November 18th

This morning I was able to have an interview with Dr. Christiana Thorpe, the Chief Electoral Commissioner and Chairperson of the National Electoral Commission. Back in the early 1980’s, we were both part of the Makeni school system; she as principal of the major girl schools, and I as chair of her board of directors. It was great to meet her again and personally congratulate her on the successful election process that happened in August of 2007. Our first point of conversation was that very election and the challenges and intrigue. She was very brave and committed to a free and fair process and with firmness and fairness, she prevailed. We chatted about other African Countries where a pattern of violence has emerged as the option for opposition parties.

I then shared the purpose of my visit to Sierra Leone and the Restorative Justice project. She then was able to direct me to a wonderful project entitled “Fambul Tak” (Family Talk) which uses the principles of restorative justice in its methods. I will meet the program director tomorrow. We then moved to the other focus campaigns of AFJN as well as sharing hopes for a better US relations with Africa due to our new president. There is great hope in Africa for a better tomorrow with Obama as our president. I hope that their expectations will be partially met, at least.

We ended our discussion with concerns about adult functional literacy programs, especially for women ages 15 to 35 who have been left out of school for a variety of reasons. Christiana is one of the founders of FAWE, the Federation of African Women Educationalists. They are doing some groundbreaking work in West Africa when it comes to the education of women.

In the afternoon I was able to visit the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny as well as the Christian Brothers. I worked with many of the sisters over the years in education and the like. I was especially looking forward to visiting with Sr. Josephine Blake, the first Sierra Leone sister of Cluny as well as Sr. Geraldine, a nurse during my time. Both are in good form and we enjoyed our visit. I had time to go to the headquarters of the Christian Brothers to greet the folks there. I met the new district leader, Brother Christopher, who is just now succeeding Brother Victor Deen who is now in Rome on their General Council. Brother Victor was in grade 6 when I first came to Africa 1978 and I am so happy to see him taking such a leadership role in his congregation. I was one of the co-founders of the Christian Brothers here in Sierra Leone, another initiative of my years as Education Director. There are now 41 African brothers in the District. We only started in 1983. Not bad for 25 years of commitment.

In the evening we are going to supper at the Archbishop’s home. Archbishop Charles is the new bishop of Freetown and Bo. He was consecrated just a few months ago and he is a fine priest. I look forward to sharing the work of AFJN with him and some of my findings so far in this project of ours.