“Mountains of the Lion” by Lance Muteyo

One of my future visions as a young African is to see Africa been accessible to Africans. The transport networks between African countries is very expensive and erratic. Philip Kakungulu from Uganda and I received an invitation from the Baptist Convention of Sierra Leone through Reverend Paul Conteh, the Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church. Our purpose was to come to that West African country to conduct a 5-day training on Conflict Transformation related to the National Elections run-off. Many African elections are stained by violence. I landed at Lungi International Airport in Freetown on Saturday the 17^th of March 2018. The political atmosphere was tense.

A round-trip air ticket from either Uganda or Zimbabwe to Sierra Leone is almost three times as much as a round trip from these countries to either the US, Thailand, China, Italy, France or Germany. It’s cheaper in many occasions for an African in any African country to fly out of Africa than to fly to another African country in a different geographical region. I thank Daniel Buttry who managed to fundraise for this essential trip. My appreciation also goes to those who assisted through finances, advise and prayers. Another thankfulness also goes to Bethany Baptist Church Freetown who supported this training in many ways. My utmost gratitude goes to the 31 participants from different political parties, Christian denominations, social and economic backgrounds who braved the political situation and came to commit themselves to pre, post and election non- violence.

Peace work is always perplexing. Our methodology, called experiential learning, empowers participants to learn through a circular combination of experiencing (action) and reflection to produce a better and higher-quality new application. As trainers we have the flexibility to change the script depending on the group dynamics. The “teacher” in most cases becomes the “student”. Unfortunately my co-facilitator Philip had a serious family emergency back home, and he could not travel for the training. I missed a great facilitator who had laid a virtuous ground for promising teamwork. As a seasoned facilitator I had to think outside the box, to restyle, redraft and reinvent the training program. On several occasions I had to “read the room” to create and refashion “emergent designs” to suit the group interests and aspirations. For example, I utilised the knowledge of Pastor Paul who is an experienced trainer with Tearfund and also a graduate of the Nigeria Training of Conflict Transformation Trainers 2014 (TCTT). He offered translation skills and facilitated some skits which needed two facilitators like the Red/Blue Simulation and the Doors and Traps. I also got so much assistance from Melvin and Harry both graduates of the same program in Nigeria TCTT. Melvin later designed and donated the certificates to the participants as Harry threw himself in the translation and clarification roles.

As a trainer I do not have a cartel of knowledge. Participants know more than me since they are leaders in their citizenries. They are the proprietors of the training. My role was to facilitate processes for learning, self-awareness, self-introspection and self-discovery through audio, visual, kinetic, emotional and verbal tools. I acquired a handful of good tools from this amazing group that I have included in my “tool box”.

We had amazing men and women, young and old who led sessions, transcribed on the flip charts, led group sessions, participated in group work, translated difficult parts to Kriyo, the local language. One of the translators was Moses Kamara, a recent graduate in physics. He made my life so easy. He just gave himself this role, quickly jumping in whenever he realized that there was a need. The power of Experiential Learning Method! Another interesting participant was Ansu Amos Lahai who is a Social Worker, he was so good in elaborating many concepts into local perspective. I will never forget Esther, a young, strong woman who led several sessions. All the folks were just amazing. As a trainer I also acknowledged the group’s rituals. I had planned to start at 9 a.m. everyday but the group wanted to start at 9:30. The thirty minutes was for devotionals. This was good for the group, and I affirmed it and really enjoyed it. Actually, I started the day with a build-up from the devotionals.

One of my most memorable moments was the conflict sculpture where I saw how the rebels came to Freetown and killed thousands of civilians in the Sierra Leone Civil War that lasted ten years. The country suffered many misfortunes including the 2016 Ebola outbreak and the 2017 Sugar Loaf Mountain landslide. I wept when I visited the mudslide location. Sierra Leoneans are very strong people who always soldier on, and I witnessed this. I got the opportunity to visit the Peace and Cultural Museum at the centre of downtown Freetown where I got a glimpse the country’s walk to freedom. Freetown is an important city in the history of Trans-Atlantic slavery and freedom. I saw the historic cotton tree which is huge and almost 500 years old, standing as a sign of freedom.

As I was sailing back to Lungi airport in the North Atlantic Ocean I gazed back and looked at Freetown; a very beautiful place indeed; an earthly paradise. No wonder the Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra called it Mountains of the Lion in 1462. The combination of mountains and the sea shows the amazing hand of God in creating beauty on earth. My greatest gift I received was a Bible in Kriyo language from my friend Melvin. I always collect Bibles in local languages wherever I travel as souvenirs. The training really empowered me as much as it empowered participants who noted the following:

“This was electrifying, and I will implement this in life”– Evelyn Bundu

Kelvin Kargo had this to say: “This is life changing, and Africa need this now than ever before”

Marie Turay: “Learning though experiencing and through games is relaxing and releases tensions in our body mind and soul”

As I got home I heard that the Elections Run Off which was scheduled for the 27^th of March was postponed to the 31^st of March after a lawyer had challenged the National Electoral Commission’s conduct. I became part of history, and our group became part of a new crusade of non-violence. Our training was small, but small movements are seeds for great impacts. The elections were later held on the 31^st amid isolated cases of violence, and people are waiting for results in a very tense atmosphere. Our training without doubt impacted the participants who are now going to take responsibility to train others and keep the great nation of Sierra Leone a peaceful “mountains of lion.”

Amani Milele (Peace Forever)

Lance Muteyo is from Zimbabwe. He has done conflict transformation training in various countries in Africa and Europe. He is the coordinator for the Pan African Peace Newtork (PAPNET).  For more about Lance Muteyo:  Click here.