Sierra Leone Post-visit Report

by April Naturale, PBB CEO

5.22.09

It is a long way from Boston, USA to Freetown in Sierra Leone on the continent of Africa. The return seems even longer. The time spent interacting with the Sierra Leoneans was anything but tiring. If there were ever a people who exemplify an ability to overcome adversity, at least on a psychological level, Sierra Leoneans seem to be that people.

It’s almost seven years since the war here ended. It is known as one of the most barbaric wars with some of the worst of atrocities known to man having been committed for years from one end of the country to the other. The worst part of the story is that much of the inhumane acts were committed by children forced under threat of death and dismemberment along with mind-numbing drugs.

The first actions taken by most families and non-governmental organizations that entered the country to help was to reunify loved ones. This included disarmament and demobilization and well as rehabilitation and reintegration of those youth who had been so cruelly pulled from their communities and psychologically tortured. Rebuilding the physical structures continues, but this country is largely dependent on aid just to survive with the basic supports such as food and safety.

Sierra Leone has historically been on the lowest end of the human index scale and is largely dependent on aid. The war exemplified their pre-existing problems. And now, ten years later, the country, and these vulnerable children and youth, are still at risk. Some of those who were associated with armed forces and armed groups have lost their families, lost limbs and many lost their sense of self. They were pulled out of school, away from family and forced (directly and indirectly) to enact atrocities upon each other, those they loved and their country. Many still suffer with substance abuse problems as a result of being shot up with drugs by rebels threatening to cut off an arm or kill them if they didn’t participate.

Returning to a life after war has found most of these youth without a completed education or skills to contribute to community life. Many were too afraid or ashamed to return to what family may have been left. Others were not accepted back into their communities.

There is opportunity to help those who remain hopeful that they and their families might build some normal semblance of a life. I met two students who were full of life and hope–Dominic and Benjamin. They are lucky, but still at risk of the threat of violence due to the fragile peace in Sierra Leone and the neighboring fighting forces.

Others are not so lucky. Their families don’t have the funds to send them to school. They don’t even have the funds for proper clothing.

I asked Biawama (I know I’m not spelling his name right; top) if he went to school and after a brief silence, with a bowed head he said yes. Clearly he had not been there along with Dominic and Benjamin, but he was ashamed to say no. Bomoi (bottom) had chores to do. I helped him carry his two heavy bottles of water. He had no English at all which was an indication he was not attending school. English is required at all levels in Sierra Leone and the children are the most proficient.

Psychology Beyond Borders plans to return to Freetown in September and continue planning with local psychosocial organizations and our collaborators at the Research Program on Global Adversity as to how to move forward. Education, skills building, counseling, community psychoeducation …these are all our early ideas that show an evidence-informed chance of actually helping. Keep posted for our follow up activities and check out the website for the next podcasts from former child soldiers.

Trusting From 5000 Miles Away

By Betsy Payne, PBB Projects Officer

Over the past several weeks, I have been planning and coordinating a networking trip to Sierra Leone, Africa for PBB’s CEO Dr. April Naturale and a Psychology Beyond Borders research partner, Dr. Theresa Betancourt from Harvard University’s School of Public Health. This networking trip was so that April and Theresa could meet with potential partners from local NGOs, the United Nations, and the Sierra Leone Ministries on a future project with war affected youth and their communities. As part of the planning, I worked with on a daily basis a Mahmoud Feika who is a Sierra Leonean from the Kono District of Sierra Leone, which is about a 6 hour drive from the capital of Freetown where April and Theresa would be staying and holding meetings. Mahmoud temporarily moved to Freetown so that he could work with Theresa again as he learned how to conduct research interviews during her last visit in 2008. Mahmoud has also been unemployed since then that time. Here are some of the observations from working with an incountry partner who is located 5000 miles away….

“A Long Way Gone”

by Taylor Overstreet, Intern at PBB

Last fall, I mentioned to a friend that I would be starting an internship at Psychology Beyond Borders. All I knew at that point was that the organization was addressing trauma-related distress resulting from natural disasters in Indonesia and was also hoping to structure a project around working with former child soldiers and war-affected youth in Sierra Leone. She lent me a copy of “A Long Way Gone,” Ishmael Beah’s memoir about fleeing his own village to escape rebels before being forced into several years as a child soldier during the Sierra Leone Civil War.

In the book, Beah shifts between childhood and present day, covering the spectrum to include his days as a boy soldier as well as his time spent in rehabilitation during the UN Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration program in Sierra Leone. He is a wonderful storyteller — frank and uncompromising, but his humanity is what lingered with me after finishing the book, mere hours after beginning it. His passion for his homeland in the face of such despair is incredible. In a situation that to so many has seemed utterly hopeless, he continues to raise awareness worldwide about the issues facing Sierra Leone and its people.

I had the amazing opportunity to meet and speak with Ishmael Beah in February of this year at the Clinton Global Intiative University. I served as a facilitator for the Peace and Human Rights panel and was thrilled to see his name on the list of panelists. He spoke with candor about the use of some 300,000 [cite] child soldiers that continues today in countries around the world and stressed the importance of rehabilitating, rather than stigmatizing these children.

Are child soldiers a special population for psychological aid workers?

By Conor Seyle, PBB Research Officer

In many ways, the phenomenon of children being used in formal or informal armed forces or groups is exceptional. Legally and morally, it is something that is widely acknowledged as abhorrent. It is banned by a number of international laws and treaties, and it’s a crime answerable to the International Criminal Court. However, as mentioned in previous posts, the psychological impact of their experiences on children affiliated with armed forces and armed groups is something that PBB has identified as a focus in our work. It is in this domain where the question of whether the experiences of child soldiers are exceptional, relative to the experiences of other war-exposed children, becomes a little more complicated.

Psychology Beyond Borders is developing a project in Sierra Leone working with a population that will include a large group of children formerly affiliated with armed forces and armed groups (CAAFAG, the unwieldy but accurate acronym preferred by the field). Previous research by the Research Program for Children and Global Health at Harvard’s School of Public health has shown high rates of depression and PTSD symptoms in former CAAFAG in Sierra Leone (for a review, see the HSPH-PBB report). Similar research by the Survey For War Affected Youth in Uganda has likewise shown significant distress in former CAAFAG (SWAY, 2007). This is unsurprising: combat is extremely unsettling, and an event likely to cause post-traumatic distress. Here’s the problem, though: combat experiences in the regions where child enlistment is common is not likely to be limited to the front-line, uniformed, regular (or irregular) troops. The conflicts in Sierra Leone, and in Uganda, and in many parts of the world, are conflicts where there is no clean distinction between combatants and noncombatants. As a result, many civilians experience combat as well. The question at hand is therefore, is there something particular about the experience of CAAFAG that makes their experiences more likely to cause distress than the other children. This is not an idle question – although the suffering of former CAAFAG is apparent and demands an international response to help end the use of children in armed conflict, organizations working with the psychological health of people in war-torn areas can easily mistarget our resources if we assume that, for example, all former CAAFAG and only all former CAAFAG are the people who need our help and that is not the actual case.

Lion Mountains

By Taylor Overstreet, PBB MSW Intern

Former child soldiers and their communities have begun garnering international attention in recent years, and Psychology Beyond Borders hopes to contribute to the body of knowledge surrounding war-affected youth and to address community needs, particularly in Sierra Leone.  As the resident intern at PBB, one of my primary tasks has been to research the cultural and historical backgrounds of our project sites.  In doing so, I have learned much about this West African nation.

The name Sierra Leone was adapted from the Portuguese phrase for “lion mountains,” to describe the beautiful peaks that rise over the West African coastline.  Generally speaking, the people of Sierra Leone are very formal, especially with guests and elders.  For example, when meeting with an elder, it is common to hold the forearm when shaking hands as an indication that this person’s arm holds great weight.  Also, it is customary to leave a small bit of food on one’s plate when a guest in another’s home, even as you thank your host profusely and compliment the delicious food.

Tools for educating young people about young people…

By Amanda C. Jones, PBB Grants Officer

Education.
It’s a part of the mission at Psychology Beyond Borders, or PBB.  Education helps people know how to prepare before disasters.  Education helps people cope in response to disasters.  Education helps people to help other people cope in response to disaster.  And more broadly, education can help us all to understand the challenges that other people face.

Young People.
If we think that young people are the world’s future, that we’re passing everything on to them, and education is a way to prepare kids for the future, then I think we need to teach kids about each other’s lives and each other’s challenges.  PBB is involved in helping people and communities to recover from large-scale disasters, and those are scary.  But when we’re teaching youth and children about disasters, it’s important to figure out a way to give them information without giving them nightmares.