2 May, 2008

Sierra Express

YLSL-UK Celebrates Sierra Leone’s 47th Independence Anniversary

In marking Sierra Leone’s 47th Independence Anniversary, the Young Leaders (Sierra Leone) UK Branch (YLSL-UK) in partnership with the Sierra Leone High Commission has held series of programs geared towards marking the day.

On April 25 the UK Chapter held the formal launching of a youth forum followed by a grand reception in the name of Sierra Leone Independence.

The youth forum was intending on creating a platform where young Sierra Leoneans in the UK will be able to engage and support projects that are geared towards youth development in their country.

The forum attracted over three hundred Sierra Leoneans across the UK, most of them youths. Among other things the forum was able to raise awareness to honor a call by President Ernest Bai Koroma for young people, especially to come home and contribute to nation building.

Majority of the youths present at the ceremony pledged allegiance to the organization and promised to work for the betterment of the country.

Delivering the keynote address the Chief Executive Officer of the organization, Mr. Messeh Kamara, said despite their coming from one of the world’s poorest countries, they still strive to be part of Sierra Leone’s reconstruction effort.

He reiterated that youths suffered a lot in the decade long war which left thousands of lives lost and properties worth millions of dollars destroyed, noting that young men and women were responsible for carrying out most of the barbaric atrocities committed in that war.

He however thanked God that today the youths of Sierra Leone have decided to transform their lives from former fighters to peace ambassadors. He said the war experience was not good thinking or talking about and that no one should wish for other young people to endure similar experiences around the world.

Mr. Messeh-Kamara maintained that it is for this reason that I believe that the issue of peace building and youth mainstreaming is a force to reckon with, if we are to create a better world.

He said the issue of youth and peace building is not a strange concept to Sierra Leonean youths and stressed that he believed that in the process of engaging youths in peace-building, Sierra Leone must have to be regarded as a case study.

He recalled that the eleven years of devastating atrocities in the country subjected youths to different forms of trauma as they were both the perpetrators and victims.

He cautioned donors to make youth issues their primary focus as the provision of humanitarian assistance and infrastructural aid is more appealing to donors and is given priority by government at the expense of a focus on youth and peace building warning that even though the concept of youth and peace building as a category might not seem appealing to donors, failure to deal with the healing of the youth and reorienting them as different and responsible citizens obeying the laws that govern their countries will have serious future consequences.

Mr. Messeh-Kamara maintained that one of the major causes for youths to resort to violence is as a result of lack of dialogue and peace building structures as without involving youths in peace building, there is no way peace can be sustained. The youth must be consulted and encouraged to participate in the design and implementation of peace building processes, he concluded.

In his remarks the Sierra Leone High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Mr. Melvin H. Chalobah, reiterated President Koroma’s clarion call for young people to come home and contribute to nation building.

Similar sentiments were expressed by the Deputy High Commissioner, Mr. James Allie, and the Chairperson Young Leaders UK Branch, Miss Ival Cummings-John.

Following the youth forum, a thanksgiving service was observed at the Walworth Methodist Church.

Young Leaders was formed in 2003 to create a platform for young Sierra Leoneans at home and in the Diaspora to contribute to the development of their country through dialogue, advocacy, public education and networking.

Since its formation, the organization has succeeded among other things in organizing the first ever Sierra Leone Youth Conference in Maryland in the United States of America.

The discussions focused on the brain drain, business, health, education, technology, and human rights issues in the country.

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