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Sierra Leone’s National Dance Troupe Fights to Return to Glory Days

In By Country, Sierra Leone, Trainer,
by Damon van der Linde March 28, 2012

I went along with my colleague at Cotton Tree News, Kevin Lamdo, to produce his program entitled “My Visit,” where he highlights the everyday life of different groups of people inSierra Leone. The show has featured everyone from Paramount Chiefs to scrap metal collectors. This week, the program went to the Aberdeen Cultural Village, the [...]

Tagged as: Cotton Tree News, culture, Dance, music, Sierra Leone

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Sierra Leone is Still Waiting for a Freedom of Information Law

In Sierra Leone, Trainer, Uncategorized,
by Damon van der Linde February 6, 2012

Though the government of Sierra Leone has been making very public displays of initiatives that aim to promote transparency, since even before the current government came into power in 2007, there have been discussions about if and how to go about creating a Freedom of Information (FOI) Law. Generally speaking, the purpose of FOI legislation [...]

Tagged as: Damon van der Linde, FOI, freedom of information, Sierra Leone, transparency

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Community Radio Puts Local News First

In By Country, Sierra Leone, Trainer,
by Damon van der Linde January 30, 2012

The people of Port Loko, Sierra Leone used to get news about their town from radio stations in the capital even though they had their own community radio station. In November 2011, I left my home in Freetown to teach a workshop at Radio Bankasoka, a community radio station in Port Loko, which is the [...]

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The Road from Here

In By Country, Sierra Leone,
by Damon van der Linde January 9, 2012

The road from the Sierra Leonean town of Kenema to the Liberian border is not the smoothest ride in the country, but it may be one of the more interesting ones. The road is an unpaved dirt trail that winds eighty kilometres though the thick jungle and swampy lowlands of the Gola Rainforest. I left [...]

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Wiring Sierra Leone!

In Uncategorized,
by Damon van der Linde January 9, 2012

Sierra Leone has just been connected to its first high-speed fibre optic internet cable. With it come promises of economic and social development in a post-conflict nation with a heavy reliance on foreign aid. Sierra Leone was passed over by several West African high-speed cable projects while in the midst of a devastating eleven-year civil [...]

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Five Human Rights Stories that Made Headlines in Sierra Leone in 2011

In By Country, Job Type, Sierra Leone, Trainer,
by Damon van der Linde January 9, 2012

In the past year, the Sierra Leonean government has been working to change the image of the country from that of civil war, Blood Diamonds and mass amputation to one that is peaceful and ready for large-scale international investment. Many say that the elections in November 2012 will be a landmark moment for Sierra Leone’s [...]

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Could Sierra Leone’s most brutal fighting force have a political future?

In Uncategorized,
by Damon van der Linde January 9, 2012

For many people, the Revolutionary United Front’s (RUF’s) legacy will be that of a cruel and brutal fighting force during Sierra Leone’s eleven-year civil war. The RUF became notorious for the use of “blood diamonds” to fuel their campaigns and terrorising of the civilian population through looting, rape, and the only known use of mass [...]

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Maintaining Community in Women’s Prison

In By Country, Sierra Leone, Trainer, Uncategorized,
by Damon van der Linde December 19, 2011

I visited Freetown’s prison for women with Martha Kargbo, jhr’s first BBC World Service Trust Fellow in Sierra Leone. She is producing a feature on how women behind bars maintain contact with their families and communities. What we found is that they often have very little contact with the outside world. Phone calls are difficult [...]

Tagged as: community, prison, Sierra Leone, women

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