The Music Scene and column on City Center

Upon arriving to Salone (Krio for Sierra Leone), I was surprised at how much American pop music I heard. The first song I listened to in a taxi ride was “Umbrella,” by Rihanna. And I think I’ve heard “With You,” by Chris Brown and “Love in this club,” by Usher, more in Freetown than I [...]

The Rainy Season and a Bright and Colorful Mass

These are my two most recent columns in Through the Eyes of ‘U.’
The first is about my first experience in real, heavy Sierra Leonean rain, which actually made me feel a little more at home. To read the column, click here.
The second column is about my experience attending a Catholic Church in Sierra Leone (which [...]

A lesson from the man himself

Bob Geldof, a well-known rock-and-roll artist, was in Sierra Leone last Monday night. My editor, Mr. Kelvin Lewis, and I attended a press conference that night featuring Mr. Geldof, who is internationally recognized for his acts of philanthropy in Africa. I wrote a story about the press conference which was the lead story in the [...]

Pack ya’ bags!

Upon arriving to Africa, Mr. Kelvin Lewis (editor of Awoko Newspaper) generously checked me in to a YMCA hostel for my first four days in Sierra Leone. Little did I know that I would literally only be staying there for four days.
While I was under the impression that I had the room booked for the [...]

Travelogue story

As promised, here is my first story published in Awoko, a narration of my experience traveling to Sierra Leone from the US. Hope you enjoy!
Click Here to read the story.

The most common name in Sierra Leone and The “Wrong of Way”

(Quick note: My first post was originally going to be about my trip to Sierra Leone from Seattle, but I actually wrote a story about that today and that should be in the paper tomorrow. I’m hoping that it will be available online so I can attach a link, but if it’s not, then I’ll [...]

Getting started

Hello all! My name is Yu Nakayama; I am a graduate student from the University of Washington with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication: Journalism. During this summer of 2008, I will be travelling to Sierra Leone, Africa to work for as an intern-reporter for AWOKO newspaper. Special thanks to the UW Department of Communication for giving [...]