Africa is coming to terms with democratic governance and free market economy. The continent possesses significant deposits of natural resources, but it is mostly limited by bad governance and poor financial systems. In spite of these limitations, however, opportunities exist all over the continent for economic growth and development. There has been a decline in the civil wars and political insurrections that marred the continent’s development throughout the eighties and early...

Woman of Africa
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Joseph Kaifala


African woman
Woman of the north
Woman of the south
Woman of the east and west
Woman of the Makona river
How beautiful you are

I look at you without blinking
Your black braided hair
A beauty I cannot resist
Like an alignment of the stars
Your smooth dark skin
Complements your fierce white eyes

I could stare at you forever
As you do your majestic walk
Feet and hips in rhythm
To the beat of your internal djembe
With the attitude of a goddess
You flirt wit...

Photo: WHO

On November 6, 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Sierra Leone ebola free, joining Liberia in the free zone and leaving Guinea with one case. The emergency in Sierra Leone and Liberia has ended, but the ebola crisis is not yet over.  As long as one country is carrying the disease and a vaccine has not yet been found, all countries are at risk.  I have written before that ebola, like all other diseases perpetually killing people in that region, will con...

Lion Mountains

By Joseph Kaifala

In the Lion Mountains I was conceived
In her absence I have redefined myself
I was compelled to leave you Romarong
But I am strengthened by your blood
The blood of free blacks mixed with natives
On the western side of a continent
A home for Africa’s abandoned children

How I long to coil in your black belly again
And smell the aroma of foufou and tola
Cooked with hog-foot and canya pepe
And the tang of Mama Jeneba’s pemahun
Dispersed by the smell of ken...

There Was A Meeting in Heaven Last Night
By Joseph Kaifala

≈
Hear ye, Hear ye!
Did the town crier not pass through your town tonight?
There was a meeting in Heaven last night
What meeting do you speak of, Eyes of the Dead?
Chief Albert Luthuli was there
I said what meeting do you speak of, Messenger of our Ancestors!
Oliver Tambo was in attendance and he sat with Mandela
Chris Hani was there, too, and he sat at the feet of Old Luthuli
Ruth First and Joe Slovo were there!
Then the child...

Hold My Hand
A Poem by Joseph Kaifala

Hold my hand
And lead me down the path
Where our love endures forever
And wash away my cowardly fears
As we gaze at the setting sun
≈    
Hold my hand
And be my unwavering strength
When waves of life attempt to sway me
For your love holds firmer than levees
Even on quicksand that slides beneath
≈    
Hold my hand
My stunning angel of dusk
And dilute my untamed anxieties
As the sun dissolves into sea
And the sky overshadows their embrace
≈...

In a region of extreme poverty and underdevelopment, religious occasions such as Ramadan and Christmas are usually the only times that most people enjoy the joy of life rightly embedded in these festivities. Christmas and Ramadan in Sierra Leone are not only about the religious meanings of these events; they are also a social opportunity for the haves to share with the have-nots, for families to reconcile their differences, and for neighbours to entertain each other through parties an...

The ebola emergency in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia has led these countries to temporarily close schools in order to manage the spread of the disease. It has been estimated that the closure of schools affects estimably five million children in the region, and fears that some of these children might not return to school after the emergency have caused some NGOs to call for the reopening of schools in the region. As founder of the Jeneba Project Inc. and someone who has provi...

One of the greatest pleasures of traveling around the U.S. on public transportation to give presentations and attend fundraisers for the Jeneba Project Inc., a nonprofit I founded to provide educational opportunities to the children of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea after more than a decade of civil war in that region, is the privilege of talking to ordinary Americans about these countries and the work we do. In my experience, when Americans are interested in an issue, they a...

Experts are stating that while there is considerable progress towards some form of ebola vaccine, a cure may not be available until sometime next year. What this means is that the fight against the deadly disease must proceed as if there was no vaccine in order to halt its projected exponential spread.

Now that many of the myths have been dispelled and the lackadaisical attitudes of Western countries and international organizations have been checked, it is time to provide conc...

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has plagued mostly Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia. The most recent estimate is that the disease has killed nearly 5,000 people and continues to spread exponentially. In fact, the New England Journal of Medicine has found that at current rate of infestation, the toll could reach 20, 000 by November, if more robust actions are not taken to curb the disease. The question people are asking is why has it been so difficult to contain a disease that is no...

Lungi International Airport in Sierra Leone is separated from Freetown, the capital, by sea. Travelers often have to take a local and usually overcrowded ferry to reach Freetown. In addition to international travelers, the ferry is usually full of traders and hawkers of all sorts. This is a video of the ferry transit between Lungi and Freetown.

Germain Katanga, former commander of the Patriotic Resistance Force of Ituri (FRPI) has been found guilty by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of four counts of war crimes and one count of crimes against humanity under article 25(3)(d) of the Rome Statute. He was however acquitted on charges of Rape and Sexual Slavery and the use of child soldiers. His conviction was mostly based on crimes committed by the Ngiti militia on February 24, 2003 in the town of Bogoro in the Itu...

When old John Quincy Adams undertook the defense of the Sierra Leonean Amistad mutineers, he had been a diplomat, lawyer, lawmaker, and president (In other words, he knew the heck he was talking about, especially as to the international law arguments). He accused the government of discrimination against the Africans in favour of the Spanish and also what he referred to as  "Lilliputian trickery," after exposing the government’s plan to clandestinely deport the Africans to Cub...

As the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, prepares a week-long visit to Africa, the BBC is reporting that he intends to pledge more that $14 billion in aid and trade deals. It seems Japan knows that if it is to compete with other world powers scrambling for and partitioning Africa’s resources, especially its main rival China, it has to go beyond the efforts of Yasuhiro Murotatsu, the so called bare foot diplomat who achieved some wonderful diplomatic gains by competing in t...