After the war, now what? Former child soldiers in Sierra Leone

Foday sits under the corrugated tin roof of 'Mama's' Restaurant. The light fades as the afternoon clouds darken; rain approaches in the distance.

"You don't want to be riding in this weather," Foday says as the first drops of rain fall in the dust. "You get sick, even though we're used to the jungle training."

The storm breaks overhead and the heavy West African rain drums on the tin roof and thunder rolls through the empty streets. Ten minutes later, the sun reappears and the red dust and green leaves shine more intensely than before.

Foday rolls his motorbike out from under the roof, starts the engine and gets back to work. Like thousands of other former child soldiers in Sierra Leone, Foday works as a motorbike taxi rider, one of the few jobs available in a country where unemployment is 60 per cent.

There is a saying in Sierra Leone that 'an idle man is a devil's workshop'. After the war ended in 2002, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report highlighted youth employment as a necessity for future stability. But, almost a decade since the war finished, the question of how to employ thousands of youths in a country whose infrastructure and economy are still recovering is not easy to answer. It is further complicated by the fact that many of the youths are uneducated, as they have spent their childhood fighting.

In Koidu, Foday's hometown in the east of Sierra Leone, the legacy of war is still visible. A large artillery gun, painted in the national green, white and blue colours, sits in the centre of a roundabout. Tall grass and vegetation have reclaimed the insides of many burnt out buildings and there are few cars or buses on the potholed, crumbling roads.

Foday, now in his late twenties, lives with his wife and young daughter in a one-room house. The mud walls have thick cracks and the roof leaks in the rainy season. But, Foday says, it is somehow better than before.

"When I was eleven, the armed men came to my village. Everyone scattered into the bush but I stayed to look after my grandmother," Foday says, sitting next to his wife on a bed that takes up most of the room in their house. "The armed men captured me and said if I didn't join them, they would kill me or cut off my hand. So I joined them and they accepted me." Foday spent the next ten years fighting in the jungle, caught up in Sierra Leone's civil war: one of Africa's most brutal conflicts. His story is not uncommon.

It is estimated that during the eleven years of fighting, up to 10,000 children were forcibly recruited, either by the rebels, the army or various militia groups. The children were given drugs and alcohol and forced to commit some of the worst atrocities of the war. When the war finished the UN organised a disarmament and rehabilitation programme that allowed the fighters to return to society. A large UN presence and charity organisations helped to maintain the peace in the years after the war.

Uses Of Tin - News


After the war, now what? Former child soldiers in Sierra Leone

Foday sits under the corrugated tin roof of 'Mama's' Restaurant. The light fades as the afternoon clouds darken; rain approaches in the distance. "You don't want to be riding in this weather," Foday says as the first drops of rain fall in the dust.



TWO EXCITING & HYPNOTIC DANCE SHOWS HIT LARNAKA THIS JULY

The Tararam Group (Tararam.com) are a young fresh group from Israel who use everyday objects such as tin cans, metal and plastic barrels, wooden chairs, spoons, drums and various percussion instruments in a celebration of rhythm.



Heritage buildings can have modern uses

Mrs Gardiner said the society could have “put up a tin shed”, but they were careful of making the new building fit in with the look of the old. There are other examples around the shire where historic buildings have been modernised,



Outsourcing Investment: why Accalon Associates uses Margetts

'Margetts has a good track record and its four portfolios tend to do what it says on the tin. The managers are conviction investors with good financial sense, which means we can trust them and share ideas,' said Miles. He praised Margetts fund managers



Get schooled: Flux Factory

(What constitutes a “tool” is up to you—Nordgren uses all sorts of objects, including the edge of a tin can, to make her shapes.) One cool thing: Nordgren's session was inspired by molecular gastronomy whizzes, including Wiley Dufresne and Grant




A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales ...

≪a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nitib/5814742900/" title="A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales by Bichu, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/5814742900_8df3da2543.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales"></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nitib/5814742900/" title="A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales by Bichu, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/5814742900_8df3da2543_t.jpg" width="100" height="75" alt="A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales"></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nitib/5814742900/" title="A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales by Bichu, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/5814742900_8df3da2543_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales"></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nitib/5814742900/" title="A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales by Bichu, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/5814742900_8df3da2543_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales"></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nitib/5814742900/" title="A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales by Bichu, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/5814742900_8df3da2543.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales"></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nitib/5814742900/" title="A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales by Bichu, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/5814742900_8df3da2543_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="A social kilogram uses a tin can instead of weighing scales"></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.


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Jody Lebel I know a guy who uses a typewriter. Likes the old feel of it. Might as well put a beeswax candle on a tin plate and use a feather quill.


田村 花 The Industrial Uses of Tin Chemicals:


Conor Browne What kind of Asshole just uses a Tin of lovely Beans just for the sauce and wastes the actual beans? My Sister, Dumbass...


Uses Of Tin - Bookshelf

The world tin market, political pricing and economic competition

The world tin market, political pricing and economic competition

The Uses of Tin and Prospects for Substitution In the NIEO scenario, the ideal commodity would not only be produced by developing countries for consumption ...

Tin and its uses

Tin and its uses


Symposium on Tin

Symposium on Tin

TRENDS IN THE USE OF TIN IN THE CONTAINER INDUSTRY By RR Hartwell1 41 ... To those interested in tin it is well known that the largest single use for the ...

Economic geology of the United States, with briefer mention of foreign mineral products

Economic geology of the United States, with briefer mention of foreign mineral products

Uses of Tin. — The manufacture of bronze and of tin plate calls for the greater part of the tin supply, although some is used in plumbing and for some minor ...

Scrap metals, study of iron and steel old material, its preparation and markets

Scrap metals, study of iron and steel old material, its preparation and markets

CHAPTER XII Block Tin Pipe and Foil Have Good Uses When block tin pipe is clean and free from lead, it is as good for brass foundry use as new pig tin, ...

Information Terminal Directory


Tin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Properties of the element, including its history, applications, and characteristics. ... Tin extraction and use can be dated to the beginnings of the Bronze Age around 3000 BC, ...

WebElements Periodic Table of the Elements | Tin | uses
This WebElements periodic table page contains uses for the element tin ... The following uses for tin are gathered from a number of sources as well as from ...

Tin
Its two main uses, both past and present, have been the coating of other metals, and in ... The use of tin that was essential to the war effort was its use in ...

It's Elemental - The Element Tin
The first form of tin is called gray tin and is stable at temperatures below 13.2°C ... White tin is the normal form of the metal and has many uses. ...

Tin
Tin is one of the oldest metals known by man. There are domestic ... Only a small tin amount is transmitted onto food from using of tin utensils. ...