Information!! Woo Hoo!!!

Dec 12, 2010

As this trip so quickly approaches I want to have a basic background of Sierra Leone.  Also, I always need to practice with my blogging skills, so you get to learn with me.

The Republic of Sierra Leone (official name) hosts 5.7 million citizens and is in West Africa on the Atlantic Coast.  The capital is Freetown. founded in 1787 as a home to many repatriated slaves.  (Names communicate a lot, don’t they?)  English and Krio are spoken, along with many other African languages.  Islam and Christianity are the main religions (I think I read 30% Christian somewhere) The GNI per capita is $320, and life expectancy is 46 (men) and 49 (women).  To put that in perspective, I would, statistically speaking, have one foot in the grave.  Wow.  While Sierra Leone has had some economic growth in recent years, and would like to develop in the tourism industry, it still ranks at the bottom of the UN’s League for human development.  Just this year (2010) the UN Security lifted the last sanctions, establishing that 8 years after a brutal, decade long civil war, the government has established enough control over it’s territory and disarmed rebels.  Diamonds are a major export, still, and the human desire for the wealth they bring helped fuel the war in which rebels hacked off hands and feet of their victims.
 I am really going to try to watch the movie Blood Diamond before I go in an effort to grasp a glimpse of the trauma many of those I will meet have endured.  This kind of movie is not my usual fare as I have an over active picture archive in my brain, and I cannot imagine the reality of such evil.  I watched the movie Amistad, years ago (about a ship commandeered by slaves that landed in America) and can still see it in my mind.  Perhaps you would watch either or both of these movies in the next month ‘with’ me???.
On the bright side, cocoa and coffee are also major exports, so maybe my hot chocolate fix will be met.
On the interesting side, in June 2009, there were 13,900 internet users in Sierra Leone.  That’s .5%.  I plan to be one of them while I’m there..... :)
Well, school is cancelled tomorrow, so there’s your educational moment.

Have I mentioned lately how grateful I am that you are with me in this?
Dawn