Matilda of Sierra Leone

My name is Matilda.  I am originally from Sierra Leone in the capital city of Freetown. I am from a large family and grew up in a household of extended family members.  Prior to the war, I didn’t know much about Canada because most people in my country usually talk about places like Britain and the United States of America. Until the war came and disrupted family life in Sierra Leone, most people were not exposed to other countries of the world, and therefore, Canada was not known to me.

When the war broke out and civil war finally reached the capital city of Freetown, the lives of the people were not only destroyed, but also devastated. Families were separated, women and girls were raped, and people were killed for no just cause. It was a moment of the survival of the fittest. You either left the country or were killed in the merciless hands of the rebels.

As I had already lost some members of my family, I had to make the choice to escape with the ones that were living with me at the moment or choose to die. My family was one of the lucky few that were able to flee the country to go to neighbouring Guinea. Although we stayed in Guinea for some time, our lack of knowledge of the French language coupled with some personal bad experiences with the locals forced me to move my family again from Guinea to Ghana.

In Ghana, we had to live in a refugee camp that was located hundreds of kilometers away from the city, and if I am not mistaken, it is about a seven hour drive from the city. Life in a refugee camp is nothing compared to what one is used to when living in their own country of origin, but as a refugee, one has to make do with whatever they’ve got.

We had to manage with the very simple things given to us by the camp officials as a means of survival. Things like nutrition, sanitation, good and pure drinking water and school for the children were some of the many things that were lacking to us. Even though life at the refugee camp was not that favorable, one thing that my family was thankful for was the fact that we no longer had to hear the gunshots, or fear that someone was going to set the house on fire while everyone was asleep, or get raped by a bunch of armed men.

And amidst all this, I was also very depressed because before I had left Freetown, I had lost almost all of my family members. For some, I know of their fate, but there are others of whom I know not. I also lost my parents (Dad died and Mom missing).  Some of my brothers and sisters had to flee for their lives without even looking back to see what they might have taken with them. Living in a refugee camp is not something that a person looks forward to. There are no friends or relatives that a person can look up to, in terms of courage and strength. We looked and prayed to God always for a way out of our situation. Refugee camps are good when looking for safety, but they are not places that people can be in and look forward to a better tomorrow.

It was after living in Ghana for about two years that we got into the program to come to Canada as refugees under the Canadian Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program. Well, that was more than a dream come true. Since I didn’t know much about the country at the time, I had to take out a map to see exactly which part of the world Canada was located in. My family was thrilled when I told them that we were coming to Canada. Of course they could not understand or know where or what Canada was, but man—the whole house was happy.

We came to Canada on May 22, 2002. It was a whole other experience, but it was one for which we will be forever grateful. My sister Naomi and my brother Sheku went straight to high school, and my son Alfred and daughter Cheryl went to elementary school. I waited about six months and then went into an upgrading program to get my high school courses. In the meantime, both my sister and brother received their high school diplomas.  My sister is trying to further her studies as a denturist and my brother is presently working. My son Alfred is now in grade 8 and is doing pretty well and so is my daughter Cheryl, who is now in grade 5.

As for me, I have been doing a lot of volunteer work here and there. I have also been volunteering for about 4 years with the Sierra Leone-Canada Friendship Association.  In April of this year, I graduated from the MacEwan College as a registered social worker.

I believe that it was a blessing for me to come to Canada and to live in the best county in the whole world. I thank God for bringing us to Canada, and we are grateful to Canadians for their hospitality in helping refugees and other immigrants make Canada their new home. And as I sit at my desk in my office or going around to other immigrant helping agencies, I realize that it is a blessing for me to have come to Canada.

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone continues to slowly emerge from the aftermath of a decade-long (1991-2001) civil war, which resulted in 70,000 deaths and displaced 2 million of the country’s 5 million people. More than 60 percent of them were children, as the various warring factions recruited more than 5,500 children to be used as child soldiers or slaves. Many others fell victim to gross human rights abuses.

With assistance from the international community, the Government of Sierra Leone is today struggling to rebuild the country.  Illegal diamond mining and smuggling continues but since January 2003, the government has been assisted by the Kimberley Process, an international initiative aimed at curbing the illegal diamond trade.