Returned Peace Corps Volunteers International Calendar

Sierra Leone

Republic of Sierra Leone
In Western Africa, coastal belt of mangrove swamps, wooded hill country, upland plateau, mountains in east. 71,740 km² (slightly < SC), 8% arable.

Capital Freetown (pop est. 837K)
Population 5.1M (71.1/km²)
Life expectancy 55 years
HIV/AIDS >1.7%
Literacy 35%
Lang(s) English (official), Mende, Temne, Crio
Religions Muslim 60%, Christian 10%, Indigenous beliefs 30%
Ethnic Groups Temne 30%, Mende 30%, other 30%, Creole 10%
Gov’t Constitutional Democracy
GDP/cap $900
PCVs 1962-1992; 1992-1994; 2010, agriculture, education, health (Volunteers in country: To be determined; total to date: 3,479)
Nat’l holiday Independence Day, 27 April (1961)

 

Focus word for 2011 - "Celebration"

Krio: Make gady-glady (mek gladi-gladi)

 

Books

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
by Ishmael Beah
Book Description
This absorbing account by a young man who, as a boy of 12, gets swept up in Sierra Leone's civil war goes beyond even the best journalistic efforts in revealing the life and mind of a child abducted into the horrors of warfare.

 

Kids' Books

Be patient, Abdul
Written and Illustrated Dolores Sandoval
New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1996.
Ages 6 to 9.

 

Music

Emerson
Borbor Belle
Music from Sierra Leone

 

Films

Fatal Birth (David Shoo, 2009)

 

Recipes

Binch Akara/Fried Bean Balls
Banana Cakes
Papaya Juice Drink