Personal Musings on our Salone @ 50 Anniversary–by John Simbo

Recently, I wrote to Yeniva at the Sierra Leone @ 50 - Independence Anniversary Planning Committee, taking a mild exception to our chosen theme of ‘50 years Forward’.

Firstly, I must say that I commend the work the committee are doing to commemorate this occasion of our 50th Independence Anniversary, however my issue is that I feel that the lead ‘theme’ is slightly confusing and that we are perhaps missing an opportunity to ‘move’ the Nation, and to have Sierra Leoneans renew their personal pledges to our motherland.

It’s my thinking that if the theme is intended to be a statement which reflects our past - '50 years Forward', then I’d suggest that it contains a liberal amount of conjecture, as some might argue that there is scant evidence of us moving massively forward over those years. This therefore makes the ‘theme’ a debatable issue [with many discordant views and opinions] which I’m sure is not a direction we wish to go.

However, if it is that we are looking in the other direction - '50 years Forward – Celebrating a New Sierra Leone’, then I do hope that we will take the time to pause and to reflect on our last 50 years both good and bad. We are after all commemorating the past fifty years of our independence, therefore it would be remiss for us to focus on our future without looking at our past. In order to know where we’re going, we need to understand where we’re coming from.

Furthermore, I believe that if we are to lead with a banner of ‘50 Years Forward’, some observers amongst us would reasonably expect some sort of blue-print, plan, design etc in accompaniment. I therefore humbly suggest that we come up with something to fill the design/ blue-print vacuum; To design and to plan for success - hopefully within some our lifetimes, and to do what we can to guard against the theme going down as just another sound-off and the usual hyperbole.

I will also add that I do hope that the occasion is not excessively party-political, as this might serve to alienate whole swaths of our society. Sierra Leone after all embodies all of our shared history, and therefore it is important that we all buy into the message and not get distracted by debate or by partisan issues.

The central point I would like to make however is that whatever the theme might be, the planning committee must do their utmost to weave a broad range of elements into the commemorations, other than the revellous celebrations which I’m quite sure we will do well. It is in fact a testament to the spirit of our people that in spite of our recent deeply dark history, we can still take pleasure in and celebrate the joys of living. We know how to party, that’s for sure, and I look forward to that, however we must also take this opportunity to inspire our nation to a higher set of ideals and our people to a change for the betterment of Sierra Leone.

Personally I believe that one of the things that is holding us back as a nation is that we do not always set and reach for a better version of ourselves. We often do not ‘Dare to Dream’ and be the best that we can be, but instead suffer a complex - aptly described in Oswald Hancilles article: ‘Curing over 50 Years Inferiority Complex’. Please see article: http://www.cocorioko.net/?p=3146

However, if we look across all the fields at Sierra Leoneans in ‘All Walks of Life’, in all corners of the globe, our people do have a long and rich history of achieving, often against adversity, becoming leaders of their professions, breaking down barriers, setting new records and paving new paths etc.

This is a part of our story as a people, and as such it’s a story that deserves to be told. It is a story that needs to be celebrated. We need to call on Sierra Leoneans all over the world to tell their stories of how they have achieved, how they have overcome adversity, and how they have soared.

We’ve got eminent scientists, doctors, lawyers, engineers, authors, teachers, researchers, humanitarians, sporting icons, actors, musicians and many of them are leading lights in their respective professions. We’ve also still got a few of the folks who fought for our independence and many others who emerged from the grass roots and who have amazing stories to tell.

Many of their stories deserve to be told firstly to remind the world of what Sierra Leoneans have achieved as a people in our time, but also and perhaps most importantly - to inspire all generations of Sierra Leoneans – and even those yet unborn. A lot of folks – even amongst ourselves, do not know how good we have been or can be as a people because the stories of our successes haven’t been told often enough. Instead we often look in awe at what other peoples and nations are achieving.

As part of the theme for our anniversary, I humbly submit that we should celebrate Sierra Leoneans who have ‘Dared to Dream’, Who Have Achieved and Who have Soared. Let them be an inspiration to us all.

During the months of our independence celebrations, we ought to capture and to retell some of these stories through the various mediums of radio, TV, online video recordings, printed articles, staged platforms, road shows etc. These stories need to reach the broadest audience of Sierra Leoneans wherever they may be found; [NB: Some of the items produced here will have obvious marketable / merchandise potential] and once we have been reminded of just some of what we as a people have achieved in our time, a high authority [possibly the President] needs to come out and to challenge the nation to rise to these standards. Many of the circumstances our compatriots had to face still persist, but we can ‘Dare to Dream’ and to reach for a better version of ourselves as they did. As a people, we need to embody the ideals that have served some of our citizens so well i.e the things that make the seemingly impossible possible – e.g. hard work, discipline, dedication, sacrifice, and a higher set of values etc.

I’m sure that there are versions of this story closer to home, but I’m reminded here of a speech made by John F Kennedy on the 25th May, 1961. In his speech, Kennedy announced before a special joint session of Congress, the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon and safely back to earth before the end of the decade. This speech came at a time when Kennedy was feeling great pressure to have the United States catch up to and to overtake the Soviet Union in the ‘space race’. This was four years after Russian Yuri Gagarin had become the first human in space on April 12 1961, greatly embarrassing the U.S. Although Alan Shepard had been the first American in space on May 5, he had only flown a short sub-orbital flight instead as orbiting the earth as Gagarin had done. In addition, the Bay of Pigs [Cuba] fiasco in April 1961 had also been a source of great embarrassment to JFK’s administration.

Against the backdrop of these events, JFK wanted to announce a program in which the U.S. could take on and surpass the Soviet Union, so after consulting with his Vice President, NASA Administrators, and other officials, he announced America’s pursuit to land a man on the Moon and to return him safely back to earth. This at the time was the most ambitious of pursuits, with no other project comparable in scope and in ambition.

This created a new subtext for the cold war. America was involved in a war which was not just a war of military might, but also of ideas and of ambition including venturing into new frontiers, overcoming challenges, reclaiming lost ground, and becoming a dominant power once again.

The President took the leadership in this ambition, setting out their nation’s mission which was not just hugely technological challenging, it also required tremendous human endeavour, with all Americans pulling in the same direction. He challenged “...... every scientist, every engineer, every serviceman, every technician, contractor, and civil servant” to make a personal pledge to move the nation forward in fulfilling their Nation’s ambition. This period turned out to be one of America’s most productive periods and the rest as they say is history.
See JFK’s speech: http://www.homeofheroes.com/presidents/speeches/kennedy_space.html

Sierra Leone as a nation fifty years after our independence still has many of our own battles to fight and much to overcome. We can however draw inspiration from the many individuals amongst us, who have ‘Dared to Dream’, Who have ‘Achieved’ and who have ‘Soared’.

At this opportune time, as we celebrate [an age of maturity] 50 years of our independence, it is my humble opinion that we as a nation need to renew our ‘Mission’ set all those years ago. The higher authorities amongst us need to outline our Nation’s new ambitions and to send out the clarion call to re-engage the patriots within us.

Personally I would even argue that we need to embark on a new national project which calls on Sierra Leoneans to be the purveyors, standard bearers and custodians of our fate. We need a project that re-defines the standards we set and against which we judge ourselves. We need to strive for a better version of ourselves and of our Nation.

We need to “Reach for the Moon, and even if we don’t get there, we might end amongst the stars”

[John Simbo Jnr]