I have had the fortune to speak to Aisha Desince about her organization Khadarlis. Over the years, I have heard about the devastation and corruption that have plagued Sierra Leone. It has been her driving force that has helped to bring relief to her hometown of Jimmi and her country. But in giving back to Jimmi, she has to spend a vast amount of her energy and money.
Her hope is that using our website, she can bring attention to the struggle in Sierra Leone. Aisha would love to have the support from her fellow members and volunteers of this site. Please visit her site at http://khadarlis.org/ to learn more about the fight for a better future for Sierra Leone.
My name is Aisha khadar Desince. I had been in the U.S. for 15 years before my first visit to Sierra Leone. I can still see the mountains and smell the scent of the countryside. The memories I have of the villages where the people that help raise me, showed me kindness, fed me fresh food. I remember the love of family whether or not they were my own blood. These families were always willing to accept me with open arms, to hug me. The homes had fresh bread baking, and my grandmother’s cookies from her bakery could be smelt 20 miles away. Home where everyone was welcome and a meal to greet you with proud, kind and loving people that I miss. These were my memories before the civil war commonly known as the Blood Diamond War destroyed my people, the core of my soul, and the inspirational drive of my being.
Years after the war, a war that lasted 11 long years, my heart sang songs of returning home to see the damage. To my shock, it was an understatement of what I saw in the movie Blood Diamond and on CNN. With no lights, no running water, and the comfort of my new home USA, tears greeted my eyes as I made my way through the darkness to the arms of family and friends. My soul was longing for my village, Jimmi, and not the city.
As the van pulled up to a stop at a village that was covered with debris and houses burned down to the ground, I did not recognize this town at first to be my beloved Jimmi . I had spent many vacations with my loved ones here. One thing that was present was smiling faces, tears of joy, and a song with beautiful words about a daughter returning home to bring HOPE!
As a child, my parents and grandparents instilled in us the sense of responsibility, you have to give back, and you have to take care of the less fortunate, Aisha. It is the right thing to do they told me. Pray for guidance Aisha, surrender your life to helping others and you will never be alone. People are here for each other, we need each other to make this world work, years of hearing that and as I stood in the middle of Jimmi, I smiled to myself.
It took several meeting for me to realize that this was my calling, as it was for my grandmother, my mother and now me, to see that my villages will return back to some form of normalcy. That was the day Khadarlis for Sierra Leone was born in my heart and soul.
Khadarlis for Sierra Leone was formed with HOPE, for rebuilding villages in Sierra Leone with sustainability through education, water and sanitation, agriculture, basic health care and HIV aids, renewable energy, and housing.
Every time I make a trip to my villages, I see hope, proud people who cannot wait to tell me how many tons of sand they have moved to use in rebuilding their homes. How great it was to get the mud all piled up high that was used to build mud/cement combination houses, and the women gathering fire wood to cook as we worked while I heard songs of inspiration to cheer us up.
As we rubbed our sore feet and back at night by born fire, I heard joyous stories from parents of how the notebooks that I had left for their kids ran out, but a mother sold dry fish by the main road to buy more until I returned. And, the son that was so sick until the Advil I left cured him. I smile as I remember the countless postings from my volunteers to get these simple donations.
I have a story that I cannot keep in my heart alone. I must share it with you. These people, my people have a strong sense of self-worth, perseverance, and the ability to improvise. For example, using a baby stroller as a shopping cart, or using it to transport necessities, or their resourcefulness to reuse empty bottles and containers and making toy cars for their children with iron hangers. I sit and watch because I must have forgotten what drives them to persevere, by making due with what the little have and putting their faith in love and HOPE that things will get better in their homeland.
Every so often someone sends me a check for Five dollars or so, and the Volunteers that come in just to say hello or to see how they can make a difference those are the real heroes because without volunteers, interns there will be no khadarlis.
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