So Long, Salone

Unbelievable as it is, today is my last day of work at Awoko Newspaper. We typically have a weekly meeting on Fridays, so I made my official farewell “speech” yesterday, addressing each Awoko colleague and member who have truly touched my life. IT was a lot more emotional for me than I had initially anticipated, [...]

“This was a victory for the Media” – Mr. Lewis

A lot has gone down in Sierra Leone during my final month here. First, there is the ongoing investigation of the cocaine saga. Just a couple of nights before I returned to the states for a week, police seized a plane which landed at Lungi International Airport and contained 600 kg of substance believed to [...]

A real “Salone Borbor”

I’ve always wanted to get a buzz cut; and not just your typical short on the top, even shorter on the sides bizz cut. I’m talking about a real, skin-head buzz cut. It’s a popular hairstyle here in Sierra Leone, called “Tolon Peppeh.” Well, yesterday, I went to get exactly that at a barbershop called [...]

Returning to Pujehun: A Fulfilling Experience

I went back to the Pujehun disitrict with my colleague, Solomon Rogers, this weekend. I mentioned in an earlier post that I hoped it would be a fulfilling experience, and it sure was. My days in Salone are numbered now, as I’ll be returning to the states in less than two weeks. But this past [...]

Hey, a Japanese person! … and (gasp) a pickpocketer

So let’s start with the good/fun news: I met a Japanese person in Freetown last weekend. Her name is Nagayo Sawa, a researcher from the University of Tokyo. One of the New York interns I met a while back gave me her contact info and I figured it would be a good opportunity to talk [...]

Don’t Call Me China

If you ask 100 Sierra Leoneans what they think your nationality is, 99 of them will say Chinese.
These were the words of one of my Awoko colleagues, Ophaniel Gooding, during one of my first few weeks in Salone. It seems as if all Sierra Leoneans think all Asian people are Chinese. There’s clearly a strong [...]

Happy 10th, Awoko!

August 10th is Awoko Newspaper’s 10th Anniversary. As I mentioned in the previous post, we’re going to have a grand celebration on August 29th, where Nigerian Leke Alder will be the keynote speaker and discuss the first step in “branding Sierra Leone.” This is going to be a fantastic event, with important Sierra Leoneans scheduled [...]

Zain Concert and more

Celtel, one of Africa’s leading mobile phone companies, changed its name to Zain last week, and to commemorate the change, they sponsored a huge concert in which Nigerian R&B duo, P-Sqaure, headlined and many other Sierra Leonean artists opened for them. It was an impressive showing, although there’s a lot that organizers could have done [...]

A serious case of ’swell foot’

I’ve all of a sudden been appointed by my editor and coworkers as the secondary editor at my paper – meaning I copy edit all of the day’s stories before passing it onto Mr. Lewis. It’s great to be busy with more work to do, and I appreciate that Mr. Lewis has enough confidence in [...]