Terrible stories

I met a man today that spent 6 months in the Pademba Road Prison in the mid 70’s – the very prison I visited just over a week ago. After visiting the prison I discovered that it plays a dark role in the history of this country. Last night I stayed at Rogbonko Village (http://www.rogbonkovillage.com/). On the way there, I learned from my guide that the village was the family home of Aminatta Forna, the Sierra Leone journalist and author that I have been reading. She helped get the primary school built there. Her cousin, Morlai Forna, helped research material for her book The Devil That Danced on the Water. He is school principal, manages the retreat, and is the man that spent time in Pademba Road Prison. Morlai was arrested because he had been living with Aminatta’s family when her father was arrested and accused of plotting to overthrow the government in 1975. Her father was one of 16 people executed at Pademba Road Prison.

I spent the last week in the northern part of the country and had a chance to see up close what life is like outside of the Freetown peninsula. The civil war of the 90’s feels like much more recent history. Everyone I met had stories of loss and hardship that were close to the surface. The driver lost his older brother, one guide his father, and the other guide lost both parents. He took me to the place where his mother was shot in front of him when he was 9 years old. His cousin was raped and shot then as well. His father, a soldier, had already died elsewhere in the fighting, so he just followed people for months hoping they would share their food.

The stories are almost unbearably painful but followed by tales of endurance and expressions of hope for the future. The guide that lost both his parents was passionate about the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation process in the path forward.

While staying at Rogbonko, I finished The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna. It’s a powerful book set in the time after the end of the civil war – I can’t recommend it enough.

I promise to write more about this past week and post pictures – there is so much to share.