A.W.'s Story
Below is a personal story by A.W, a journalist from Sierra Leone who came to ERICA in June 2012 asking how to apply for asylum. ERICA helped him find legal representation through Human Rights First in Washington, D.C. and housing through the Asylum Seekers Housing Network in Baltimore. After receiving asylum, he was supported by the resettlement services of the IRC and Lutheran Social Services.
I am a Sierra Leonean by birth, but now live in the US. As I squat in my cigarette-box rented room in Baltimore City, memories of my childhood experiences race through my naked mind.
Unlike kids clinging to their colorful toys, my childhood fantasy was blotted out at 14 with gruesome real life images of war, tearful stories, hopelessness and uncertainty. Our country’s 11 year civil war left tens of thousands displaced and over 50,000 people died. Children who survived the war have physical scars to testify about their inhuman ordeal. Some still live in deep silence and broken spirit contemplating the true meaning of life, survival and recovery.
The war ended after UN peacekeepers sacrificed their lives to reinstate our democratically elected government. Ultimately, the was peace was so fragile that the Human Rights Commission in the country together with the Sierra Leonean government requested for Transitional Justice Institutions to be established in the country and one of them was the Special Court of Sierra Leone (SCSL) which was established immediately when the war was pronounced over in 2002. The rebel leaders were tried by that UN backed court in The Hague, Netherlands for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
I was in my country the whole of the 11 year war and stood up firmly during post war reconstruction projects, like the SCSL and others. I secured a job as a communications officer at the SCSL in The Hague to disseminate some of the witnesses’ testimonies about the war. Though the Court is established in the name of transitional justice, it is far from compensating for those that died during the war – like the 3 year old girl whose neck was ripped by a bullet while she hung lifelessly on her mother’s back. Her mother was still running with her head ducked low trying to dodge flying bullets unaware that she was running with a lifeless child.
As I write, the memory feels real; she was running with all her might, her face is like a screen displaying anguish, torment, and hope that were tinted in cloud of sweat and hopelessness. Where is she now as I write? Assuming I was that poor child, I would not have had this opportunity to write this piece. My experience! My heart goes to that poor little child that never has the chance to reach adulthood.
After my contract with the Special Court of Sierra Leone ended, I left my home and I’m now living in the USA as my second home. Here is where the story of my life begins simply because I’m turning over to a new page leaving all those horror stories and dreadful sights of war behind as I go.
Arriving in America, my worries were cushioned by ERICA, which came up with a lot of ideas and ways to help me find temporary shelter. At last I have been granted a stay in January 2013 and like a child I’m now learning how to walk and run again. My worries are my family back home in Sierra Leone as the job I have can barely cover my rent and telephone bill, but I’m still hopeful that I will raise the money to buy the tickets for my two daughters and wife to join me here as soon as possible.
I am a Sierra Leonean by birth, but now live in the US. As I squat in my cigarette-box rented room in Baltimore City, memories of my childhood experiences race through my naked mind.
Unlike kids clinging to their colorful toys, my childhood fantasy was blotted out at 14 with gruesome real life images of war, tearful stories, hopelessness and uncertainty. Our country’s 11 year civil war left tens of thousands displaced and over 50,000 people died. Children who survived the war have physical scars to testify about their inhuman ordeal. Some still live in deep silence and broken spirit contemplating the true meaning of life, survival and recovery.
The war ended after UN peacekeepers sacrificed their lives to reinstate our democratically elected government. Ultimately, the was peace was so fragile that the Human Rights Commission in the country together with the Sierra Leonean government requested for Transitional Justice Institutions to be established in the country and one of them was the Special Court of Sierra Leone (SCSL) which was established immediately when the war was pronounced over in 2002. The rebel leaders were tried by that UN backed court in The Hague, Netherlands for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
I was in my country the whole of the 11 year war and stood up firmly during post war reconstruction projects, like the SCSL and others. I secured a job as a communications officer at the SCSL in The Hague to disseminate some of the witnesses’ testimonies about the war. Though the Court is established in the name of transitional justice, it is far from compensating for those that died during the war – like the 3 year old girl whose neck was ripped by a bullet while she hung lifelessly on her mother’s back. Her mother was still running with her head ducked low trying to dodge flying bullets unaware that she was running with a lifeless child.
As I write, the memory feels real; she was running with all her might, her face is like a screen displaying anguish, torment, and hope that were tinted in cloud of sweat and hopelessness. Where is she now as I write? Assuming I was that poor child, I would not have had this opportunity to write this piece. My experience! My heart goes to that poor little child that never has the chance to reach adulthood.
After my contract with the Special Court of Sierra Leone ended, I left my home and I’m now living in the USA as my second home. Here is where the story of my life begins simply because I’m turning over to a new page leaving all those horror stories and dreadful sights of war behind as I go.
Arriving in America, my worries were cushioned by ERICA, which came up with a lot of ideas and ways to help me find temporary shelter. At last I have been granted a stay in January 2013 and like a child I’m now learning how to walk and run again. My worries are my family back home in Sierra Leone as the job I have can barely cover my rent and telephone bill, but I’m still hopeful that I will raise the money to buy the tickets for my two daughters and wife to join me here as soon as possible.