Fambul Tok

WHY?

Understanding that reconciliation is a process and not a one-time event, Fambul Tok staff works with communities on a long-term basis, supporting reconciliation activities and continuing to support local reconciliation structures until they are strong enough to support themselves. The ceremonies are only the beginning of the reconciliation process.

HOW?

“Unity is stronger than money. Fambul Tok has united us as most families were divided after the war.” S.W. Folleh, Section Chief, Kuudu, Kailahun district

Following the ceremonies in Kailahun, the communities and Fambul Tok staff worked together to identify activities to further the reconciliation process, and to build on the social capital created within the community. While the following examples are unique to Sierra Leone, they demonstrate the rededication of shared space and the rediscovery of shared interests that will sustain peace in these and other communities.

Peace Trees
Fambul Tok communities select a peace tree and construct benches around it for the community. The location functions as an ongoing meeting spot, a place to settle community or individual disputes, or simply for leisurely gatherings.

Radio Listening Clubs
To popularize the Fambul Tok concept nationwide and to address communal issues in an ongoing way, Fambul Tok has facilitated the formation of radio listening clubs in each section in Kailahun where a ceremony has been held. The clubs are open to all members of the community, but managed by youths. The community selects one day a week to discuss issues pertaining to reconciliation or development and records the discussions. The cassettes are collected regularly, and the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service or other radio networks broadcast selections. In this way, the clubs provide an ongoing mechanism for public reconciliation with fellow Sierra Leoneans nationwide.

Football for Reconciliation
To encourage all members of the community, especially youths, to be part of the reconciliation process, Fambul Tok teamed up with Play31, a US-based partner that provided the equipment and uniforms, to facilitate football matches between communities within a section that have undergone the healing ceremonies. Communities organize all the games and ensure collective participation. There are male and female games, food, and a late night disco afterwards. The footballs and jerseys are donated to the town via the chief and are accessible to all the youths in the community on an ongoing basis. In the spirit of Fambul Tok, communities work out conflicts that arise during the matches without quarreling or fighting.

Community Farms
To provide an ongoing opportunity for all community members, especially victims and offenders, to work together, many villages in Kailahun have established community farms —an old tradition, but one that has been dormant since before the war.

Whether they grow cassava, or rice, the farms have become rich resources for the communities. Several villages that cultivated rice agreed that some of the harvest would be used as food for subsequent ceremonies, while the remaining seeds would be given to needy community members on loan, payable after the next season’s harvest. Other communities that planted cassava planned to process it into garri (a popular tapioca-like food) to be sold at the local market, the proceeds from which would be used to open a community account.

Several of the communities in Kailahun have reported record harvests from their community farms, often crediting the cleansing of the land that came out of the reconciliation ceremonies. Many report that for the first time since before the war, they do not have to import rice.

See photos of the follow-up activities in Sierra Leone.

“Gradually, gradually development is coming on.  You see victims and perpetrators coming together, forming groups, going into communities, making farms – Oh, it’s really wonderful!  You see them coming together, doing joint labor – which is actually a sign that there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Because these people were far apart, they were pointing fingers, it’s you who did this, it’s you who did that – you burned my house, you killed my father.  But now they are coming together, they’re coming together to rebuild communities again.  They are not talking about ‘We want you to incriminate these guys,’ they’re talking about coming together and rebuilding their communities and the district as a whole.” — James Fallah, Journalist, Kailahun

“When we come together, the country, or the district will develop.  But it we don’t come together, this community won’t develop.  It you don’t come together, that community will not grow.  For the benefit of the community you have to come together.  Yesterday, we went to this community, you see people harvesting – perpetrators, victims, doing things together.  That’s why their community is now changing.” – Chief Maada Alpha Ndolleh, Kailahun town chief and Chairman of the Fambul Tok District Executive in Kailahun, after spending the day in Bunumbu.

“[The] crime rate in Kailahun has reduced drastically. Fambul Tok project continues to complement the efforts of the Sierra Leone Police.” Karefa Keita, former Local Unit Commander, Kailahun town