A Trip to the Embassy

Yesterday I went to the US Embassy to meet the ambassador. Evidently this is standard procedure.

The embassy is located inland and up almost as high as you can go in Freetown. I took this picture as we approached. Cameras and picture taking is absolutely not allowed inside. The security is pretty intense.

The meeting with the ambassador was brief – less than 30 minutes – but long enough to have a nice little chat. She told me something I had not yet learned about Sierra Leone after I told her about the challenges of economic development on reservations where it is all federal trust land. She told me that outside Freetown the land is controlled by chiefs who have the power to tax, set the local laws, and allocate land within the geographic boundaries of the chieftancy.

Later I learned there are 190 chiefdoms. Chiefs are elected for life from the hereditary ruling family of the chiefdom. My driver told me that you could live anywhere – it didn’t matter what tribe you are – but you had to follow the rules of that chiefdom. There are 16 ethnic groups, or tribes, with different languages and culture. My driver told me that he can tell right away what tribe someone is by their name or they the way they talk.

The neighborhood around the embassy was filled with large houses. There were amazing views and my driver kindly stopped so I could take pictures.

Freetown is huge and growing rapidly. There is clearly wealth but also profound poverty. My driver said that outside of the cities people have very little.

Then we headed back down the hill.