Haunted House.

I wanted to share these pictures of a house in the community of Tawya. We needed a place to do interviews, and the chief took us over to this expansive, empty house, where we spoke with several young people  on the huge front porch. After finishing my interviews, I took a walk through the house. It apparently belonged to a fairly wealthy doctor and his family, and was overtaken by rebels during the war. The holes in the ceiling are from bayonets, and the marks by the front door are bullet holes.

Graves in the backyard from the 1940's. 

Probably the eeriest room for me was the bathroom. It’s clear from the water heater that the family was well off, but the rotating chair in the bath meant that an elderly family member had also lived there. It’s been 10 years since the war and the house is still empty, apart from a young man without parents who lives in a small room off the back of the house. It was the first time the reality of the conflict hit home for me. I expected to see much more evidence of it than I have; in our whole time here I’ve seen maybe 4 or 5 people missing hands or feet -- a trademark symbol of violence from the war. In this particular village, we found out 4 boys were taken during the conflict  and never heard from again. It’s bizarre and shocking and extremely sad. The people here seem to realize that Sierra Leone is known for the war; they acknowledge that but most choose not to dwell on it. Yet again, their resilience amazes me. Some of the most horrific acts of violence happened during that war, but people have picked up and carried on, realizing that dwelling on it does no good, and it’s only in looking forward that things will improve.

Mama and her baby in their garden, in Tawya.