2nd Trip to Sierra Leone #6: A Reality Check from the US Embassy Causes a Quick Schedule Change

Una Kushe, we were up bright and early for our very official appointment with the Special Projects Coordinator at the US Embassy. We had several major agenda items for her. John and my Uncle are co-authoring a paper on Sierra Leonean Teacher’s Unions, we wanted to discuss the possibility of finding other organizations that could assist us with the Sambaia-Bendugu Gravity Well (see trip 1 update #5: “Thank You” and “Hello” Dinner by Candlelight with the Koronko Tribe) and other potential partner organizations operating within Sierra Leone, and I wanted to inquire about the reality of women’s rights.

I have to admit that with as much travelling as I have done, the US Embassy in Sierra Leone is the only one I’ve ever been to. It is a ridiculous display of wealth in the poorest country in the world. It’s made of marble and has a swimming pool. It is so big and sits on top of a hill (view from hill in photo above) in such a way that it can be used as a landmark. But there was a life sized cutout of Obama that I would have taken my own photo with had my camera not been on the prohibited items list and confiscated upon entry along with my bag, cell phone and almost everything else.

That said, I really liked our contact, Lindsay Kennedy and her boss, who was currently in Ghana, helping to usher Secretary Clinton around Africa is helping one of our villages, Mamaka (see photo of the completed school, left) with a “self help” grant. The concept of a small village like Mamaka applying for and receiving funding (less than $5,000USD) is something that was an ultimate goal of SLVP. Empowering a community to help themselves beyond the help we could provide. They are using the money for new school furniture and latrines. The grant works much the way our program does, the community does as much as it can and only asks for additional money to pay skilled labor and unavailable materials.

Lindsay was able to give us some limited information on the topics of the Teacher’s Union and the Gravity Well, but where she really came through was with her information on gender equality issues. I had originally planned to try to speak with some of the female leaders in the two communities we work in on the subject of women’s rights. Sierra Leonean legislation has come a long way gender based and domestic violence. But my concern, which was wholly reinforced by Lindsay, was that even though the laws existed to protect women and children, crimes are underreported, under-prosecuted and especially upcountry, where the law is the male chief, unenforced.

But she did give me hope. She turned me on to a new organization that was taking a fascinating approach throughout Africa, but had started in Sierra Leone. The organization, Male Association for Gender Equality (MAGE), realizes that one can tell women all day long about their rights, but if their rights aren’t honored, what is the point. The people we need to work with are the men. This organization takes that approach and works with men in communities throughout Africa to try to curb violence against women and children. She gave me his phone number and by the time I was home that afternoon, I had an appointment with the founder for the following week.

We left the Embassy energized but disgruntled because we couldn’t get appointments with anyone until at least a week later (it was Monday). That meant if we were going to squeeze in an extended trip to the very North of the country (Fadugu, to visit the site of the current project and John’s former village), several meetings with other NGOs, Sierra Leonean Civil Societies, visits with friends in Freetown and a trip to Mamaka (to see the school we’d finished last spring)…we were going to have to leave tomorrow!

Next Up: Upcountry here we come.

Safu safu,
Mari

Don’t forget, if in SF on the weekend of Nov 7th; keep Saturday night free for our West African celebration!

Also, if you visited slvp.org to donate in the past few days, it was down, but it is back up now. We know times are tough but even the tiniest bit goes a long way. Thanks:)