Sierra Leone {info & pics}

Back in August of 2008, Ryan and I headed to West Africa with Word Made Flesh to spend 4 months among some of the poorest people in the world. It was an experience that we will never forget and that changed us in ways we are still discovering today. We also got the opportunity to work with and meet some wonderful people.

(Click here to see all our posts related to our time in Sierra Leone)

Watch the video below if you want to know more about WMF and its founder, Chris Heuertz.

Sierra Leone statistics:

• approximate population 6,100,000
• 44% of the population is under 15 years old
• over 70% lives below poverty line
• average life expectancy is 40.6 years
• one of the world’s highest child mortality rate (284 child deaths/1000 live births)

While Sierra Leone is rich is natural resources (like most African countries), its physical and social infrastructure is poorly developed, and serious social disorders continue to slow development.

About the War:

A brutal 10-year civil war (1991-2002) destroyed much of the country of Sierra Leone, leaving its beautiful people some of the poorest and most vulnerable in the world. The civil war became a struggle between the government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) for the country’s gold and diamonds. The war resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (about one third of the population). Children were both the victims and the abusers in the war. Thousands were abducted, drugged, abused, and manipulated into combatants. They usually became soldiers through coercion, either through mandatory conscription or forced recruitment.  The children became the RUF’s most efficient killers and bands of them terrorized the country for over ten years. The rebels even had a name for them – SBUs, or Small Boy Units. Following the war, the UN brokered a peace agreement that guaranteed the release of Sierra Leone’s child soldiers. As a result, kids put down their guns, streamed out of the bush, and were told to go home. Sadly, most of them no longer knew where home was, for they had grown up with guns instead of families. (The movie Blood Diamond paints the picture of the war that ravaged the country)

Below are some pictures that we took while we were in Sierra Leone:

sunset from staff’s balcony in SL’s capital, Freetown

the famous Cotton Tree… over 200 yrs old in the heart of Freetown

view of Freetown

Kroo Bay

Church in Kroo Bay where the Good News Club (Alle, Alle) was held

Aberdeen Beach

hiking in Grafton

waterfall in Grafton