My Childhood Had Gone By

My Teeth Became Sour As I Listened To His Story. It Was Then That I Understood Why He Was Quiet All The Time.

The Places I Come From Have Such Rich Languages, Such A Variety Of Expression. In Sierra Leone We Have About Fifteen Languages And Three Dialects. I Grew Up Speaking About Seven Of Them.

This Is One Of The Consequences Of The Civil War. People Stop Trusting Each Other, And Every Stranger Becomes An Enemy.

I Lay In My Bed Night After Night Staring At The Ceiling And Thinking, Why Have I Survived The War? Why Was I The Last Person In My Immediate Family To Be Alive? I Didn’t Know.

I Had A Very Simple, Unremarkable And Happy Life. And I Grew Up In A Very Small Town. And So My Life Was Made Up Of, You Know, In The Morning Going To The River To Fetch Water - No Tap Water, And No Electricity - And, You Know, Bathing In The River, And Then Going To School, And Playing Soccer Afterwards.