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I posted this image on impulse. It was powerful. My eye
, which in the words of Orewa Elewa , is my superpower. It is what I use most. What and how i see
inspires, moves, influences my decision and every single move I make is based
on what/how i see, the obvious or the detail within the bigger picture.
My heart jumped, literally, when I saw their sign boards as
I drove past presidential lodge that Thursday. I immediately put the photo
up after speaking to the protestors. The desire to not see people look so
desperate and anguished at 7:00am in the morning was my initial re-action. I stick
to it. I shared the story with some friends, sierra Leoneans, “they are squatters” was there inflamed reactions.
Some of my friends actually got upset. They went on to explain their own
personal experiences of fighting for their land after squatters encroached on
their land and the battles of having to re-claim their land and the nasty fight
to accesing their right. "It gets violent. How many stories have we heard of people
getting burned in their houses, been killed or dying right after they fight for
their land”, a friend explained to me. The passion in his voice overlaid with
anger made me realize that there was another side to this story I had not
considered. More importantly I had not asked the protestors an important
question, “does this land belong to you?”. I called the
protestor’s leader to no avail. His phone has been off since Thursday. I
needed to ask that question…..
Now, if even the land does not belong to them, this posses a
bigger question. What are we doing about living conditions in a city that is
build to hold at max, half a million people, yet currently playing host to an
estimate of 2million+? What housing policies do we have in place, scratch that,
what affordable housing policies/solutions do we have in place to ensure that ‘squatters’
have a roof over their heads? What are we doing to minimize the anger and
danger associated with land grabbing, land fighting etc in the country? My
limited understanding is that government is adamant about ensuring that owner’s
of land are protected, that those entitled to their land maintain it with a 0
tolerance policy towards ‘squatters’. I
continue to ask….does this REALLY amend the situation?
This image still strikes me. It is powerful for two reasons:
1.
Aesthetically the image is powerful…beautiful
2.
Squatters and land owners…(the battle is deep). The
solutions are MINIMAL (for now)
I hope to find out more about the story behind this protest,
about the experiences from all angles that make the land issue in Sierra Leone
complicated.
Share your story with me. What am I/we not seeing here.
Fambul dem this is how we do…
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