The Country of Sierra Leone
  • Sierra Leone is in Western Africa bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea and Liberia.  It is about the size of the state of South Carolina in the United States.
  • It is an extremely poor country with tremendous inequality of income. Two-thirds of the population engages in subsistence agriculture.
  • Its climate is tropical, hot and humid with a summer rainy season ( May to December) and a winter dry season (December to April)
  • Its major natural resources are diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite, rutile, agriculture, and fishing.
  • The population is approximately 6 million people.  It is a young population with a median age of 17.5 years reflecting the large number of children with an average of 6 children per woman (compared to 2 per woman in the U.S.) and the low life expectancy of 43 years (compared to 79 years in the U.S.).
  • There are 20 native African ethnic groups that comprise 90% of the population.  The two major ethnic groups are the Mende in the South and the Temne in the North and the Krios who are descendents of freed Jamaican slaves who settled in the capital, Freetown. There are small numbers of East Indians, Lebanese, Pakistanis and Europeans.
  • The population has a mix of religions and a remarkably high tolerance for religious diversity.
  • 31.4% of the population is literate, defined as age 15 and over who can read and write English, Mende, Temne or Arabic.
  • The government is a constitutional democracy that has been re-established with democratic elections in May of 2002 after a senseless brutal 11 year civil war. The wars over control of the diamond mines and their revenues to support the political ambitions of a few corrupt political and military leaders
The Village of Senehun Ngola
  • Senehun Ngola is in Bo District, Jimmy Bagbor Chiefdom in the Southeastern region of Sierra Leone. “Senehun Ngola” means a place of health and well-being in the forest.
  • The total population is 2,259 with 43% of the population being children, 16.25% of the child population is going to school.
  • The majority of the families cultivate upland rice and inland valley swamps and cassava farms.  Youths are normally formed into communal labor groups hired out at minimal costs per day
  • Because of its geographic proximity to the Liberian border (where the Civil war initiated), the village suffered the brunt of the devastation and most of the infrastructure of the village has to be rebuilt.
  • War-related destruction of wells and infrastructure has resulted in untimely death of residents, particularly women and children from water-borne diseases.
© copyright Friends of Senehun Ngola in Sierra Leone, Inc. 2006 (site design by BrixTec)