Sierra Leone, Africa and DNA - Joining the dots

If you are based in the states most of you have probably heard about the Grey's Anatomy star... Isiah Washington. He was recently in Sierra Leone filming a documentary which will be aired on ABC at some point soon. It turns out Isiah had a DNA test last year which revealed a maternal lineage to the Mendé people of Sierra Leone.

This follows the recent Priscilla's homecoming celebration when Mrs. Thomalind Martin Polite, an African American woman from Charleston, South Carolina, made an extraordinary and historic journey back to Sierra Leone. Thomalind is known to be a direct descendant of a 10 year old girl who was kidnapped from Africa in 1756, placed aboard the slave ship Hare in Sierra Leone bound for Charleston, South Carolina. Oprah Winfrey also had her DNA tested. This genetic test determined that her maternal line originated among the Kpelle ethnic group, in the area that today is Liberia (apparently she earlier thought - or hoped she was Zulu).

Anyway, what does this mean for Sierra Leone and other African countries? It means great opportunties for greater cooperation between Africans their brothers and sisters scattered around the globe. This is one to follow with great interest as we will hear more stories such as those mentioned above in the coming years and will probably play a huge part in Africa's tourism industry in years to come.

MOST IMPORTANT THING TO DO WHILE IN SIERRA LEONE

Between time spent with family, going to the beach and all night booty shaking at Paddy's there is a lot that a returnee can do. Since the summer of 2003 I have been back home 4 times. I spent both the summer of '03 and '04 at home and christmas 04 and Christmas 05. So its easy to see that i'm clearly addicted. There are many people out there who havent been home in a long time and when ever they do think of going home they wonder what they'll do when they get there. In an effort to encourage and promote the return home i am going to share with you some of the things i've done or dreamt of doing while at home.NUMBER 1 AND MOST IMPORTANT IS VOLUNTEER/COMMUNITY SERVICE. As you well know our country is in its reconstruction period. What better way to pass time than to give your time. My favorite form of volunteering is teaching. I have an ongoing relationship with the FAWE SCHOOL at fort street. The first year (2003) I was there I taught class 4 and class 6....mostly English but also a bunch of stuff really....as long as i thought it was relevant. I organized i field trip with my students to the SL Library by Victoria Park. None of my students had even been and we got a tour of the facility. I remember that when i went to Mereweather that we use to go to the library and the British council.In the summer of 2004 when i went back to FAWE I only taught class 6. This time it was more fun as i was more comfortable teaching. I also had the honor of writing and directing the theater performance at the class 6 graduation ceremony. It was a 4 act play called ISSUES that dealt with girl child education, self love and respect for culture and tradition. So much fun and stress rehearsing but in the end it all went well. And as a bonus i got to give out the diplomas and prizes at the graduation. I was soooo proud of my FAWE girls!!! I forgot to mention that i also taught them the hook to Nas's I KNOW I CAN...which they loved and I took the rhythm from a UNICEF CD and I wrote another song with the class....that went a litttle something like this....hello, bonjour, buenos dias, good day, guttentag, koniciwa, ciao, shalom, Kushe, ow di bodi...etc. Anyways what i'm trying to say is that VOLUNTEERING IS SOOOO COOL!!! Also, for those of us who easily tire of complaining about the state of things in Salone...volunteering means you can do something. And outside of FAWE there are a million other things you can do

Sierra Leone's Land and Housing issues...

This week the on-going illegal housing and disputable land owenrship problems in Sierra Leone took a fatal twist when one of the officials sent to demolish illegal structures was murdered. We've been following this in the forum since March when some structures where demolished in Wellington, Calaba Town. Last week The Minister said Freetown is the worst in terms of lawlessness according to the article by AllAfrica. Unfortunately, this demolishing exercise has now seen the death of an official. Even though this is trully bad, there have been other incidents where people have been beaten senseless when the tried to approach illegal settlers on land. We hope the govt investigation will be swift and those who are responsible be brought to justice, as this is an issue which if not tackled now will have implications for attracting investors to Sierra Leone too...not to mention the negative press should anything like this happen again.
An interview with the Minister.

Sorious Samura - European press held back by political correctness...

Great to see our most famous Sierra Leonean journalist back in the press. Met him yesterday at the SL4U do and he seems a top bloke. After breaking into the scene with "Cry Freetown" this dude has been on a roll, delivering programmes that takes the viewers into the life of the subject collecting multiple awards in the progress.

He does make some valid points in this article in this morning's observer. He's managed to deliver it whilst not biting the hand hand that feeds him.

SL4U Event in London

The Sierra Leone diaspora is mobilising... that's the feeling i have anyway. SL4U are one of those groups who through the medium of radio are making an impact. Last night they held a PR event in their studio which brought together other members of the diaspora, marketing people and some peeps from the TV. These events all in their own little way gets the meesage across that Sierra Leone (and Sierra Leoneans) is ready for business.

I met one of our footballers who is plying his trade in the UK and we were having a discussion about players who are elligible to play for Sierra Leone. I had always thought that these players had not been approached by SLFA and whilst this is sometimes the case... he made it clear to me that also in some cases the parents don't want these players to go back and play for a country like Sierra Leone. I hadn't thought of that.