ME AND SIERRA LEONE
I just returned from my journey back home and I most say that I'm in recovery after which i will explain in detail about my experience. I feel like Sierra Leone and I are in an abusive relationship in which i keep going back for more even though it keeps hurting me. It's like loving someone who's addicted to drugs...you keep hoping they'll stop but they dont and you keep on loving anyway.
All in all i enjoyed my time in Sierra Leone, I had wonderful food, kept good company, relaxed, tanned, read, laughed, and drowned myself in the sweetness of Sierra Leone. My bedroom window every morning at 6am received the salat prayer call from the local mosque as i turned over from the puddle of sweat i had amassed during the night. The sleep was deep, peaceful and sweet even in that kind of heat. I spent the majority of my time at home at Boyle Lane, listening to the daily sounds coming from within my home but all from the outside.
As I left on the hovercraft headed for lungi and a 6hour wait at Lungi Airport for my delayed Astraeus flight, I said to a friend beside me "I'm not coming back for a while, i'm tired of this place". She knew I was lying and so did I but we kept silent as the hovercraft woddled away from our dearly beloved.
posted by Nasratha @ 10:32 PM
10 comments
10 Comments:
Sitting here in Sunny,slightly more civilised Costa Del Sol,Spain it warmed my heart to read your short excerpt on your recent trip home. Best of all.... the ending where despite the discomfort...you knew in your heart of hearts that you WOULD be back and loving it just the same..!! Remember...there's no place like home!!
Hello to Sierra Leone Blog. Do you know any bloggers living in Sierra Leone right now?
I am working on a website in the UK and would really like to find some bloggers living in the country that I can write to. Please let me know..
Where are you living by the way... in the US?
Peace to all, Fabhippychick
The word civilised is being bandied about a bit willy nilly with regards to Sierra Leone. There is an almighty attack of the book people on a thread in the forum about the Krios wether they were civilised or not. Well! I just finished reading Aminatta Forna's book about her dad and growing up in Sierra leone. Despite the horror and the tragedy that led her to writing the book, Sierra leone's tender, fucked-up, beautiful, corrupt, fractured character came through and the Krios came in for some minor bashing with regards to the apparent 'them and us' default position of the Krios and the none-krio population. She said: 'whilst it was happening the Krios were pretending that none of it was happening'. She is reffering to her dad's era of innovative, dynamic, creative politics that the Krios by her suggestion snubbed as he was a 'country man'. Yes a 'country man with a vision. The slice of history she so lovingly documented was the history of my parents generation and my generation. My blog is about arty stuff, literature, films even new ideas on the state of what is Sierra leonean today. It is light and frivolous and from tme to time; a few insights on existential angst Salone style. I will talk about other African countries, thier music, their women, thier men and all those things that other people miss, those who have their eyes on the bigger prize. I would remain at ground level and sweep up after the bigger boys and girls in a kind of art school sort of way 'jus for make de soup sweet nomo'. I wil try to tie things up with current events. So! this is an unofficial Review of Aminatta Forna's book. Go and buy it and read, actually its sub-heading should be 'how not to run a country'. Its chuck full of the best Sierra Leonean names you can imagine. This is for those who are looking for authentic and beautiful sounding names like: Luseni, Yabome, Memuna ...just a few of the gems. You see i said it was not erudite, but i will pass on information that might be useful to Salone people dem.
Anyway what is this botobata about civilasation? A westernised attitude does not make a civilised person. Ok a bunch of Spanish people arrived in North America, they slaughtered all the Indians that stood between them and a lot of gold and wealth. My understanding of civilisation in a lay man's sort of way is: a distillation of culture where a system of living has been agreed upon over time by a group of people through trial and error. Ok! and that does not include killing other people for what was rightfully theirs. So i2sw person next time you are in sunny 'civilised' Spain, just have a little think about thier bloody exploits. It may help put their 'civilisation' in perspective.
Hi English Hippy chick,
I'm based in the UK but should be in Freetown in the next couple of days.
Sierra Leone, land of iron and diamonds plus a lot lot more. We are soo blessed and so cursed.
I went to Sierra Leone this past christmas after almost 15 years in the United States. The first thing that greeted me aside form the wonderful hospitality of our beloved citizens is the filth. (dorty). The country is so filthy, it is unbelievable. I never imagined a country would not be able to clear its waste but wants to atract tourists.
After all these years, no government is Sierra Leone is able to improve the travel from Lungi to Freetown. By now we should have a bridge that runs from Tagrin to either Kissy or Government Wharf or Cline town where we can charge toll for use of the bridge to recup the cost and also for maintainance.
you would think that after that gruesome war we would have learnt our lesson to get rid of corrupting and create conditions to make life livable for our people. No; we are still mired in corruption. Still being plundered by the old guards from the days of Siaka Stevens and Mommoh.
What do they have to offer the country that they haven't given up to this time? Nothing. Yet still they are fighting hard to continue running for president and plunder our blessed resources.
I could go on and on and on, but I will stop now. It is very disheartening to even think that our people still languish in such condition whilst the powers that be contine to defraud our nation.
God is watching.
Also, I see there is a new feature on the vsl website; Krio words and meaning. Very good. I think its a good idea so i am going to create my own list of Krio words:
Botobata or Noshe Noshe- Rubbish
Gbanga - Ode - Out in the open
Kpakpakuru - Hard, dry
Mumunyere - Snacks
Sukusuku - Sex
Gbakanda - Determined
So people feel free to make a small list of words after your postings . I think it will be fun way to explore our dynamic, mercurial language.It never fails to amuse at how it morphs to accomodate new words that always capture with wry humour the essence of a current event or predicament.
'Sobel', the coinage describing and I will go as far as to say; celebrating the enterprising Sierra Leonean spirit, is a case in point.
If you have similar stuff and is intersted in wrting distinctly African stuff, please lets start something, lili mumunyere for the head and eyes.
Aminatta Forna's book is called 'The Devil That Danced On The Water'.
I live in Maryland, U.S.A. I will like to purchase land in the western area or the peninsula of Freetown to build a house. If you know of any authentic and legal land availibility please let me know. Financing is immediate.Thanks!
FRANCIS,whatever the state of sierra leone,its our mother land,its up 2 all of us to rebuilt our sweet sierraleone.if u cant do a thing,dont criticised it BROV.it is through that dirt we grow up and still love it.[hope its not my friend FRANCIS LEBBIE,my schooldays close friend.if u are,this is MUSA TURAY,from waterloo street now in the UK.
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