Archive for the ‘West Africa’ Category
So you wanna help Africa? Here's how. (Hint: It only takes $10. But you gotta be fast.)
Some of you might remember my series on grassroots reconciliation in Sierra Leone. Fambul Tok is a local program in every sense–started by a Sierra Leonean, run by Sierra Leoneans, and welcomed by villages that want to use their traditional culture to help overcome the legacy of war. It’s not a requirement of [...]
Swine flu vs. meningitis: What's your (editorial) choice?
The U.S. media are all over the swine flu outbreak. It started in Mexico, killed over 150 people there, and has been documented in America, New Zealand, Canada and a few other industrial countries.
But hardly two months ago, we heard nary a word about over 5,000 cases–five thousand –of meningitis in Nigeria and [...]
While we're on courts…a trip back to Sierra Leone
Where earlier this week three members of the Revolutionary United Front were convicted of all kinds of Awful Stuff. The RUF is rebel group behind the most famous of the abuses in Sierra Leone’s war, the hacking off of people’s limbs.
Among that Awful Stuff were convictions for forced marriage, the first ever in the [...]
“It is finished in my heart,” or, how to forgive the man who cut off your arm
I don’t have any idea. But here’s what Temba Kekura told me (this is the last part of my Sierra Leone series; if you read yesterday’s post, you haven’t seen this yet):
Before the war, when his village and his family and his body were whole, Temba Kekura was a farmer. He had few things, [...]
Really, I went to Sierra Leone; or, A look at reconciliation, village by village
Way back in March, the Christian Science Monitor sent me to Sierra Leone to report a series on ‘grassroots reconciliation,’ for lack of a better term, after the war there.
It’s finally seen the light of day, in a three-parter which began yesterday. Here’s the setup:
John Caulker might know the rough, red-rock roads of rural [...]
Apologies–mine, and otherwise
Oh, so many apologies.
* First, to my few but devoted commenters–commentors? how is it spelled? this new internet age!–whose wonderful thoughts I’ve let languish in the “awaiting approval” pipeline. Sorry about that; it’s been a bit crazy here, and I didn’t want to click in and out until I could really engage.
So, here [...]
I am a freelance journalist and multimedia producer who covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs. [