007, at his Goderich home. He is now very old and retired, but his schedule seemed busy. When I called a week earlier, he was on his way to Bo; and he had attended the Sierra Leone Peoples’ Party (SLPP) national convention two days before that.  I was interested in his views on that. But I was more interested in his recollections relating to the Sierra Leone government’s negotiations with the Revolution United Front, which he had led both at Abidjan and at  Lomé (the conversations relating to that are not published here).   A day before I met him, he was interviewed by the AYV for its early morning political programme [broadcast]. Mr. Berewa’s house, like all the houses in its vicinity, is in a gated compound, which is large and a bit grassy. It is a two-story...
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