There is almost always hope in every desperate situation. Sierra Leone came into the limelight because of our gory brand of war. We all agreed that all we needed was an end to the war. That was why Pa Kabbah played the biblical Jesus Thief in the night and signed the peace deal that gave us a new lease of life.
We were rock bottom and everybody agreed the only alternative was to bounce back. Seven years on we are still “teh-tehing” never mind tremendous progress already made. We are in the “borbor pain” stage, – at least many citizens.
Sometimes I wonder why there is so much disparity between how things are and how things should be. We were all made in the image of God, which means we are all destined to be good and also succeed in what we do. But along the way the environment in which we find ourselves gets a heavy hold on us and determine to a large extent what we shall be.
Take my case. I first encountered ice cream when I was in form one at the Bo school. It was one of my childhood wonders. What did I do? The first midterm break we had, I carefully wrapped some ice cream in my aunty-made handkerchief and put it among my clothes in what we used to call portmanteau, boarded a vehicle and went to my home town Moimandu Kotarya.
My God you can guess my anxiety and hilarity that day. I fought hard for my box, not to be placed on top of the rickety vehicle. No sooner I got home than I called all the kids in the village most of whom had never even traveled in a vehicle. I proudly opened my box to show them the marvel of the decade…my ice cream. There the whole stuff had melted and messed up my clothes. At first I actually thought someone had stolen my ice cream. But no…I stupidly never thought ice cream melts. I have this innocent naivety to think that ice creams only melt when placed in the mouth. Well you can imagine my disappointment during that midterm break.
Tell me something today nobody really teaches our kids a lot of things but they know anyway. This electronic twenty-first century is actually something else. I find it to be a real violation of children’s rights not to expose children to the facilities of the mad raging modern world. The days of the vormies and the black power slippers are long gone.
Don’t hide behind culture and keep the children in ignorance. It is always the poor man who first opts for being a vegetarian since he cannot afford a pound of meat anyway.
Even poverty should not be an excuse to allow any body to deprive our children. For goodness sake how will they compete with their pals in other countries.
I can remember my embarrassment in Israel in 2008 when we went for an international workshop (Courtesy of NMJD) we were out sightseeing and taking photos. At one stage I gave my lovely sports car patterned Olympus camera to a female to take shots of me and the others. Oh my God she could not operate it! Why? It was out of fashion.
Then I realized that everybody else had digital cameras except me … although back home I bluffed with it. What angered me most was the fact that even the Zimbabwean participant had very sophisticated electronic gadgets … Zimbabwe whose currency was laughing stock in the world. Well if you are traveling these days try to get the state of the art electronics or you will get the embarrassment of your life.
Is our problem poverty or none exposure, or do you say both?
Can you explain why Amadu Jalloh from Yiffin chiefdom in Northern Koinadugu had the best results for the NPSE 2007/2008 school year?
Thanks to the Ambassador’s Scholarship scheme through the Christian Extension Services the poor boy Amadu I understand has got a government scholarship and is studying at the Grammar School. Can you imagine how his brain could have wasted just because of poverty? Tucked out there in the heart of Koinadugu, he could have been forced to get married early in order to be able to have the work force for farm work. There are many others who have fallen into this trap round the country in remote areas, suburbs that have been long forgotten by any speck of civilization. You visit your village and you will see many of your former class mates who have resigned themselves to hard core jungle living. A youth at 35 to 40 years will look older than 55 years.
Are you surprised that people resign themselves to harsh conditions as if it is exclusively their potion. This year another Ambassador’s girl candidate came first in the NPSC for Koinadugu district. She is Aminata Kamara of Missionary Church of Africa Primary School, Mansadu, and Mongo Chiefdom. This is indeed a rare feat. The trend in the district is that at Primary level girls will go neck to neck with boys but less than a third of the girls reach the SSS classes. They drop out like flies for various reasons not unconnected with poverty and ignorance. One wonders when this trend will change if at all.
The so called city dwellers are not all the brains never mind all the facilities at their disposal. No one can win all the time. Hey do you know there has been a decision that no matter what the sex test on Casper Semenya turns out to be she will retain her gold medal.
The world is actually stupid. At one go they fight for equality for the sexes. At another they are not expecting women to perform like men. What a shame to Athletics governing body. What is all the hullabaloo about gender mainstreaming and all that? This Casper issue needs a lot of reflection by sporting enthusiasts. If we don’t reflect on issues and correct them, the future will be more chaotic. Life’s journey is unending and we need not worry so much because the only way we can go out of this world is death.
As Nelson Mandela once said, “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vistas that surround me, to look back on the distance I have come.
But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom, comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger for my long walk is not yet ended.” Life’s journey has a lot of hurdles, challenges and time has to be considered as a resource. My late Galilee Colleague once said, “Time is life… what I do with my life is what I do with my time.”
The many problems we are facing as a nation is perhaps the same other people are having, – may be the difference is the priorities and strategies we adopt.
Why we take two steps forward and three steps backwards is that if you look at the MDGs, everything there appears an emergency. So because the resources are not just there we keep hitting rock bottom. They say that when you hit rock bottom you are sure to bounce back… my guys are we really bouncing back? Yes when the going gets tough the tough gets going but it looks like things are getting tough for even the tough. It’s a question of level. We all operate at different levels. One man’s basic is another man’s luxury! Nar so dee world dae go…nor to so?
By S. Beny SAM
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