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THE LAND OF THE FREE... As British colony since 1787, Sierra Leone was a symbol of freedom for thousands of slaves repatriated from Great Britain and the United States. When Great Britain outlawed the slave trade in 1807, the colony became the British naval base for antislavery patrols. From 1807 to 1864, over 50,000 freed slaves settled in Freetown, a name fitting for the symbol of freedom it was. John Newton, a slave trader turned abolitionist, wrote the famous hymn Amazing Grace on Bunce Island, just off the coast of Freetown. Yet now, over two hundred years later, in a world where slavery is universally acknowledged as an inhumane and unacceptable act of oppression, Freetown does not represent the symbol it once conveyed. Today it is estimated that over 27 million people throughout the world are victims of modern day slavery. Twenty seven million people, enslaved to another human being. Twenty seven million people forced to work in horribly dangerous conditions for 12, 14, even 16 hours a day, everyday, with barely enough pay to buy food to survive. Throughout the world, millions of men, women and children are forced to labor as modern day slaves and millions of young women and girls are forced into prostitution for sexual exploitation. Sierra Leone is not exempt. Freetown is no longer a symbol of freedom. The small coastal country on the coast of West Africa is home to over 6,000,000 people and 20 native African tribes. The country is rich in one of the most valuable commodities in the world: diamonds. Power and money became the driving factors in Sierra Leone’s violent and oppressive history. When guerrillas from the Liberian civil war spilled over into bordering towns, gripping the attention and finances of the government in 1991, a Sierra Leonean rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) saw an opportunity to take territory of its own from the distracted and weakened government. By 1997 the rebel forces had ravaged the country, leaving only death and destruction in their path. Upon reaching the capitol city of Freetown, the RUF took control of the government. No part of the country was untouched. The rebels routinely committed mass murders and systematic rape. Entire villages were burned to the ground, killing any and all inhabitants inside. Thousands of women and children were abducted and forced to serve as laborers and sex slaves while young men and boys were abducted to serve as soldiers. Those the rebels didn’t kill, they viciously mutilated by cutting off arms, legs, ears, fingers and other body parts. A lust for power and diamonds drove these rebels to inconceivable brutality. In January 1999, Freetown, home to about a million citizens, was completely destroyed in three weeks of literal hell. Thousands were murdered and maimed, and children were abducted or left homeless and fatherless. Over one third of the city was completely leveled, destroying any businesses with food or necessary medical supplies for survivors. The civil war came to an official end on July 7, 1999 with the signing of the Loma Peace Accord. Peace lasted less than a year before the country was plunged back into violence and trauma in May 2000. While peace ensued within a few months, the massive recovery continues to be a slow and perpetual process. A country once built on the promise of freedom is now in bondage to the economic trouble of rebuilding a nation with little help from beyond its borders. Corruption and lust for power plague the process of peace and reconstruction. Poverty and displacement deny people of safety and security from enslavement and trafficking. The thousands of displaced widows and orphans, extreme poverty and a broken notion of human rights has created an entire generation of vulnerable women and children to forms of trafficking and exploitation. The complete lack of understanding, knowledge and legislation among all levels of society from community members to law enforcement has allowed the exploitation to continue under a guise of cultural acceptance, hopeless resignation, or just purely left unnoticed. Yet it is not unnoticed by those who are victimized by another human being who believes they have the right to take away freedom, to take away opportunity, to take away innocence. The most common forms of trafficking in Sierra Leone are practiced so widely, they have easily become accepted by cultural standards. The practice of Menpikin, or informal fostering, of children from families unable to afford school fees or without adequate education opportunities will allow their children to be "fostered" by another - exchanging light household chores for the opportunity of education. Unfortunately, many of these children never go to school. They are forced to work, in the home or selling on the streets. They face harsh, often dangerous, conditions and are subject to physical and/or sexual abuse. Sometimes the children can escape. Many times they are too afraid - accepting the fate they experience. Life is not easy in Sierra Leone. Accepting your circumstance is often a form of survival. But the culture of silence is over. The voices are crying out, and people are beginning to listen. Greatly in part to the work of World Hope International's anti-human trafficking program FAAST (Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking). The first anti-human trafficking legislation in Sierra Leone was passed in August 2005 and a National TIP (Trafficking in Persons) Task Forces was established. Over 300 Law Enforcement and Government Officers have since been trained on the Trafficking Act and the appropriate responses to trafficking, and thousands of Sierra Leoneans have been educated on trafficking prevention and awareness through community volunteer groups. This is the first step of a long, long journey. As people learn to see trafficking for what it really is, partnerships between communities, law enforcement and government can begin to free a country of people suffering unnecessary bondage. As the 2005 Anti-Human Trafficking Act is used to convict perpetrators, people will begin to see the consequence for their actions. While the battle is far from over as thousands are still in bondage to this horrific injustice—advocacy and awareness are the first steps.
Information provided by World Hope International. |
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Capital Freetown Official languages English Demonym Sierra Leonean Government Constitutional republic Independence Population estimate 6,440,053 [1] Currency Leone (SLL) Time Zone GMT (UTC+0) Drives on the right Calling Code 232
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