Postcard worthy descriptions included

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

I’m on my way to the town of Kabala in the northern part of the country and boy oh boy do we have a big job waiting for us. I just read a briefing from CARE Sierra Leone that states … “After three decades of poor governance exacerbated by eleven years of civil war, the economy, health and social infrastructure of Sierra Leone have been decimated with an estimated 68% of the population living below the poverty line (translation- on less than $2 a day). Sierra Leone has the lowest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita ($470) and life expectancy rates (34.5 years) in the world. Having ranked at the lowest level of the UNDP Human Development Index for the past decade, the level of poverty in Sierra Leone is staggering. A high fertility rate of 6.5 has resulted in 44% of the population aged less than 15 years. Only 36% of the population is literate with women suffering close to 90% illiteracy levels.” Well, as one of my former classmates says, “If you must, you can.” Here goes nothing.

So after five hours in a bush SUV we finally reached Kabala. Koinadugu District where Kabala is located is both the largest and the most remote district in Sierra Leone. The terrain is hilly and roads are poor (with only one paved road in the entire district which by the way is quite nice all things considered). Nearly all inhabitants of the district live in a rural setting with the exception of Kabala which is peri-urban. Koinadugu was the most under-served district in the country before the war and suffered great damage during the conflict, in the form of population displacement, damage to the roads, buildings and farms. Despite this, the district has received relatively little attention in the initial post-conflict efforts. As was before the war and now almost 80% of the population of Koinadugu is dependent on agriculture as their main livelihood. The district, which was the pre-war primary producer and supplier of cattle and vegetables in the country, was pillaged during the war, with the majority of existing cattle being killed or driven across the border into neighboring Guinea. Farmers were displaced from their lands causing lands to be temporarily abandoned; uncared for, and many agricultural cropland sites reverted back to bush lands.

More soon...