From a war-ravaged country of people haunted by painful memories of the brutal civil war of 1991-2002, Sierra Leone is emerging as a glimmering ray of hope, casting its glow on other African countries still under storm clouds of bitter conflict. And Hope-Sierra Leone, the NGO founded in 2000 by Sierra Leonean war refugee John Bangura and now affiliated to Initiatives of Change-International, is playing a key role in this development. Working with the government agency NaCSA (National Commission for Social Action), it recently coordinated a series of successful reconciliation and symbolic re-burial ceremonies in response to a recommendation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This is a critically important step in the journey towards a more tolerant and more democratic society.

The challenge

Hon Mrs Khadija Sam-Sumana, 2nd Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone, cuts the tape before unveiling the Kakua Chiefdom Memorial, Bo District, Southern Region. In her address she appealed to the people to come together to make a better future for Sierra Leone. (Photo: John Bangura)Sierra Leone’s 10-year civil war between government-backed fighters and rebel forces, who not only wanted political power, but control of the country’s lucrative diamond mines, was marked by unimaginable cruelty and violence.

When the war finally ended in 2002, an estimated 50,000 people had been killed. Years of torture, rape, and the brutal maiming of thousands of civilians including countless children by amputating their limbs with machetes, had taken a staggering toll on the population and destroyed the social and economic fabric of the country.The war had also driven thousands of the most educated Sierra Leoneans into exile in the United States and Britain, depriving the country of their valuable skills.

Reparations Programme

Recognising the need to bring hope to the people, the current government of Sierra Leone used its agency, NaCSA, to implement a national reparations programme. This programme is intended to cover two areas, material and symbolic. The material reparations consist of payments or services provided to the victims of war, while symbolic reparations address emotional healing through age-old practices rooted in the local culture.

With Hope-Sierra Leone’s years of accumulated experience and expertise, this NGO was contracted to provide services for symbolic reparations in seventeen chiefdoms in the five districts of Tonkolili, Bo, Bonthe, Pujehan and Kailahun. In fulfilling its mandate, Hope-Sierra Leone has once again applied the lessons and strategies that it has developed since John Bangura experienced a profound personal transformation at an Initiatives of Change conference in Tanzania in 1999, and overcame his own feelings of hatred towards his former enemies. Since the founding of Hope-Sierra Leone in 2000, the organisation has applied the Initiatives of Change approach of self-examination, sharing personal stories and seeking forgiveness in its work with battle-scarred people.

Despite some controversy about the date when the war began, it is generally agreed that it started on 23 March, 1991 in Bomaru, Upper Bambara Chiefdom, Kailahun District. Thus the government, through NaCSA, recommended that 23 March, 2009 should be marked as the starting point of a new National Reparations Programme and that Bomaru should be chosen as the venue of its launch.

This first ceremony was Hope-Sierra Leone’s first test as an implementing partner with NaCSA. Hope-Sierra Leone obviously passed the test, and won recognition as a leader in the field of reconciliation and peace building.

Through the Symbolic Reparations Programme, Hope-Sierra Leone was able to facilitate a reconciliation between Paramount Chief Coomber, Mandu Chiefdom, Kailahun District, Eastern Region (left), and local MP Hon Sam McCarthy (Centre). The long-standing animosity between the two leaders ended dramatically and publicly. The Symbolic Reparations Programme became almost transformed into peace celebrations in the Chiefdom. (Photo: John Bangura)Preliminary activities for the Bomaru ceremony began on 21 March, 2009. The entire three-day programme was coordinated in partnership with the local Paramount Chief Foray Gondor who, like Paramount Chiefs in every other chiefdom where these ceremonies were held, had an important symbolic role to play. The programme was designed to create a space and an opportunity for the entire community to participate in a forgiveness and reconciliation ritual which would symbolise the first steps to a new and peaceful future.

The three days were packed with events to provide a sense of emotional release for war victims and empower them to participate in re-building their country as citizens ready to forget the past and move on. Typically, dignitaries were welcomed with traditional cultural rituals including masquerades and dances. Muslim and Christian prayer services gave participants the opportunity to listen to messages of forgiveness and compassion.

A school girl bravely explained how her parents were killed in her presence. She was raped and later shot in her right leg. Although she didn’t know who had shot her, she had forgiven all those who had perpetrated these crimes and sufferings or her and many others like her. (Photo: John Bangura)Silent reflection was introduced by Hope-Sierra Leone at the Bomaru ceremony and was later adopted as a component of all subsequent programmes. Many people came forward to share their horrific war time experiences and then make public statements of forgiveness of their former enemies.

The ritual slaughtering of a cow and sharing of the meat was another feature of these ceremonies that drew on cultural traditions. Another ritual, the cleansing of sacred bushes was performed but was only witnessed by members of secret societies, with no media or cameras allowed.

Soccer matches, feasting, jam sessions, dancing and the planting of peace trees welded the people together in feelings of fellowship and camaraderie.

However, the most emotionally intense experience for most people was probably the symbolic re-burial of war victims who had not been accorded the dignity of funeral rites or burial services.

Reparations ceremonies in other chiefdoms and districts more or less followed the same pattern, with variations according to local circumstances and practices.

The Memorial in the town of Daru, Jawai Chiefdom, Eastern Sierra Leone (Photo: John Bangura)The value of the programme lay in helping people achieve a sense of catharsis by working through their feelings of pain and grief, opening up safe spaces where they could publicly acknowledge their own wrong-doings (instead of placing the entire blame on the enemy), and strengthening their determination never to allow such horrors to be repeated.

Hope-Sierra Leone achieved the goals of the programme despite challenges ranging from the usual logistical problems to budget difficulties and misunderstandings about the amount of money available to communities.

Next steps

Having completed this part of the programme, Hope-Sierra Leone will focus its efforts from April 2010 on a nationwide series of dialogues at community level. These will be based on its successful Moral Foundations for Democracy training course and build on the valuable experience gained with the symbolic reparations programme.

For more information on Hope Sierra Leone’s activities please see www.hopesierraleone.org