AJA initiates Poets for Peace & Development

By Ahmed Sahid Nasralla (De Monk)

AJA and Randoulph Wilson

Barbadian writer, poet and musician AJA has urged his Sierra Leonean colleagues to come forward and unite to use their literary talents to promote peace and development in their country.

power

AJA (Adisa Jelani Andwele), who was speaking at a low-profile poetry night at the Bamboo Hut bar and restaurant, Wilkinson Road, last Thursday, said there was so much power in poetry which could be utilized in the promotion of love and peace among Sierra Leoneans and peoples and nations of the world.

festival

He said the formation of Poets for Peace and Development could facilititate the holding of annual literary festivals in Sierra Leone which could attract other artists from the sub-region and beyond and ehance the image of the small West African country.

AJA revealed that renowned African artists like Ismailo and Baba Maal were prepared to come to Sierra Leone to promote the arts.

The reading of individual poems formed the core of the informal meeting. Poems were read by Elvis Gbanagbom Hallowell of Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), a young lady called Fatmata T-Binta Kamara, Randoulph L.A. Wilson and AJA himself.

antiquity

AJA read a poem titled ‘Antiquity’ in which he attempted to establish a subconscious link between his home country Barbados (and the Carribbean generally) and Africa. He also performed another one titled ‘Live As One’ with great passion, inspring his colleagues to clap along.

Earlier in the day, AJA reportedly performed ‘Live As One’ in the city of Bo during a peace campaign by UNDP and Artsits for Peace, and the performance poet literally got everybody out on the streets holding hands as a symbol of unity for Sierra Leone.

Unamsil

AJA first came to Sierra Leone in 2005 on an invitation to perform at a peace concert hosted by the UN at the National Stadium to mark the end of the life of UNAMSIL’s peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone. He came again two years later (May 2007) as UNDP’s Spokespeson on War and Poverty for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean and worked with youths, artists and musician groups in the country.

lungi bridge

JHR’s Elvis Gbanagbom Hallowell read from his recent collections of poems titled ‘My Immigrant Blood’. He read aloud the poem ‘Am Walking On A Fine Bridge To Lungi’ which made satire of the great promise of a bridge to Lungi by former President of the Republic, Alhaji Dr Ahmed Tejan Kabbah.

Hallowell also read ‘My Immigrant Blood’ which was about his personal experience of being a refugee in the United States of America and of being the only Blackman in his department of study.

changing times

The young lady, Fatmata T-Binta Kamara, who was a finalist at the not-so-recent Celtel (SL) Star Search contest, recited ‘Times Are Changng’ and ‘My Children’ with fervor and belief.

legacy

Describing children as treasures from God, T-Binta was much concerned about what legacy we would leave behind for our children and appealed for the revival of poetry to start in the schools.

She said children should be taught to be themselves and not somebody else.

rebel war

Finally, Randoulph L.A. Wilson, an employee of Celtel and ABC/TV who co-ordinated the informal meeting, recalled the experiences of the rebel war in Sierra Leone in his poem ‘Rude Awakening’. He also read a poem originally written by his uncle, Jonathan Wilson of Prisons department, titled ‘At Month’s End’, which made mockery of take home pay for employees.

A sonnet on corruption by copy eitor and writer, Bryan James, also impressed the gathering.

Also present at the meeting were former Minister of Health and Sanitation and past President of the 50/50 Group Ms Abator Thomas, Managing Editor Salone Times newspaper, Ms Williette John and Peter Ngu Tayong- Communication and External Relations Specialist UNDP.

Meanwhile, AJA promised to come back to Sierra Leone in October, by which time he expects the country’s poets would have organized as group.

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SIERRA LEONE: Not just fine beaches!

By Ahmed Sahid Nasralla (De Monk)

Sierra Leone is not just the beaches, reasoned UNDP’s Communication and External Relations Specialist- Peter Ngu Tayong.

Tayong, who was speaking at the Bamboo Hut last Thursday at a social gathering of poets, said Sierra Leone is perhaps the only country in the world where Simon goes to mosque on Friday and Alpha goes to Church on a Sunday.

“In one Sierra Leonean family you have Christians and Mulsims. Muslims and Christians go to the same bar and enjoy themselves irrespective of their different religious beliefs,” observed Tayong, describing that as ‘Sierra Leone’s exceptionalism’.

He called on writers, poets and musicans to portray that image of their country to the outside world as the preferred destination.