SIERRA LEONE, A PLACE TO BE.

                                                         
By: Boizee Bai Kalokoh

Imagine yourself coming from a country that is ranked the poorest in the world, a country that is ranked below all human development and social indices. A country whose people exist and thrive under the most difficult platform. (You would want to call that RESILIENCE). I would rather say these are people who are high-spirited and filled with the sap of life. Imagine living in a country that has almost all the world’s natural resources and its people still go to bed hungry, this has accelerated many people’s journey to the grave.

Imagine living in a country whose healthcare system is as broken as an overused rickety locomotive. Hospitals aren’t furnished with the latest contraptions for diagnostic procedures, no proper hygienic and janitorial services, the premises are blatantly unkempt. A healthcare system that lacks adequate and comprehensive maternal care. Imagine having to worry about whether your wife; or sister, mother, is going to successfully get through childbirth without coming home with complications such as Fistula resulting from not carefully done caesarean section, this often happens to NULLIPARAE. I wouldn’t like to comment on teenage pregnancy because that is an epidemic in its respect.

How can you imagine living in a country that cannot provide jobs for its citizens and for the lucky ones who have it their salaries cannot keep them all through the Month? A country whose tax policy does not favour individual taxpayers, corporate taxpayers, etc., but rather stifles foreign direct investment. Imagine living in a country where corruption is rife in every sphere of the economy from the high and mighty to the lowest official. A country whose leaders are treacherous and careless about the suffering of the hoi polloi. It takes a very robust skin to stand against all these odds and succeed.

Imagine living in a country where housing, pipe-borne water, electricity, and all other social amenities that are meant to support the existence of life are considered a luxury. It is quite ridiculous to say that only a minute proportional demographics have access to electricity, something that is ubiquitous in many countries in the world. A country where one isn’t sure about having the next meal or even a four-square meal where each is packed with essential nutrients.

Can you imagine living in a country where the life expectancy is so low that it can be a good reason for you to contemplate committing suicide just so you can escape further economic hardship and social injustice? One may be filled with a huge amount of energy to ignore the ordeals but it is not always a pleasant thing to do. Imagine living in a neighbourhood that is infested with rats, disease-carrying rodents, and insects when you know that others are living in clean communities, well-furnished apartments. Well, I wouldn’t have to imagine all of these because this is my reality, these are the hurdles I am dealing with day by day and I am a citizen of the country that presented all these life’s vicissitudes. Sierra Leone West Africa, a place to be.