I must admit my complete ignorance about all things African. Apart from one fellow college student of mine from Kenya (many, many years ago), I have had absolutely no contact with any African whatsoever since.
It was an eye opener for me to read about Sierra Leone and Liberia in this book. What little I knew about the occult (voodoo) came from my Jamaican friend from college days. Right through high school, little was taught about Africa. But I memorised lots about North America and Australia to pass public examinations. Neither do I know much about the history of these two countries except from an isolated article or two of Time magazine I picked up in a public library.
The author must have a love for the continent to want to walk through these war torn zones. I would never dream about even visiting such places. Not that I have no interest, but I would be too fearful to venture there.
The good folks from England must have good intentions when they established Sierra Leone as a place for freed slaves to return to. But I suppose good intentions are not enough. America had poured in tons of aids into Liberia apart from sending many freed slaves there. Yet the end result is pretty deplorable. For the present generation of citizens in these two countries, they could not help being born there.
My grandparents and parents have suffered at the hands of the Japanese occupiers during Second World War. My husband has spent a considerable amount of time in Japan as an exchange student. I have met with one or two of his host families when they visited my home town. They are wonderful people. I suppose it is easy for me to treat them as ordinary people, since no one in my extended family was killed by the Japanese soldiers.
Reading this book changed my views completely regarding how I feel about TV news coverage of war and unrest. What happened in these two countries would be far worse than what happened in Indo China. We have seen Vietnam rising up after years of war. Even Cambodia seemed to be doing better these few years when my friend went there to volunteer their services. Only time will tell if Sierra Leone and Liberia will rise up out of the ashes.
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