I published my first article! Even though I knew it was going to be printed, it was still very exciting to see my name on it.
http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/154771/1/
This article can also be found on my grandmother’s refrigerator. 
Women Fight Poverty November 14, 2007
Give me the beat boys, and free my soul November 7, 2007
Sierra Leone’s Civil War from 1991-2002 forced thousands of people to spend years in refugee camps. At one camp, a band – the Refugee All Stars – brought smiles to people who had almost lost hope. Zach Niles and Banker White’s documentary Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars (2005) shows how music can bring relief, even in war.
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Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars contains gut-wrenching footage depicting from the civil war: women and children with missing limbs, a teenager holding his own severed, bleeding hand and small children carrying large guns. In a particularly poignant scene, a little boy who is about three years old asks God to bring his father back to the camp. Can you imagine explaining to a little boy why his father would not be back? They interview a man who watched the rebels kill his mother and father while his hands remained tied behind his back. The rebels then placed the man’s child on a mortar and told him that if he didn’t beat his child, they would kill him. The man beat his child until he died. Once he finished, the rebels cut off his hand.
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Reuben Koroma met Franco John Lagba while walking through the dangerous Kalia camp with his wife. The three used instruments they made themselves from materials they found around the camp and formed the Refugee All Stars hoping to “de-traumatize the people.” After relocating to a refugee camp in Sembakounya, they met three more people who joined the band. Soon, they felt like family. If one person had food and another didn’t, they shared. They traveled to different camps in Guinea during the war to entertain people and ease their pain. “It heals my trauma because I forget about my traumas for a moment,” one band member said. Several scenes show crowds of people dancing, laughing and having fun as the band played. This offers a stark contrast to the story of the man who watched his family die and proves that music makes people happy!
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The largest UN Peacekeeping mission in history declared the fighting over in January 2002. Many refugees doubted that peace would last and feared returning home. Some wondered if they could find medical care, food and lodging in Sierra Leone, since these had been provided in the camps. When the civil war in neighboring Liberia escalated in September 2003, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) encouraged refugees from Sierra Leone to return home to make room. Many people returned home because they missed their country deeply, but like many others, the band hesitated. On one of the UNHCR’s “Go and See” trips to Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, they recorded an album that was released in June 2004. By the time the documentary aired, the Refugee All Stars had returned permanently and were preparing for a world tour.
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Music has amazing powers.
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“These are my pen, the key to heaven,” said the drummer. “They cannot kill, they make you happy.”
