Stories from Quick Reads and Sierra Leone
Can Africa Really Maintain Its Own African Centers for Disease Control?
Anna K. Mwaba discusses the future of the newly established African Center for Disease Control: The establishment of such a center in Africa is not a particularly new idea; talks on the need for more effective means to combat epidemics on the continent were held in July 2013 at the...
Photos and Video of Sierra Leone’s 3 Day Lock Down
Michael Duff shares eyewitness accounts of Sierra Leone's 3 day lock down that was introduced to fight ebola: Sierra Leoneans can breathe a sigh of relief today as citizens in the capital city and in the North of the country who were under a 3 day government mandated stay at...
Unlawful Deals by 5 Biggest Ebola Contractors in Sierra Leone
Five companies are said to have misappropriated funds for fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone: Here are the 5 companies who were awarded the biggest contracts to provide goods and services to Sierra Leone’s ebola response as listed in the Ebola Funds Audit Report covering the period from May – October...
Sierra Leone: An Unlikely Fashion Hotspot
Freetown Fashpack is a fashion blog by an Australian living in Freetown, Sierra Leone who intends to show a different side of a country commonly associated with civil war and blood diamonds: My name is Jo Dunlop and I’m an Australian living in Freetown, Sierra Leone. After moving here in 2011,...
Animated Video Dispels Ebola Myths
Ebola: A Poem for the Living (English) from United Methodist Communications on Vimeo. United Methodist Communications, Chocolate Moose Media and iheed have collaborated to produce an animated video for use in West Africa that helps dispel myths about how Ebola is spread and promotes prevention of the disease. United Methodist...
Ebola Strips Africans of Their Cultural and Human Values
A social anthropologist and sociologist Ginny Moony explains how Ebola outbreak strips off Africans of their humanity: The way West-Africans care for their sick and deceased, supposedly differs significantly from that of the rest of the world. This is far from true. All over the world, the essence of care...
Questioning Weekend's Media Silence About Ebola
“When will Ebola news go 24/7?,” asks a US/Canadian professor Crawford Kilian: I have long been used to outbreak news dropping off on weekends. The media, government agencies, and NGOs all knock off on Friday afternoon and show up again Monday morning. But after the last few weeks of Ebola,...
The Ebola Truth
The Ebola Truth is a Facebook page that aims to document the situation with the Ebola virus on the African continent.
Mapping the 567 Ebola Cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone
On June 16, 49 new Ebola cases, 12 of them deadly, were reported by the WHO. Bart Janssens, director of operations of The international NGO Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF)) released a statement saying that: The epidemic is out of control, with the appearance of new sites in...
News Websites Indicted over Land Grab Report
News Websites Rue89 and Basta Mag are indicted [fr] following charges by French investment and industrial holding group Bolloré over a report in which they implicate Bolloré [fr] in land grab activities [fr] in Africa. The report lists the group's activities in Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Politis, a weekly analysis website, reacted...
‘Tribewanted’ Creates, Connects Eco-Villages
Renewable energy, permaculture and green building, along with local traditions and eco-tourism: welcome to Tribewanted – an online community launched in 2006 based on the idea of “global citizenship” and harnessing the energy of social media to meaningfully connect and practice positive behavior change. Thanks to crowdfunding strategies, the project plans...
Concern over Subterranean Water in the Sahel
We are told that miners do everything to waterproof the soil and ensure that waste does not contaminate subterranean water. But it must be recognized that there is always a risk, as they can never be completely sure that they are not contaminating subterranean pools. Moreover, with the impact of...
Africa: African Women on Fire
Rumbidzai Dube explains why 2012 is the year for African women: “2012 has been a progressive year for African women in global politics. In April Joyce Banda of Malawi became the first ever female president of Malawi and the Second Female president in Africa […]Just yesterday, Dr Nkosana Dhlamini-Zuma became...
Sierra Leone: Reflections on Charles Taylor and Justice
Robtel Pailey reflects on Charles Taylor's verdict: “What Charles Taylor’s verdict signifies for me is the need to reconfigure Africa’s domestic systems of justice, so that we don’t have to rely on the West to judge when, where, and under what circumstances we can punish for transgressions that we deem...
Sierra Leone: Postcards From Freetown: Then and Now
Babak uses old postcards from Freetown, Sierra Leone to compare what was then to what is now: “The series of “Once Salone: Freeown’s then and now” is a photography project that sent him sometimes to the most unlikely places to identify the locations.”
Sierra Leone: Top 5 Revolutionary Election Songs
This is Switmot's list of Sierra Leone’s top 5 revolutionary election songs: “In 10 months Sierra Leoneans will head to the polls to exercise their right to vote…In the last elections, music played an important role in creating political awareness and also to mobilize supporters for the SLPP, and the...
Sierra Leone: Say Grace Before Drowning
Black Looks writes about “Say Grace Before Drowning”, a film by Sierra Leonean/American Nikyatu Jusu: “The film tells the story about a woman’s struggle to overcome the insanity of war as she tries to adjust to a life in exile.”
Sierra Leone : Agrofuels versus Food Security
Michelle Nougoum, in a post published on on afrik.com [fr] points out another case of land leasing in Africa for the purpose of agrofuels in Sierra Leone : “[The Swiss firm] Addax et Oryx intends to exploit 57 000 hectares of lands that is home to 13 000 people for...
Africa: Africa Region Finalists for the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize
Here are the African Region finalists for the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize: “* Best Book: The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone) * Best First Book: Happiness is a four-letter word by Cynthia Jele (South Africa)”
Sierra Leone: Youth to Youth Fund accepting applications
Youth to Youth Fund for Sierra Leone is now accepting applications from youth led organizations in Sierra Leone: “The Youth to Youth Fund is a competitive grant scheme for youth employment. It supports innovative, small scale youth employment projects submitted by youth led organizations from Sierra Leone.”
Sierra Leone: Do you believe in witchcraft?
Do you believe in witchcraft?:”A 20yr old girl, Edwina Esther Thorpe has supposedly confessed to being a witch in Wilberforce and is being kept at the chief's house for safe keeping after she accused a neighbor of “feeding ‘witch meat’ to an 8yr old girl and burrying a ‘witch pot’...