Why Sierra Leone?

A year ago I never would have imagined I'd be going to West Africa. But, in this case it was all about being in the right place at the right time. As a student with the School of International Studies, I have been afforded the opportunity to meet fascinating people who are doing amazing things to make our world a better place. Little did I know that the first classmate I met last August, Tina, would be the daughter of the Professor who invited me to teach at the youth camp in Sierra Leone.

In fact, by the time we met she had just returned from teaching at an orphanage in Sierra Leone. Skip ahead seven months. Tina's dad, Dr. Dicks, is a professor with the OSU College of Agriculture, and also the newly seated OSU Endowed Chair of International Trade and Development-with an office conveniently located at the School of International Studies-where I work. Dr. Dicks was a returned Peace Corps Volunteer with decades of extensive experience in Africa. He knows very well the challenges faced in that part of the world. He's seen well-intentioned organizations come and go to the continent, leaving less of a positive impact than expected. Anyhow, his vision of development in Africa involves long-term commitment based on human capacity-building. For this reason he has been working for the past three years with the Faculty of Njala University in Sierra Leone to build this five-year youth leadership program.

But why Sierra Leone? I'm still learning about this country, but from what I have learned this land was subject to a violent decade-long civil war lasting until 2002. Communities were torn apart, children were orphaned, many people were maimed and the country's spirit was generally broken. The war is over; now the country is rebuilding. Njala University was practically burned to the ground. Social safety nets we take for granted are nonexistent there. I am speaking particularly about programs and organizations to foster the country's future leaders, like Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, National Honor Society, Key Club, etc.

Dr. Dicks enlightened me to the key to successful,lasting development in Sierra Leone-the people need to take ownership of the whole development process. That means they must develop a functional idea of what their country needs to create a productive foundation for agricultural, economic, educational, and public health development. Ok, so this sounds like a big task, but every journey starts with the first step, right?