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Transforming hearts, changing attitudes in Sierra Leone
By Kees Scheijgrond, February 2008
“After the brutal and devastating civil war the whole country needs to be reconstructed. But if we don’t target the mindset of the people at the same time everything will be in vain”, said His Excellency Dr Ernest Bai Koroma, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone. He was speaking to members of the Moral Foundations for Democracy (MFD) International Faculty and staff of Hope-Sierra Leone, who had been invited to meet him following the completion of the second Training of Trainers (ToT) course in February 2008. After the presidential and parliamentary elections in August 2007, Ernest Koroma was elected President in a run-off the following month. The elections themselves were praised by international observers as largely free, fair and with hardly any violence.
In his inaugural speech, the President mentioned the need for an attitudinal change no less than 17 times. MFD, an Initiatives of Change (IofC) training for reconciliation and change, is the first of its kind to respond. “Your programme is a gift from heaven”, remarked the Minister of Information and Communication, Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, during the Concluding Ceremony of the ToT, where he was representing the President. “You have an effective technique (MFD), three years of experience, an active support network covering many sectors of society, a pool of 50 motivated trainers and a handbook”. On that basis, and with the experience of Hope-Sierra Leone’s successful Clean Elections Campaign, he invited H-SL representatives to participate in the Steering Group for the Change of Attitude Project (CAP), of which he is the Chairman.
The timing of the second ToT couldn’t have been better. 39 trainees, including 16 women, participated in the course at Hastings Police Training School from 28 January – 6 February 2008. All had been selected from the monthly MFD courses that have been running since September 2006. Twelve came from the Police, seven from the Armed Forces and twenty from different sectors of Civil Society – teachers, community workers, church ministers, youth leaders and women’s activists. The course included facilitation training, and refresher training on subjects like trauma, conflict transformation, forgiveness and reconciliation. Each trainee, working in groups, had to facilitate two practice sessions, which were thoroughly assessed by their classmates and members of the International Faculty.
There were also two guest speakers. The first, Mr Edward Kamara (a participant at Caux, 2007), Head of the Governance Department of UNDP (Sierra Leone) spoke about the still unstable situation in the country and the need to keep addressing not only the economy and infrastructure, but also social and moral issues. A vote of thanks was given by Morrison Saidu, who had just returned from the IofC Global Consultation in Panchgani, India. As a sign of appreciation he presented a copy of a new booklet, 'Frank Buchman's Legacy', to Mr Kamara.
The second guest speaker was Assistant Inspector-General Kadi Fakondo (Caux, 2004). She is the most senior woman in the Sierra Leone Police, one of the initiators of the MFD programme, and a person who always gives great support. She facilitated a discussion on gender issues, in particular the need for gender equality, a subject that will be added to the MFD trainings.
Gender equality is a sensitive subject in male-dominated Sierra Leone, but Kadi went full-out with lots of humour and passion. Foday (46), a Muslim teacher, remarked that he preferred to have his wife take care of the children and the house. He thought it was his duty to protect her from the evil of the outside world. And if he died unexpectedly he had already arranged to pass her on to his brother who would than take care of her and the children. Kadi confronted him head on: “Nobody is the property of someone else. Your wife is not a piece of furniture that you can shift around or get rid of”. She made him promise that, before the ToT was over, he would talk to his wife on an equal basis and ask her honestly what she thought about her life. He took everything generously, though somewhat uneasily, while others listened silently or burst into loud applause. That same evening he called his wife to tell her that this course had taught him to give her more space and freedom and that he wanted to talk with her about it. Following their talk, she confirmed that she wanted more freedom. After the concluding ceremony AIG Kadi Fakondo invited Foday and his wife to her office at Police Headquarters for another honest conversation.
With the commissioning of 39 new MFD trainers, including nine MFD course leaders, the MFD programme now has to find ways of meeting the increasing demand for this type of training in Sierra Leone. Ideas for challenging new projects keep coming up. The President has given his full support to Hope-Sierra Leone providing MFD training to Members of Parliament and senior Civil Servants. It is hoped that this will be funded by UNDP. A new H-SL programme for youth employment aims to create employment for, initially, some 2.000 youth. This will include short, MFD-style training for all these young people. Schools have expressed interest in developing plans to integrate MFD training into their curriculum. The Police Training School is also discussing similar training for all recruits. Altogether, there are some big challenges ahead!
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