This is a journey through the reality of Sierra Leone, a country in which the Augustinian Recollects have left their mark. The author, with his soul in pain but in love with Sierra Leone after a year in the country, tells us the story sometimes in the first person, other times from the point of view of the objective observer, with traces of humor and dreams for the future of this country.
“We are all brothers and sisters”. A gender group phrase from the “civilization alliance” which is heard at all times in Sierra Leone. In part it has served to cure wounds from the civil war. But also it is one of those truths or platitudes that mean nothing, because there is not putting it into action once it is said.
The Sierra Leone society is a complicated one, as in all of Africa. It is easy to see in the frontiers of the continent how much territory is being used. Arriving at an agreement would be easy after the usual “take this away and give me this”. That is if it were not for the fact that between these straight lines cultures, languages, traditions and ways of living are hidden away which have to live together in an imposed situation which came from a European plan in the 19th Century.
I believe, for example, that on a map of Spain there would not be in the territorial divisions’ straight lines for more than 30 kilometres. The flow of rivers, the valleys and other natural phenomena have made out more realistic frontiers. In ancient times this was what determined that some peoples populated some places and they didn’t expand: mountain ranges, rivers difficult to cross and different climates.
The African map never took into account the tribal picture. This has been a source of headaches in recent times. Sierra Leone has on its frontiers many peoples. The two largest are the Mende (30%) and the Temne (30%). The other 30 % of the population is shared between the Bullom, Fullah, Gola, Kissi, Kono, Koranko, Krim, Kru, Limba (the largest in Kamabai), Loko, Malinke, Mandingo, Sherbro, Susu, Vai, and Yalunka peoples.
The 10% which is lacking are Kiro (descendents of freed slaves from Jamaica who established themselves in the peninsula of Freetown at the end of the 18th century) and a small (but influential) number of Europeans, Liabanes, Pakistanis, and Indians. The economic resources are in the hands of this last group; the political and cultural resources in that of the Kiro, whose language is the Franca for the country.
Some of these peoples are not exclusive to Sierra Leone. The Fullah, for example, are in all of Western Africa because they are semi-nomads; every time that you see shepherds with cows in the region they are Fullah, excellent cattle breeders always going from one place to another in the search for pasture. The Mandigno, originally from Mali, have small but influential communities throughout the country and are enterprising negotiators.
Given that local power is in the hands of the absolutist authorities, it is easy to make out where the ethnic problem comes from. In Kamabai, for example, the elections for Paramount Chief always cause a grave problem. The limbas are in the majority, but present a lot of candidates because there is often little or no agreement. The Mandigno are fewer, but are very practical, presenting only one candidate who they all vote for and who tends to win. Having a Mandigno chief in a Limba area creates tensions, wounds that get worse, and sometimes very real wounds through violence.
The principal social tie is ethnicity, among other things because the languages are very different and have nothing in common grammatically or in vocabulary. There are also cultural differences, from building techniques up to idiosyncrasy or physical differences. For example, the secret societies have an immense power among the Limbas, and they are anecdotal among the Mandigno. The specific influence of the tribe in social relations is greater when the region is more rural.
Religion and politics don’t have the same power. There are Catholic Limbas, Fullahs, Mandingos or Lokos; in the same family there are diverse religious beliefs without it being a problem for anyone. None of the ethnicities are fanatic about any particular religion. In terms of political parties, even by law, they cannot belong to or claim to represent a particular ethnicity or risk being disbanded.
Despite everything, the ethnic system is in crisis. As always, the division of geopolitical frontiers and globalization mean that at present we are in a process of change from a tribal system to a national one. The politics of the governors since independence has been directed towards this end.
Kiro is the common and Franca language. Anyone who doesn’t know how to speak it is considered “thick” and “out of touch”. Students from the colleges in Kamabai understand their grandparents when they talk in Limba, Mandigno, or Fullah but they wouldn’t dare talk it normally amongst themselves because they feel insecure.
Mamudu, one of the small children who visits the mission, confessed to me that he is embarrassed to talk in Mandigno with his Grandmother and with this that his grandmother doesn’t understand anything else. He has excellent English, considering what is normal for children of his age, and the language in which he feels most comfortable is Kiro. He talks with his friends in other languages only for fun, to make up nicknames or for childish games.
Amongst his friends there are Mandigos, Limbas, Fullahs and even a Mende, something not common in Biriwa; there are also Catholics, Wesleyans, and Muslims. He is Muslim but spends most of his time in the Catholic mission. It is maybe one of those cases which show that tribal influence could change a lot in the next few years.
But, at the same time, the change is on two levels: children from the city or populations which are the capital of the region live it in one way; those from remote or rural zones faithfully follow the ideas of their ancestors. In villages there tends to be little ethnic mixture. In 2008, not that long ago, there was already in the rural zone of Kamabai attempted violence between Mandingos and Limbas which brought the presence of the Attorney General in Kamabai at the end of 2010 to hold a reunion on the issue with all the local chiefs.
For the young ones the issue was boring and of no interest, but not the reunion, because from Freetown it moved a paraphernalia of politicians and officials of the Ministry of Justice arriving in helicopter. It was the “show” of greatest interest for two weeks. In reality, if this issue were more serious it could cause more problems than it seems at first.
NEXT PAGE: 8. Post-war
