©InfoJebbeh Kamara, 40, fled her village Taninahun Pesseh when it was attacked during the Sierra Leone civil war, which began in 1991. After surviving more than a decade of war by living in the bush, this is Jebbeh’s story about re-building a community in the aftermath of war:
Escaping from fighters
When our community was attacked by fighting forces in 1991, I was pregnant and already had two children. My husband fled to the bush but I was left trapped in the house with the children because of the heavy firing. I stayed under the bed with my children crying.
The fighters were going from house to house pulling people out and taking them with them. But somehow in all the confusion they didn’t break my door, they missed my house completely. Once the fighters left, my husband came back to look for me and together we then fled to the bush. But we had no food, so after a week, we went to Mattrujong in Bonthe district where my husband’s uncle lives. Two weeks later I gave birth to a baby boy.
But two years later, the fighting forces came and attacked Mattrujong so we had to flee again. My husband managed to escape with two of our children and I ran away with our baby, but we were separated. I was in the bush for two weeks and asking people if they’d seen my husband and then I found him in another village.
Living in the bush
We returned to Taninahun Pesseh as by this time the fighting forces had moved on from this area. But we were still worried, so we set up camp in the bush near the village. We would go and sleep in our house at night but return to the camp very early in the morning.
Life was very difficult, especially to get essentials like cooking salt and rice. Sometimes we would dig inside palm trees and inside the tree you can remove something to eat which is called ‘boe’, so mostly we lived on this and cassava leaves. Also we could sometimes catch fish in the river.
In 1997, we moved back into the village with about 25 other families. We were still worried but we were fed up of living in the bush so decided to take the risk. At this time there were some major issues in our community.
Community conflict
©InfoThe biggest thing that caused conflict among us was the issue of food. The coconut, orange and palm trees in the village are owned by individuals and not the community as a whole. But of course with food so scarce people were eating from trees that didn’t belong to them and that caused big problems.
Some people had a rice barn but didn’t take their food when they ran away and when they returned they found others had raided their barn and again this caused problems. Housing was also a big issue because some houses were destroyed and so people would return to find others in their homes. Initially the elders tried to resolve the conflict but they couldn’t really succeed because power and authority had been taken from them during the war and given to the youth as they were the ones with the guns.
The other thing that caused conflict was that during the war when hiding in the bush sometimes a rebel would appear and you’d see that your brother or friend had led them to you. This was because the rebel would have threatened to kill them and so they had little choice, but of course it still made people angry that they’d been betrayed.
Building peace
It was only when the Red Cross entered the community that we were able to start resolving the issues. At the end of the war, the ‘animator’ [Red Cross worker from the local area who facilitates peace-building projects] came and helped us form the community peace and conciliation committee (CPCC).
The CPCC comprised all sorts of people in the community, representing the chief, women, men, youth, the elderly and different professions, and then they elected a chairman. After this, we had cleansing ceremonies for the people who were blamed for leading fighters to our homes or for those who had taken food and other things that didn’t belong to them.
Together, with the animator’s support, we were able to start a process of forgiveness and reconciliation. The CPPC is still working today to resolve conflicts but they are no longer related to the war as these have all been resolved.
Working together
©InfoNow there has been forgiveness, we’ve learned to work together in groups on farms and this helps us produce more food.
Also, the Red Cross has made a big difference to our community by introducing the ‘two block’ system. There are two groups with 35 women in each and each woman contributes 200 leones [3 p] every week to a revolving loan. The money is given to one person at a time and after a month they return it with interest of 1,000 leones [14 p].
Sometimes it’s difficult to make the interest but everyone goes all out to make the repayment – no one has ever defaulted. When I was given the loan I bought tobacco which came from Malawi, I cut it into pieces and sold it per head. Now I can buy food and soap for washing clothes. Sometimes I borrow 60,000 leones [£8.62] and then I make a profit of at least 10,000 leones [£1.44] after repaying the loan.
Healthier community
Health and sanitation in the village has also improved greatly. Before the Red Cross came there was no idea about keeping the community clean, it was very bushy and sometimes people would get snake bites. But now we clear back the bush and people don’t get bitten.
The Red Cross helped us build toilets and we no longer have to go to the toilet in the river, which we also use for all our washing and cooking and drinking. Diarrhoea is no longer common and we don’t have to take our children to hospital so much.
Before the Red Cross came here life was miserable, but now my life has improved greatly. And most importantly, we are much more united as a community, we speak with one voice.
Find out how the Red Cross is helping children affected by war in Liberia