Today, the world has become a global village and the USA is said to be leading in this race for equal opportunities for all people irrespective of race, region, or economic disadvantage. Bravo to Uncle Sam for asserting your role and responsibility to make, not only the US but the entire world habitable for mankind!
My Country, Sierra Leone, a small West African territory is one of the greatest paradoxes in the world: This is the only Country with huge diamond and rut tile deposits, arable land, marine resources, large forest reserve, human resource itself is not in short supply, it has the oldest University in West Africa, Fouray Bay College, but literacy rate still staggers around 85% and guess what, even love is in abundance but not practiced between the leaders and their vulnerable subordinates. It is therefore not surprising that, in the midst of all these endowments, the people of Sierra Leone are still ranked by the United Nations as one of the poorest Countries in the world with the highest infant mortality! Even the element of hope which is normally the last urge to stay alive and wait seem to be failing the people of Sierra Leone. Wait for what!
What is more frustrating for the average Sierra Leonean which leaves them in a complete state of limbo and bewilderment is when people say to them that their Country has no business being poor! "What" exclaimed one of the amputees who lost both limbs in the brutal civil war known as the war for Blood Diamonds. Did I hear you say that "we have no business to be poor? But then look at me, what did I do to deserve my condition? Have I not been callously forced to sign a bond with poverty? I had just completed High School, when rebels entered my village, burnt down all the houses, killed my father, raped my mother and my two sisters and ordered me to join their ranks. When I refused, they chopped off my two arms. What did I do? I was only a student at the only Government School in Jimmi which Khadarlis for Sierra Leone is now helping to link with Schools and Colleges in the US. Now with both hands amputated, what hope do I have in life?
Stories like these are the motivations behind Khadarlis mission for Sierra Leone! Sometimes, when I contrast the vast potentials of my Country with what obtains on the ground, my heart bleeds to death, my soul is tortured beyond repairs, and I am gripped with a convulsion of agony, pessimism and absurdism that knows no bounds.
Why is a Country with beautiful landscape, natural and human resources still wallows in abject poverty? When the two photo Journalists, Kate Kelly and Jonathan Beller published their documentary on the film titled "Leh We Tok" in 2011, I believe that one of their objectives could not be far from capturing the attention of the world to the plight of Sierra Leoneans. But just what kind of interest the people of Sierra Leone craves for is the only right question to ask.
So when Khadarlis for Sierra Leone was founded in 2007, the founders, Aisha Khadar from Sierra Leone and Darlis Johnson from the United States dreamed of a Sierra Leone that will rise from the ashes of war to a prosperous nation by using their Nonprofit to raise awareness and solicit support to accomplish their vision for a Country that deserves the attention of all well meaning philanthropists and individuals who believe in helping the cause of the needy.
If Sierra Leone has no business being poor, we urge the development and humanitarian community to come forward and help Khadarlis for Sierra Leone to change the lives of Sierra Leoneans around for real. Khadarlis strategy for rebuilding Sierra Leone is unique in the sense that its dedicated staff and volunteers both from Sierra Leone and the US focuses on a cross-fertilization of ideals, linkages, research, knowledge exchange and forging trade between Sierra Leone and the USA. I am already on board the ship of Khadarlis for Sierra Leone. What about you?
It takes a brave person to start changing the world, and peacefully and with love just like Khadarlis does :)
ReplyDeleteand it is contagious, that is the best part!