[Group singing and musical instruments]
[Emmanuel Tomy] During the course of the war families have been separated, people who lived together for years and years and years and years, communities, were divided for a number of reasons because in the same communities a number of warring factions would have recruited fighters and then they have committed atrocities against their own in those communities.
[Greetings in Krio]
[Ella Samuels] To become a peace animator is very simply. When we enter these villages, by holding meetings with the people you can really know where the problem lies. They can come together and they find solutions as to how to address those problems. Since the people were from war, first of all we started with peace building.
[Animator speaking to group in Krio]
[Brima Kpaka] [Speaking in Krio with English voiceover] We’ve had a number of trainings in how to solve our own problems and now we can work closely with the chiefs in resolving issues and sometimes I intervene and resolve a conflict between people before it even gets to the chief. We want this to continue and to hand it over to the children.
[Kadie Sawaneh] [Speaking in Krio with English voiceover] After the workshops, we came back and had discussions with our menfolk: the chief and our husbands. From that time, the men haven’t left the women behind in any decision-making. So things are a lot better. Now we are united. We are in agreement with the men.
[Group at stream speaking in Krio]
[Kadie Sawaneh] [Speaking in Krio with English voiceover] We were using the stream for drinking water, but sometimes in the dry season, it dries up, so we had to go to another big stream, which is nearly two miles away. But now that the Red Cross helped us build a well, we can have water at anytime. Even at night we have access to water.
[Ella Samuels] Normally they used to put their dishes, pots on the ground. Maybe they would develop this diarrhoea and vomiting, you know. Putting their clothes on the ground we animated them that they should have these ropes. They no longer developed scabies on their bodies.
We formed these people into groups. This group work helps them a lot, it has facilitated their farm work.
[Multani Kpaka] [Speaking in Krio with English voiceover] When the war ended and we came back, lots of organisations came and then left. But the Red Cross stayed and now the Red Cross has helped us to do lots of things with our community farm and cleaning the village. Our lives are changed. Now we have community farms. The produce is used for the whole community. When we have visitors, instead of going around and taking rice from people, what we do is use the community rice. We also use the community farm for anything that’s happening, such as festivals. Now we have the means to eat well.
[Ella Samuels] At the end of every year, we organise a peace festival wherein we bring all the communities together.
[Musical instruments and singing]
[Ella Samuels] You have some people in some communities that do not, are not on talking terms. But when that festival is going, by hugging themselves, rubbing shoulders together, you know, when dancing together, you know, they will tend to forget about their grievances and then reconciliation will take place.
[Musical instruments and children’s laughter.]