USAID/Sierra Leone: Ishmael Sesay Learns a New Trade

FEBRUARY 6, 2004

Ishmael Sesay Learns a New Trade

As part of USAID's effort to promote peace and stability in Sierra Leone, ex-combatants and war-affected youth are learning trades that both give them economic benefits, and contribute to the rebuilding of the country.

Ishmael Sesay, a war-affected youth from rural Sierra Leone, says that during the war, he quite frankly had no way to earn a living, and no means to obtain food or other basic necessities. Sesay is from Kondeya village, a rural farming area in Koinadugu District in the northern part of Sierra Leone, one of Sierra Leone's most marginalized districts, and an area completely devastated by the war. As combat ensued, farming and trade activities in the area ceased, animals and crops were plundered, and most villagers fled as their villages were burned to the ground.

Tailor Ishmael Sesay plying his new trade as a tailor

Since the peace process has taken hold, Sesay and others have tried to reestablish their lives, and rebuild Kondeya village. In order to help Sesay learn a new profession, he was invited to learn tailoring during a six-month skills training and microenterprise development program, carried out by Christian Children's Fund (CCF) and sponsored by USAID. He and 12 other participants from the region attended tailoring classes, and upon graduation were each given a sewing machine to get them started in their new trade. Other skills training sponsored by USAID has included agricultural techniques, carpentry, basic health and hygiene, and participation by community members in civic works projects.

a woman dehusking or fanning rice in a field in the rural Koinadugu area

A woman dehusking or 'fanning' her rice in the rural Koinadugu area.

Sesay, newly married with one small child, says he has been busy over the past few months making school uniforms for children attending the newly-constructed grade school in nearby Kamadugu-Sukurala, a civic works project also sponsored by USAID.

He has also made clothing for women in the area, and does clothing repairs for people as well. Says Sesay, "People are still very poor here. Most often people will pay with a cup of rice, or cassava, or beans, and that's how we're getting by. Before I had no way to get food. Now, thanks to CCF, I feel like a responsible man in my family."

A combination of USAID interventions in the Kabala area have helped people in rural areas rebuild to help them get out of the grinding poverty made worse in recent years by the civil war. Sesay says that villagers in the area have also received rice, peanut and vegetable seeds. Although the peanut harvest was not good this year, the rice harvest in the area was very successful. Says Sesay, "We now have a school, a health center, rice in the fields, and we're able to get microcredit, all thanks to CCF. For that we are thankful."

Story and photos by Laura Lartigue