World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - (Page 21) S T O RY BY G EO F F O L I v E R B U G B E E A N D S H E R R I N E L S O N P H O T O G R A P H Y BY G EO F F O L I v E R B U G B E E Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil war, fought mostly over the country’s rich natural mineral resources, plunged the small West African country into destitution. Although the country is best known for its diamonds, many Sierra Leoneans will tell you that the most valuable resource they lost in the war was their livestock. In April 2008, Heifer International opened a country office in Freetown. Together with the people of Sierra Leone, Heifer is working to develop livestock and agriculture projects, helping the country heal from its crises and build self-sustaining communities. W estern Rural District, Sierra Leone—Under a blistering sun, Isata Kanu tends to the crops growing in a women’s gardening collective, her young daughter, Mariatu, on her back. Sierra Leone’s civil war was especially cruel to Kanu: Her husband was abducted, her mother and sister killed. Her livestock was slaughtered and eaten, her home and garden destroyed. “Before the war,” she begins, “my husband and I had goats, but then the rebels came, ate all the livestock and ravaged everything that we had in the village. That is when my husband was taken. I cannot say whether he was killed or not, but it has been eight years since he disappeared without a trace,” she says. “I lost my man while I was pregnant with my child.” After her house was burned to the ground, Kanu could not afford to rebuild it; she and her six children have lived with friends ever since. For four years, she has depended on the meager harvests from a communal plot, which she farms with a women’s cooperative called Women’s Empowerment for Self-Development Association (WESDA) at Crossing Village. It is hardly enough, she says, but it has to do. “This garden is all that we have, and with the little that we take from it, we feed our family.” Isata Kanu, 35, with her 3-year-old Mariatu Conteh, tends the crops of a gardening collective in western Sierra Leone. Kanu lost her mother, sister and husband in the war. www.heifer.org November/December 2008 | WORLD ARK 21 http://www.heifer.org
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 Contents Letters For the Record The Good Life Asked and Answered Finding Peace in Africa Sierra Leone on the Mend The Roma: A People Apart Mixed Media Heifer Bulletin Heifer Spirit Calendar First Person World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 (Page Cover1) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 (Page Cover2) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Contents (Page 1) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Letters (Page 2) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Letters (Page 3) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - For the Record (Page 4) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - For the Record (Page 5) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - The Good Life (Page 6) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - The Good Life (Page 7) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Asked and Answered (Page 8) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Asked and Answered (Page 9) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Finding Peace in Africa (Page 10) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Finding Peace in Africa (Page 11) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Finding Peace in Africa (Page 12) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Finding Peace in Africa (Page 13) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Finding Peace in Africa (Page 14) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Finding Peace in Africa (Page 15) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Finding Peace in Africa (Page 16) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Finding Peace in Africa (Page 17) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Finding Peace in Africa (Page 18) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Finding Peace in Africa (Page 19) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 20) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 21) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 22) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 23) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 24) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 25) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 26) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 27) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 28) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 29) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 30) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 31) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 32) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 33) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 34) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 35) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 36) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Sierra Leone on the Mend (Page 37) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - The Roma: A People Apart (Page 38) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - The Roma: A People Apart (Page 39) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - The Roma: A People Apart (Page 40) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - The Roma: A People Apart (Page 41) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - The Roma: A People Apart (Page 42) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - The Roma: A People Apart (Page 43) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - The Roma: A People Apart (Page 44) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - The Roma: A People Apart (Page 45) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - The Roma: A People Apart (Page 46) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - The Roma: A People Apart (Page 47) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Mixed Media (Page 48) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Mixed Media (Page 49) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Mixed Media (Page 50) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Mixed Media (Page 51) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Heifer Bulletin (Page 52) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Heifer Bulletin (Page 53) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Heifer Bulletin (Page 54) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Heifer Spirit (Page 55) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Heifer Spirit (Page 56) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Heifer Spirit (Page 57) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Calendar (Page 58) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - Calendar (Page 59) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - First Person (Page 60) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - First Person (Page Cover3) World Ark Magazine - November/December 2008 - First Person (Page Cover4)
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