Essay on Sierra Leone, Overcoming Challenges

The Atlantic Slave Trade was a part of African history that had made one of it's biggest impact on Africa's relation with the world and more importantly on the inner workings of the country itself due to its large-scale involvement of many of the people in the continent. Although the slave trade was so long ago the impact can still be seen in Africa's social workings within the people, its economy in the local and global market, and within the political landscape of the countries.

Africa had been the target of colonialism and slavery for many years. The colonies that European’s developed during fifteenth and sixteenth century were the main reason that started slave trade in Africa.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier and the recent 2006 film Blood Diamond both depict how it was living in Sierra Leone, Africa during the Civil War in the ‘90’s. While A Long Way Gone focuses on child soldiers and what they had to live and go through for many years, Blood Diamond focuses mainly on how the country is torn apart by the struggle between government soldiers and rebel forces. The film portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels' amputation of people's hands to stop them from voting in upcoming elections. Both the movie and the book try to tackle major issues by asking the questions: how

A brief historical account of Sierra Leone may provide only a glimmer as to why the Sierra

In Ishmael Beah’s memoir “A Long Way Gone”, Beah’s imagery reflects both his decrepit emotional state and Sierra Leone’s disarray. When Beah explains how he and Kaloko went to Kamator to see if there were signs of anything living, he describes the scene as such, “The silence in the village was too scary. I was scared when the wind blew, shaking the thatched roofs, and I felt as if I were out of my body wandering somewhere” (46). Here, Beah’s distinguished use of imagery represents his worn emotional state and Sierra Leone’s disarray. How the war has not only turned villages into ghost towns, but also displays the emptiness and the fear that he has felt during this experience. This imagery represents the effects the war had on Sierra Leone

Around the year 1897 Edward Morel noticed something that would change the way the modern world viewed the colonization of Africa and the supposed “humanitarian” work there forever (Hochschild 1). Morel worked for an English shipping company that was responsible for cargo going between the Congo Free State and Belgium. What Morel noticed was that ships from Africa were filled with rich, exotic goods like rubber and ivory, but the ships headed to Africa from Belgium were filled with military members and various firearms and ammunition (Hochschild 2). Morel made the conclusion that the cause of this odd “trade” between Europe and Africa was slave labor. European colonization of Africa was a slow, arduous process resulting in the deaths of

The changes in African life during the slave trade era form an important element in the economic and technological development of Africa. Although the Atlantic slave trade had a negative effect on both the economy and technology, it is important to understand that slavery was not a new concept to Africa. In fact, internal slavery existed in Africa for many years. Slaves included war captives, the kidnapped, adulterers, and other criminals and outcasts. However, the number of persons held in slavery in Africa, was very small, since no economic or social system had developed for exploiting them (Manning 97). The new system-Atlantic slave trade-became quite different from the early African slavery. The

The change in Sierra Leone culture is one of the first consequences of war seen in the story. Throughout the civil war the rebels (RUF) recruited or forced many children to become soldiers. In order to get these children they would raid villages and then draft the strongest ones. They would then tell the children that they would not need their families

A Long Way Gone is a true story about the life of Ishmael beah, a young boy who became a child soldier in Sierra Leone. When Ishmael was away performing with his friends, his village was tragically attacked by rebels. Left with nothing the group travels between villages for months with the rebels right behind them the whole time. To scared to fight.

A dream of a tropical land to be opportune with facilities like beaches, swamps, beautified agricultural outlook, food, nice climate, natural resources, and a blend of cultural traditions, one may sleep beside Sierra Leone and Liberia in order to live in the reality of such a dream. Regardless of the fact that these two countries being West Africans, they share a few similarities, but are parted by some differences, which make each country unique.

I began my research by looking into how long the war was. Starting in the year 1991 the RUF was formed by guerrilla units joining with dissidents from around Sierra Leone. The war was then declared over in 2002 in a statement after the reelection of Kabbah in freetown. “On May 15, 2001, the Sierra Leone government and the rebels once again agreed to stop fighting and began to disarm… By the beginning of 2002, disarmament was complete. This time there was no blanket amnesty.” (Sierra Leone: Lasting Peace or Cruel Mirage?) To fuel a war for two decades there needed to be a source of income. Looking into it, Sierra Leone was rich in diamonds. Not only did they produce diamonds, there were, “One of the world’s largest producers of diamonds, the country is also rich in such minerals as chrome, bauxite, iron ore, and rutile.” (Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia). These minerals were used to fuel the rebels with guns and ammunition that were shown prominently throughout the country. They also found loopholes to getting weaponry like abusing the disarmament system. They would get money for turning in their guns and in exchange get the equivalence of 300 US dollars. However this usually resulted in the money being used for buying better weaponry. “..many rebels have turned in their guns during disarmament proceedings, only to use the US$300 they were given for obsolete weapons to buy newer and

Sierra Leone gained its independence in 1961 but it’s not as independent as it seems. Known as the Blood Diamond of Africa is said to be one of the most dangerous places in the world. Of its top exports, diamonds are number one. Who knew one diamond could cause so much chaos especially in the land of peace and harmony, causing its own people to kill one another. Blood diamonds are infamous and play a dangerous role in the lives of many people.

I chose the country of Sierra Leone because of my personal connection with the country. Sierra Leone is a small West African country bordered by North Atlantic Ocean, Liberia and Guinea. Sierra Leone became an independent nation from the British on April 27, 1961. The official language spoken is a form of broken English called Krio – “English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%" (CIA World Factbook). Despite being on the list of least developed countries, Sierra Leone is richly endowed with natural resources, especially diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite.

Kenya’s coastal area is hot and humid tropical region. Beautiful sandy beaches, lagoons and swamps, and patches of rain forest line the coast. Inland, a vast plains area stretches over about three-fourths of Kenya. Its extremely dry climate and generally poor soil support only scattered plant life. The highlands in the southwest receive enough rainfall and offer enough fertile soil to support extensive farming (“Kenya”).

Sierra Leone is located on the West Coast of Africa, its history dates back to 1462 when a Portuguese explorer named Pedro da Cintra detailed his adventures along the coast and came up with the name “Sierra Lyoa” meaning Lion Mountains (the Sierra Leone Web, 2011). There are three provinces and sixteen