Just a week from exactly this moment I will be on a plane just taking-off for Sierra Leone. I will be there just for ten days to complete a situational assessment on behalf of my team at CARE. This assessment will help us develop a infant and young child feeding program.
To say that Sierra Leoneans have been through a lot is an understatement. Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its physical and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. Fortunately democracy is slowly being reestablished after a civil war that lasted from 1991 to 2002 and resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (about one-third of the population).
We will have our work cut out for us. Malnutrition is a chronic problem in Sierra Leone and the country has been rated as one of the most under developed countries in the world, based on the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index Report. This index is based on five standardized indicators including literacy levels, per capita GDP, maternal mortality rates and infant mortality rates. Malnutrition has been identified as the underlying cause of infant and childhood mortality in developing countries and with the high infant and child mortality rates in Sierra Leone, the need for special attention to be given to the reduction of malnutrition cannot be over emphasized. On top of that barriers to good practices are consistently found nearly everywhere, including limited autonomy on the part of the woman/mother (subject to the directives of her husband, her mother-in-law, and even some ill-informed health advisors); mistrust of the information source; fear of violence or embarrassment; cost of adoption of the new practice; distance to acquire the information, skills, or materials to undertake it; and especially work overload which blocks many women from taking on new, recommended practices. Traditional practice often outweighs the perceived positive benefits of changing behavior.
Anyway, I'm expecting to learn a lot from the trip. I've already started trying out the language which seems very similar to Jamaican Patois (and for good reasons since freed Jamaican slaves settled in Sierra Leone in the late 1800's).
Common Greetings in Krio
Padi, Kusheh-O--------- Friend, Hello
Kusheh ya ---------Hello (in return)
Aw di bohdi? -----------How are you? (literally, how is your body)
Di body fine, tank Gohd ---------I am fine, thanks to God
A wehl, aw yusef? ------------I am well. How are you? (how is yourself)
A tehl Gohd tenki ----------I say thanks to God
Usai yu de goh? ---------Where are you going?
A de goh na mahkit ----------I am going to the market
Wehl, nain daht ----------Well, that’s all (that’s that)
OK, wi goh si bahk ---------OK, (we will) see you again
Oshai ----------Sorry
To say that Sierra Leoneans have been through a lot is an understatement. Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its physical and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. Fortunately democracy is slowly being reestablished after a civil war that lasted from 1991 to 2002 and resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (about one-third of the population).
We will have our work cut out for us. Malnutrition is a chronic problem in Sierra Leone and the country has been rated as one of the most under developed countries in the world, based on the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index Report. This index is based on five standardized indicators including literacy levels, per capita GDP, maternal mortality rates and infant mortality rates. Malnutrition has been identified as the underlying cause of infant and childhood mortality in developing countries and with the high infant and child mortality rates in Sierra Leone, the need for special attention to be given to the reduction of malnutrition cannot be over emphasized. On top of that barriers to good practices are consistently found nearly everywhere, including limited autonomy on the part of the woman/mother (subject to the directives of her husband, her mother-in-law, and even some ill-informed health advisors); mistrust of the information source; fear of violence or embarrassment; cost of adoption of the new practice; distance to acquire the information, skills, or materials to undertake it; and especially work overload which blocks many women from taking on new, recommended practices. Traditional practice often outweighs the perceived positive benefits of changing behavior.
Anyway, I'm expecting to learn a lot from the trip. I've already started trying out the language which seems very similar to Jamaican Patois (and for good reasons since freed Jamaican slaves settled in Sierra Leone in the late 1800's).
Common Greetings in Krio
Padi, Kusheh-O--------- Friend, Hello
Kusheh ya ---------Hello (in return)
Aw di bohdi? -----------How are you? (literally, how is your body)
Di body fine, tank Gohd ---------I am fine, thanks to God
A wehl, aw yusef? ------------I am well. How are you? (how is yourself)
A tehl Gohd tenki ----------I say thanks to God
Usai yu de goh? ---------Where are you going?
A de goh na mahkit ----------I am going to the market
Wehl, nain daht ----------Well, that’s all (that’s that)
OK, wi goh si bahk ---------OK, (we will) see you again
Oshai ----------Sorry
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