I am back! Sorry for the hiatus, I have been helping the staff and communities move forward with Fambul Tok. However, it’s no excuse for not keeping you guys up to date. Your part of the Fambul! Before I move forward with the latest developments, I want to take you a few steps back.
The week of July 12th, 2009 Kailahun District hosted a three day Mano-River football event for Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea (Not Ivory Coast — political addition to the Mano-River Union). Each country was represented by a male/female under-15 team and each played the respective countries once. Over hundreds of people from the three countries were present at the event. It was full of excitement and patriotism. Kailahun Executive Committee and Fambul Tok staff ensured the teams and bystanders the event was to promote reconciliation in the three countries. Conflict simultaneously affects all three countries and it was evident when Liberia and Sierra Leone went through their civil wars. Below are pictures from the event:
From June 10th – 15th, Fambul Tok National Secretariat hosted Regional Civil Society Roundtables for organizations working on reconciliation or have the potential to work on reconciliation. Also included were representatives from the Council of Paramount Chiefs (traditional stakeholders in each district). The roundtables were held in Kenema (East), Bo (South), and Makeni (North).
The National Secretariat realized more organizations are facilitating reconciliation in communities with an ineffective approach. So Fambul Tok realized it was important to create space for a coordinated national reconciliation conversation. There was a total buy-in from all the organizations present on Fambul Tok’s approach to reconciliation. The National Secretariat, traditional leaders, and civil society are still in discussion on how to move the conversation forward. Below are some pics from the roundtables:
Recently, the National Secretariat handed over the Kailahun Fambul Tok activities to the Kailahun Executive Committee (KEC). The District staff are still working hand and hand with the KEC until the staff deem they are ready to undertake their own activities. Nonetheless communities in Kailahun District are undertaking their own ceremonies without the assistance of Fambul Tok. The development highlights the way Fambul Tok works. We create the space for communities to own the process.
More to come….
