I Am Always Quiet So That I

I Lay In My Bed Night After Night Staring At The Ceiling And Thinking, Why Have I Survived The War? Why Was I The Last Person In My Immediate Family To Be Alive? I Didn’t Know.

We Must Live In The Radiance Of Tomorrow, As Our Ancestors Have Suggested In Their Tales. For What Is Yet To Come Tomorrow Has Possibilities, And We Must Think Of It, The Simplest Glimpse Of That Possibility Of Goodness. That Will Be Our Strength. That Has Always Been Our Strength.

For Many Observers, A Child Who Has Known Nothing But War, A Child For Whom The Kalashnikov Is The Only Way To Make A Living And For Whom The Bush Is The Most Welcoming Community, Is A Child Lost Forever For Peace And Development. I Contest This View. For The Sake Of These Children, It Is Essential To Prove That Another Life Is Possible.

This Days One Must Be Careful To Avoid Awakening The Pain Of Another.

The Places I Come From Have Such Rich Languages, Such A Variety Of Expression. In Sierra Leone We Have About Fifteen Languages And Three Dialects. I Grew Up Speaking About Seven Of Them.