The day began at Mass with the Sisters. It was an intimate prayer moment with like-minded missioners who are doing their best to witness service and peace to a broken people. Our prayer supported our weak and struggling hearts.
After breakfast Emmanuel and I walked through the town to the Cathedral compound where the Youth Offices are. We walked because I have a firm belief that we never truly understand a situation unless we walk it where the ordinary poor walk. The conversations we overhear, the struggles, and the conflicts we see are part and parcel of the life they live. The poverty is by far worse than what I had seen in the past and it is oppressive.
I wanted to meet with the Youth Unit of the Diocese. I actually ended up meeting with most of the Development department for an ad hoc briefing on the work of AFJN and the restorative justice project. It was very well received and fits into some of their programming as well.
I walked over to the shrine near the Cathedral where two young Sierra Leonean priests I knew well are now buried. They both died after I left. Both were young and both died of diseases that better health care would have overcome.
In the afternoon I was able to take advantage of a ride to Freetown with Sr Therese and the nurse Katherina. Emmanuel and I joined them, ending a warm and wonderful visit to Kenema.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Back at Holy Spirit Parish
Sunday, November 23rd
I participated in the 9:30 Mass at Holy Spirit Parish, a church I often helped out at. As I entered the church, a murmur could be heard… is it really him? Is Fr. Rocco back? People jumped for joy (and I did, too) and we had a great celebration of Eucharist. It was a true service of thanksgiving and praise for God’s goodness to us all. Fr. Matthew Lamboi, the pastor, invited me to preside and he preached. It was great.
Emmanuel and I had a long lunch with the new director of the Pastoral Center and our host, Fr. Augustine Berewa. He is also the superior of the Spiritan Missionaries in Sierra Leone. There are some 17 Sierra Leonean Spiritans who now service in Sierra Leone. We were able to fill him in on the various programs that we had at the center during my years. Many of the initiatives he is undertaking follow up some of our work. I promised to send him many of the narratives of programs we held there that got lost during the looting of the center in 1998. Now that there is relative peace, he hopes to get things moving again.
In the evening the Bishop hosted a supper for all priests, sisters, and brothers working in Kenema and the nearby towns at the Center both to welcome me back as well as hear about my work. I gave the same summary that I did at the seminary a few evenings before. The possibility of restorative justice becoming a central piece of our pastoral planning and action stirred a lot of enthusiasm. It was a wonderful evening of good food, fellowship, and challenge.
I participated in the 9:30 Mass at Holy Spirit Parish, a church I often helped out at. As I entered the church, a murmur could be heard… is it really him? Is Fr. Rocco back? People jumped for joy (and I did, too) and we had a great celebration of Eucharist. It was a true service of thanksgiving and praise for God’s goodness to us all. Fr. Matthew Lamboi, the pastor, invited me to preside and he preached. It was great.
Emmanuel and I had a long lunch with the new director of the Pastoral Center and our host, Fr. Augustine Berewa. He is also the superior of the Spiritan Missionaries in Sierra Leone. There are some 17 Sierra Leonean Spiritans who now service in Sierra Leone. We were able to fill him in on the various programs that we had at the center during my years. Many of the initiatives he is undertaking follow up some of our work. I promised to send him many of the narratives of programs we held there that got lost during the looting of the center in 1998. Now that there is relative peace, he hopes to get things moving again.
In the evening the Bishop hosted a supper for all priests, sisters, and brothers working in Kenema and the nearby towns at the Center both to welcome me back as well as hear about my work. I gave the same summary that I did at the seminary a few evenings before. The possibility of restorative justice becoming a central piece of our pastoral planning and action stirred a lot of enthusiasm. It was a wonderful evening of good food, fellowship, and challenge.
Saturday, November 22nd
All the intense meeting and the traveling to Kenema caught up with me and I ended up spending the majority of Saturday resting. The old body just said enough is enough and I am trying to learn to listen to it, or else I pay the price!!
However, at lunch I met another guest of the center, Mr. Abraham John, who is the Executive Secretary of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone. As we chatted about our work he became very interested in our Restorative Justice Project and passed on to me three studies that he had on hand that support our work – it was welcomed documentation for Sierra Leone.
In the evening I also met Katherina Boehm, the German nurse who was with me during those frightful times of 1998 when I was wounded. If it had not been for her, I probably would be dead. She is here for two weeks, attending her annual check on the progress of the primary health outreach of the diocese through Panguma Hospital which is now reopened. Sr. Theresa Flynn is permanent in Kenema and supervises the development of that hospital and the primary health care outreach. It was a great reunion again.
However, at lunch I met another guest of the center, Mr. Abraham John, who is the Executive Secretary of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone. As we chatted about our work he became very interested in our Restorative Justice Project and passed on to me three studies that he had on hand that support our work – it was welcomed documentation for Sierra Leone.
In the evening I also met Katherina Boehm, the German nurse who was with me during those frightful times of 1998 when I was wounded. If it had not been for her, I probably would be dead. She is here for two weeks, attending her annual check on the progress of the primary health outreach of the diocese through Panguma Hospital which is now reopened. Sr. Theresa Flynn is permanent in Kenema and supervises the development of that hospital and the primary health care outreach. It was a great reunion again.
Arrival in Kenema
Friday, November 21st
Early in the morning I took the Government Bus with my friend Emmanual Roberts to Kenema. We arrived at the Kenema center around 11:30. The workers there welcomed me with hugs and great joy. I had been director there from 1995 until 1999 when we had to withdraw from the country. It was sad to hear of the six workers who have died in the last nine years. Most were still very young and died from diseases like typhoid that could be treated so easily if only the medicine were available. But those still there were a sight for sore eyes. Later in the afternoon I met with Bishop Patrick Koroma who only recently returned from Rome where he attended the Synod on the Word. While there in Rome he had a medical crises and ended up in the Gemelli Hospital with heart problems. He is glad to be home, but still on the mend. We had a long chat about AFJN, the Restorative Justice project, the support that the US can offer for pastoral projects, and the challenge of self reliance for the Church in Sierra Leone.
Early in the morning I took the Government Bus with my friend Emmanual Roberts to Kenema. We arrived at the Kenema center around 11:30. The workers there welcomed me with hugs and great joy. I had been director there from 1995 until 1999 when we had to withdraw from the country. It was sad to hear of the six workers who have died in the last nine years. Most were still very young and died from diseases like typhoid that could be treated so easily if only the medicine were available. But those still there were a sight for sore eyes. Later in the afternoon I met with Bishop Patrick Koroma who only recently returned from Rome where he attended the Synod on the Word. While there in Rome he had a medical crises and ended up in the Gemelli Hospital with heart problems. He is glad to be home, but still on the mend. We had a long chat about AFJN, the Restorative Justice project, the support that the US can offer for pastoral projects, and the challenge of self reliance for the Church in Sierra Leone.
Thursday, November 20th
This morning I went to town to just re-acquaint myself with Freetown. In the afternoon I visited the offices of Network Movement for Development and Justice, a local NGO started by one of my colleagues when I was the chaplain of the Young Christian Students. Mr. Augustine Abu Brima started Network in the early 1990’s while he was working at the National Pastoral Center in Kenema. By the time I came to Kenema, he had moved the operation to Freetown and was on his own. Network is considered a lay movement for justice. It has done some very serious work with local communities in Adult Education and Development education. One present challenge it is addressing is mining contracts and interest reforms in the diamond areas of the East. Augustine has over 90 staff members throughout the country, including Joseph Pokowa, another colleague of mine from those YCS years. It was a great reunion.
In the evening at 8:00pm I was at St. Paul’s Major Seminary where I spoke of the work of AFJN and our Restorative Justice Project. In the question and answer session, it was interesting to note that even the seminarians are deeply affected by the victimization and it will take quite an effort to overcome the feelings of betrayal, loss, and jealousy for those who got reparations through DDR. The feelings are very raw.
I was very glad to have been there and honoured by the support of the Rector, Fr. Matthew Kanneh.
In the evening at 8:00pm I was at St. Paul’s Major Seminary where I spoke of the work of AFJN and our Restorative Justice Project. In the question and answer session, it was interesting to note that even the seminarians are deeply affected by the victimization and it will take quite an effort to overcome the feelings of betrayal, loss, and jealousy for those who got reparations through DDR. The feelings are very raw.
I was very glad to have been there and honoured by the support of the Rector, Fr. Matthew Kanneh.
Family Talk
Wednesday, November 19th
Today began the most intense, serious days of my trip. On the morning of Wednesday, the 19th, I visited Fambul Tak, an initiative of a young human rights worker named John Coker. He and some others were very interested in supporting the concept of “just peace” – balancing justice with peace on a community level. Through a series of consultations with the help of a UK foundation called Article 19, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, they came up with the idea of Fambul Tak (family talk) which is a long process of restoration that takes the provisions of the Truth and Reconciliation commission and makes it happen on the ground. The TRC is believed to be a project of the UN and Geneva, not local, not owned by the average Sierra Leonean. Post war, the demobilization process only attended to the needs of the victimizers, and only in a quick pay off. Offenders are now without the little that they had received and the offended are powerless and angry.
Fambul Tak offers both a process and a support system for local communities to restore their sense of community and better incorporate offenders. It offers the time and space for the community to gather and acknowledge the wrongs, and in a communal, public way, have offenders apologize (and this public apology is often not understood by Westernerss for the power that it holds). There is a cleansing ceremony which ritualizes this process. Fambul Tak only needs to create the space and trust for the community to do this. It was quickly learned that trust is built by the absence of cameras and videos and taping equipment. Only then would victims and victimizers feel open to come forward and the process would work.
The organization also offers preparation for the process to happen, in conjunction with the community in each locale. Fambul Tak also helps the community create a support committee, a kind of reconciliation committee composed of pastors, imams, the Mami guide (head woman of the village, the youth chairman, etc.). These are trained in basic mediation skills so that they can be shock absorbers for the community, ready and able to mediate any situation that may arise later.
Fambul Tak is now operational in a number of communities in Eastern Province of Kailahun. There is a second pilot group forming in the Moyamba area and a third now in Makeni. I will meet with them when I travel to Makeni next week.
In the afternoon I visited the Sierra Leone Special Court communications director, Mr. Peter Anderson. I had known him for many years via the internet. He hosted www.sierra-leone.org which was the very best information site during the war. He shared his take on the Court and its work, recommended a number of people for me to see when back in the US, as well as recommending the book, A Distant Mirror, which helped him understand the nested reality of conflicts here and in the past.
Later in the afternoon I met with Mr. Eddie Massaquoi of the Center for Coordination of Youth Activities (CCYA). This is a unique youth network that has some credibility and capacity and helps many give direction through outreach to youth. There were two main points of conversation: 1. The need for some kind of process similar to the months of traditional initiation in the bush to assist youth in understanding and taking the responsibility of adulthood which they need in today’s society. The challenge here is that the little of this that may be happening has been militarized. 2. There is a need for a National Dialogue with youth, with a spectrum of representation that includes parliamentarians and marginalized youth.
We ended the conversation with the issue of unemployment of youths as one of the most important triggers for conflict and dissatisfaction.
In the evening I met with three former combatants who live just outside our gate in Kissy Dockyard. Two were members of the West Side Boys and were with the RUF for over 12 years each. The third fellow was only a witness to the atrocities of the civil defense units who were used against the young insurgents. Let me begin with him. Alimamy was a child when his father took him from Freetown to the Kambia District for safety. There, however they met the RUF in their home of Barmoi and for a number of months they had to learn to live the life of peaceful coexistence that could explode into conflict at any moment. And explode it did, and the civil defense of that area did overwhelm the insurgents and Alimamy witnessed the brutal “necklacing” of many of the insurgents. (Necklacing is the tying up of a person, putting an outer tire around the head, doucing them with gas and lighting them afire. Thousands died this way. No justice. No court. No appeals. I saw the black circular spots along many roads in Kenema in 1998 upon my return from the village where we were “protected.”)
The second young man, Ibrahim, was with the RUF for over 12 years. He comes from the South, a town called Serabu. He related many a story of long marches from one part of the country to another, hunger and competition among fellow fighters that often lead to death of the weaker, meeting the rebel leader Foday Sankoh, and not being impressed. He told me about all of the many places he had gone in war. He had been part of the famous and treacherous group around Rambo, a brutal and sadistic leader. He witnessed his death and the power struggle that followed. He was witness to the death of Sarge Musa, another rebel leader who brought fear to many. He later became one of the infamous West Side Boys who were known as really tough juveniles who rarely negotiated.
All throughout the story, he would make comments about how remorseful he felt, very well aware of the gravity of the crimes he committed as a child. When he was demobilized, he was with one of my brothers, Fr Chema, at a demobilization and reintegration center at Laka Beach. He now is doing tailoring although he had a hard time getting started. The program ended too soon and too little was given for him to really start out strong.
The host of the evening, Francis, did not have sufficient time to tell his story, so I will try to return before I leave Sierra Leone to hear him out. However, I was impressed with the way he was able to moderate the evening’s meeting, prodding the other two to clarify each story in ways that helped me understand.
Today began the most intense, serious days of my trip. On the morning of Wednesday, the 19th, I visited Fambul Tak, an initiative of a young human rights worker named John Coker. He and some others were very interested in supporting the concept of “just peace” – balancing justice with peace on a community level. Through a series of consultations with the help of a UK foundation called Article 19, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, they came up with the idea of Fambul Tak (family talk) which is a long process of restoration that takes the provisions of the Truth and Reconciliation commission and makes it happen on the ground. The TRC is believed to be a project of the UN and Geneva, not local, not owned by the average Sierra Leonean. Post war, the demobilization process only attended to the needs of the victimizers, and only in a quick pay off. Offenders are now without the little that they had received and the offended are powerless and angry.
Fambul Tak offers both a process and a support system for local communities to restore their sense of community and better incorporate offenders. It offers the time and space for the community to gather and acknowledge the wrongs, and in a communal, public way, have offenders apologize (and this public apology is often not understood by Westernerss for the power that it holds). There is a cleansing ceremony which ritualizes this process. Fambul Tak only needs to create the space and trust for the community to do this. It was quickly learned that trust is built by the absence of cameras and videos and taping equipment. Only then would victims and victimizers feel open to come forward and the process would work.
The organization also offers preparation for the process to happen, in conjunction with the community in each locale. Fambul Tak also helps the community create a support committee, a kind of reconciliation committee composed of pastors, imams, the Mami guide (head woman of the village, the youth chairman, etc.). These are trained in basic mediation skills so that they can be shock absorbers for the community, ready and able to mediate any situation that may arise later.
Fambul Tak is now operational in a number of communities in Eastern Province of Kailahun. There is a second pilot group forming in the Moyamba area and a third now in Makeni. I will meet with them when I travel to Makeni next week.
In the afternoon I visited the Sierra Leone Special Court communications director, Mr. Peter Anderson. I had known him for many years via the internet. He hosted www.sierra-leone.org which was the very best information site during the war. He shared his take on the Court and its work, recommended a number of people for me to see when back in the US, as well as recommending the book, A Distant Mirror, which helped him understand the nested reality of conflicts here and in the past.
Later in the afternoon I met with Mr. Eddie Massaquoi of the Center for Coordination of Youth Activities (CCYA). This is a unique youth network that has some credibility and capacity and helps many give direction through outreach to youth. There were two main points of conversation: 1. The need for some kind of process similar to the months of traditional initiation in the bush to assist youth in understanding and taking the responsibility of adulthood which they need in today’s society. The challenge here is that the little of this that may be happening has been militarized. 2. There is a need for a National Dialogue with youth, with a spectrum of representation that includes parliamentarians and marginalized youth.
We ended the conversation with the issue of unemployment of youths as one of the most important triggers for conflict and dissatisfaction.
In the evening I met with three former combatants who live just outside our gate in Kissy Dockyard. Two were members of the West Side Boys and were with the RUF for over 12 years each. The third fellow was only a witness to the atrocities of the civil defense units who were used against the young insurgents. Let me begin with him. Alimamy was a child when his father took him from Freetown to the Kambia District for safety. There, however they met the RUF in their home of Barmoi and for a number of months they had to learn to live the life of peaceful coexistence that could explode into conflict at any moment. And explode it did, and the civil defense of that area did overwhelm the insurgents and Alimamy witnessed the brutal “necklacing” of many of the insurgents. (Necklacing is the tying up of a person, putting an outer tire around the head, doucing them with gas and lighting them afire. Thousands died this way. No justice. No court. No appeals. I saw the black circular spots along many roads in Kenema in 1998 upon my return from the village where we were “protected.”)
The second young man, Ibrahim, was with the RUF for over 12 years. He comes from the South, a town called Serabu. He related many a story of long marches from one part of the country to another, hunger and competition among fellow fighters that often lead to death of the weaker, meeting the rebel leader Foday Sankoh, and not being impressed. He told me about all of the many places he had gone in war. He had been part of the famous and treacherous group around Rambo, a brutal and sadistic leader. He witnessed his death and the power struggle that followed. He was witness to the death of Sarge Musa, another rebel leader who brought fear to many. He later became one of the infamous West Side Boys who were known as really tough juveniles who rarely negotiated.
All throughout the story, he would make comments about how remorseful he felt, very well aware of the gravity of the crimes he committed as a child. When he was demobilized, he was with one of my brothers, Fr Chema, at a demobilization and reintegration center at Laka Beach. He now is doing tailoring although he had a hard time getting started. The program ended too soon and too little was given for him to really start out strong.
The host of the evening, Francis, did not have sufficient time to tell his story, so I will try to return before I leave Sierra Leone to hear him out. However, I was impressed with the way he was able to moderate the evening’s meeting, prodding the other two to clarify each story in ways that helped me understand.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
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.
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.
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