The history of Sierra Leone

The history of Sierra Leone mirrors that of much of West Africa before the 1600s - chiefdoms and farming communities. In 1462 a Portuguese explorer gave the area the first version of its name, Sierra Lyoa or Lion Mountains. The coast was well known for its terrible storms and weather related natural disasters. In the late 1600s another disaster was introduced to the history of Sierra Leone - the slave trade.

In 1783 a British man named Granville Sharpe turned the tables by making Sierra Leone a place for freed slaves to settle. In 1808 it officially became a British colony, a major seat of political power for the British colonies along the coast, and an educational centre as well.

There was friction between the freed slaves and the indigenous peoples. There were several revolts against the British and the Creoles (the returned Africans). But much of the 20th century was peaceful, and the country peacefully gained its independence in 1961.

A beautiful country full of natural resources, another ingredient entered the power struggles in 1930. Diamonds. Though at first the mining was peaceful and legal, soon illegal smuggling and corruption began to plague the country. The illicit trade grew and connected itself with the quest for political power, and further divided the country.

Burned

In 1991 civil war broke out between the government and the RUF (Revolutionary United Front). Though the UN has stepped in to bring peace, the road to recovery has been slow. Sierra Leone continues to be a dangerous place to live. Sierra Leone has quickly become so poverty stricken and war torn that life there is, humanly speaking, beyond hope.

Imagine this: What do you earn in a year? Imagine that you used to earn about $20 a week (you're one of the fortunate ones), but you just lost your job and you have to care for a family. You have no spouse, no assets, and no help from the government. Your home has just been destroyed. And by the way, you're quite sick. What do you do? The fact is that you can't afford to feed yourself and your children. Do you starve yourself to feed them? If you do that, they'll have no one to care for them and they'll starve anyway. Or do you let them starve so you can live?

Now do you begin to see why Sierra Leone has been called "probably the poorest and most desperate country on earth"?

So what are we doing about it?

Children