By Abayomi Charles Roberts, PV General Editor, Edmonton, Canada.
I wonder how the world’s most nagging international problem can best be resolved. I mean the Middle East conflict, the source of the September 11, 2001 attacks. This is because the fights in that part of the world have a strong scent of religious intolerance. The Middle East is the home of three influential religions in the world: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. There is a saying in Sierra Leonean folklore. “It is often not the one who dips the dirty rag in the barrel of clean water that is blamed, but the one caught trying to take it out – even though in good faith.” It was Britain who dipped the dirty rag. Now that the USA is trying to take it out, it bears the brunt of all the blame and spite.
History has it that Britain spearheaded the choice of Palestine to resettle the Israelites/Israelis in 1948 or so.. Now that things have turned ugly, John Bull has ostensibly backed out. Uncle Sam, the self-appointed policeman of the world volunteered to take out the rag and is now the target of critics and cynics worldwide. Around that same time, Britain created Pakistan and India as they are today, leaving in its trail the thorn of Kashmir.
Now, go back to the “Berlin Conference’ of 1884 and you would see that the USA was noticeably absent as the then European powers – notably Britain, France and Belgium - divided African colonies, at their convenience. That event is, arguably, the source of many conflicts and wars in several parts of Africa. The USA was not even in the vicinity. If one digs deep into the Hutu/Tutsi conflicts in Burundi and Rwanda, I believe the 1884 partitioning would be the hub. It is the same way Kissis were split among Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Similarly the So-So are found in both sides of the Guinea/Sierra Leone border.
It might be quite a tall order. Yet I believe it is pragmatic. First, I suggest a review of the circumstances that gave birth to a team of lawn tennis players who stormed the world circuit a few years ago. One was Jewish and the other an Arab. Anyway, they both formed a doubles team in an international tennis championship campaign, with unimaginable synchronicity! Even though they did not win the title at that time, they won my heart.
The Salone example
If that is too far-fetched, I bring you to Africa. I nominate deceased president and former head of state of Guinea (Conakry), Lansana Conte, for the ‘African Union laureate of the 1990s Decade.’ albeit posthumously. This, at least to many Sierra Leoneans who had to take cover in Conakry. Well before he took over in the mid-1980s, Guinea was under the repressive rule of the extremist autocrat, Ahmed Sekou Toure. So much so that Guineans like the Fulani, Kissi, Maninka (Madingo) and So-So had to flee to neighbouring countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Late President Conte was a Muslim. Yet he allowed his first/senior wife to continue her open devotion as a practicing Christian. However, he had another wife, as his religion permits polygamy. Had it not been for Conte, Sierra Leonean refugees would have received far worse treatment from Guineans. Typically flamboyant, with foreign currency flowing to quite a few, compatriots were the envy of their Guinean incidental hosts. Matters came to a head on Saturday 9th September 2000. Under pressure and with threats of a rebel incursion on the Guinea/Liberia border, Conte announced on national Radio/TV the previous evening that Sierra Leonean refugees should leave.
I would not like to recall what ensued. It was quite a horrible weekend. A glimpse was seeing a hospital in-patient who claims her Intra-Venous (IV or drip) was yanked off, and forced to seek refuge at the Sierra Leonean embassy, several kilometers away. Conte later recanted. It was rumoured that he did, probably under pressure from the likes of his Christian wife. She visibly welcomed and actively patronized the conspicuous churches (eg: Alleluia, Glory Chapel, All Saints Anglican) set up exclusively or revitalized in Conakry by refugees from Sierra Leone.
Granted, those instances are all credible hearsay. I now share some firsthand experiences from Sierra Leone (aka Salone). Statistics suggest that the religious distribution in Sierra Leone is estimated thus; 70% Muslim, 30% Christian. In my observation, many are also animists. This is only noticeable in big towns on few occasions like the Islamic festivals (eid-ul-Fitiri, Adha and Mubarack) and Christian occasions like Easter. Many Muslims join the street masquerades at Christmas.
Furthermore, it is the tradition in many parts of Sierra Leone for both Christian and Islamic prayers to be said aloud, whenever there are opening formalities at a public ceremony. Also, it is common for one wedding ceremony to be held in both church and mosque whenever the spouses are from different religions. The wedding is usually not simultaneous. The same wedding party (of both faiths) would attend church and then mosque, whichever order is more convenient. Sierra Leoneans don’t think much of it.
Freetown has a Hindu (Indian) temple. Sierra Leoneans typically do not cremate. However, there is one crematory in the middle of one cemetery in the city. An Asian-heritage schoolmate at Christ the King College, died in a road crash on the Bo/Kenema motorway. His dad, I believe, was a dentist or doctor in Bo. Melinda Senevaratne’s body was taken to Freetown where it was cremated. That was in the late 1970s. There are also followers of the Ba’hai spiritual doctrine.
Another (though somewhat incidental) display of religious tolerance in Sierra Leone came out of sheer, collective fear and desperation. When rebels stormed the capital city Freetown on the 6th January 1999, many people sought refuge in mosques. Nobody seemed to care which faith the other professed. They were just terrified and urgently in need of some safer shelter. Sadly, this did not deter the rebels.
There is even a joke about how one Muslim cleric handled the rebels when they entered his mosque. The rebels armed, stood over the hundreds of timid refugees. One of them, brandishing a rifle, loudly asked: “Who among you truly believes in God? I want to speed up their trip to heaven! Someone in the crowd of refugees pointed out the mosque’s Imam. The cleric promptly retorted: “Who ka. … (Expletive in the lingua franca, Krio) that lie?
On a more serious note, the crisis heralded the people of Sierra Leone for their tolerance of religious faiths other than their own. In the mid-1990s, there was even a controversial sect called ‘Dina Bai Essoh,’ whatever that means. The self-proclaimed founder claimed it was a new religion that combines Christianity and Islam, much like the Sikh faith draws from both Hinduism and Islam. There are many Asians, mostly Pakistanis, Indians, Lebanese and Sri Lankans in cities and bigger towns. If they are ever attacked it is more about rich-versus-poor (many are thriving traders in diamonds, grocery, etc) than about religious differences
Yet another instance was the way the public shrugged off the conversion of Tom Nyuma (aka Ranger). He was a key player in the military NPRC junta, after they toppled JS Momoh’s APC regime on April 29, 1992. A few years later, while the NPRC (The National Provisional Ruling Council) was still in power, Nyuma switched from Christianity to Islam. Why? To marry a woman whose parents, as herself, were devout Muslims! Nobody seemed to care, even after the media trumpeted the ceremony.
In Sierra Leone, Mosques even serve latent functions to folks - across the board - in Sierra Leonean communities. For instance non- literate/numerate people would use mosques like clocks or watches. So dawn would be “first call to prayer.’ Notably in town and cities where there may be electric power; the loudspeakers in mosques practically indicated the time of day. That was five times daily.
While I was in Conakry, capital of neighbouring Guinea, I noticed the hostility of a cross-section of the public to food sellers during Ramadan. It is a whole month, when practicing Muslims are daily fasting. Not so in Sierra Leone. In fact Christians who are a small but growing minority, would often defer to Muslims who are fasting. Many do so by simply avoiding words and deeds that might tempt those who must refrain from eating or drinking anything - or even think about sex.
One more lesson? It is typical of Sierra Leone for prayers to be said loudly, in both Christian and Islamic traditions, whenever there are opening formalities at a public ceremony. Also, it is common for one wedding ceremony to be held in both church and mosque whenever the spouses are from different religion.
I suggest that The United Nations (possibly, through UNESCO) organize an exchange programme for Arabs, Christians and Jews in the Middle East to come and stay in Sierra Leone for at least one year. Nigerians too might learn, hopefully benefit, from such a scheme, considering the ugly fights between Christians and Muslims in some parts of that populous African country. Mind you: the ceremonies are usually not simultaneous. The same wedding party would witness a church service and then move over to the mosque, or in whichever order is convenient.
If there is a foreigner that can confirm my observations, from his own personal experience, it is Reinhard Bonke.. He is a German preacher who drew thousands of people to the National Stadium in Freetown in 1991. The congregation each evening clearly included many Muslims, some hoping to be healed in the name of Jesus Christ!
I may be dreaming but I won’t be alarmed myself. It seems I have been dreaming since US President Barack Hussein Obama came to power in January 2009. No, I’m just kidding; I mean every word, in keeping with the spirit and word of Obama’s campaign slogan: ‘Change!’
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