USAID/Sierra Leone: Foday Tucker Provides for his Family with a Micro-Loan from USAID

NOVEMBER 28, 2004

War Victims Grow Rice in Tongo Fields

Tongo Fields, a diamond-rich area in the eastern part of Sierra Leone hosted only two years ago what was perhaps the most volatile concentration of ex-combatants in the country. USAID's Education for Peace program has helped turn things around in this mining town. It also gave one group of ex-combatants and war victims the idea to form an agricultural cooperative -- they have since turned a mined-out area into a rice field, and this year's crop looks promising.

Bangalie Brima proudly indicates to us a three-hectare field, which two years ago was a landscape of dug-out mining pits. The picture has now changed. Bangalie, along with 27 other excombatant and war-affected youth who have formed an agricultural coooperative called the "Lower Bambara Youth Agricultural Association" have turned the mined-out area into a lush sea of green rice stalks.

Bangalie Brima, Contact Person for the youth agricultural cooperative.

"We got the idea through the Education for Peace program," says Bangalie to USAID Team Leader Eddie Benya and I, "so we wanted you to see our work." Bangalie, along with several members of his coop, was what is known as a "Learning Facilitator" for the USAID-sponsored Education For Peace program in Tongo Fields, meaning a kind of counselor for other young people who were either ex-combatants or war-affected youth, all of whom have been struggling to get their lives back to normal after the war ended in Sierra Leone.

Preparing the field took an extensive amount of manual labor since the ground had to be leveled after mining activities, and what was left of the topsoil had to be brought to the top. The cooperative started work in 2003, planting rice on 2.5 hectares of land, from which they harvested 147 bushels of rice. The group added two plots to their land and has planted rice on all three hectares, using seeds from the previous planting season. This year's harvest looks very promising.

How did Brima and other ex-members of the RUF (Revolutionary United Front), CDF (Civil Defense Forces), and others manage to form a cooperative when only two years ago they were part of different fighting factions that formed during Sierra Leone's 10-year war?

Jaiah K. Moriba, Work Officer for the ag co-op, points out the rice the group has planted.

Jaiah K. Moriba, Work Officer for the ag co-op, says, "Before taking the Education For Peace training, we were not well organized, and we had lots of arguments. Now we know our colors, and can cope with one another's ideas, and get a quick consensus on things."

Jaiah K. Moriba, Work Officer for the cooperative, explains: "Before taking the Education For Peace training, we were not well organized, and we had lots of arguments. The way we used to talk to each other was very harsh. Now we know our colors," he says, referring to training on different personality types, "and we can cope with one another's ideas, and in so doing we can advance our work and get a quick consensus on things." Other members of the agricultural cooperative are nod their heads in agreement.

Says Bangalie, "We used to be enemies. Now we can't even imagine that. We work side by side, and we eat together in the African tradition. We share that love."

Tongo Fields, a remote diamond-rich area in the east, was just two years ago the "wild west" of Sierra Leone. The area had what was perhaps the most volatile concentration of un-reintegrated ex-combatants in the country, with a high concentration of young men engaged in diamond-mining activities. Most of the young people belonged to one warring faction or another, tensions were high, and neither the UNAMSIL peacekeeping forces nor Sierra Leonean police force had dared yet establish their presence in the area.

Since 2002, diamond mining activities have continued, but peace has come to the area as both UNAMSIL and local police forces moved in and established a presence in the area. USAID, through non-governmental agencies World Vision and Management Systems International was also on the front lines in Tongo Fields as the first international donor to carry out badly-needed interventions in peace-building and community-strengthening.

A 'digger' in the diamond mines in Tongo Fields.

The Tongo Fields economy is still dominated by diamond mining, and diggers like the one above are laboring to find stones. USAID is also working to improve the management of diamond mining and trade in Sierra Leone.

Through the Education for Peace program being carried out by. The program, consisting of a number of training modules such as "Who am I?", "Healing mind, Body and Spirit," "Health and Well-being," as well as modules on conflict management, environmental protection and democracy and the importance of good governance have provided young people and community leaders alike the means to come to terms with the past, and contribute to the rebuilding of their country.

USAID has also sponsored the establishment of the Tongo Peace Diamond Alliance, which involves stakeholders in the diamond industry and community members alike in improving

As the UN drawdown of peacekeepers continues in Tongo Fields and elsewhere throughout Sierra Leone, the Tongo Fields Police Force has been retrained and equipped through UK sponsorship -- they are now responsible for keeping law and order, and a peaceful atmosphere reigns.

Many local residents such as the members of Bangali's agricultural cooperative as well as a number of women's cooperatives are now looking to make a living through alternatives to mining such as agriculture or small commerce. The Lower Bambara Youth Agricultural Association has gotten a head start on its agricultural project through the GTZ, the overseas development branch of the German government, who gave them use of the land for a period of three years.

Members of the “Lower Bambara Youth Agricultural Association.”

Once members of warring factions, co-op members are working well together to cultivate rice to feed their families. Says Bangalie Brima, "For us, agriculture is really the best way out."

The area District Counselor also helped the cooperative through a food for work arrangement between harvest seasons, but now the group is on its own, and insists that they still need support from community leaders, at least in the form of encouragement, and, most importantly, through respecting their land use agreement.

"Many of our leaders don't understand development, and now that they see what we've done, we're afraid they'll want [the land] back," says Bangalie. He and the members of the coop are hoping that all parties will continue to honor their contracts. USAID representatives have also been in dialogue with local leaders to encourage them to do so. "We want to develop this area, and show the world that Tongo Fields is not just about mining," says Bangalie.

Says USAID's Benya, "Seeing war victims organize themselves to do farming instead of mining is a great success in and of itself. We now need to build upon these new energies, enthusiasm and the notion of cooperation they've learned through the YRTEP training to improve the capacity of these young women and men to help establish a strong economic base in this area."

When we asked if there were members of the group who divided their time between diamond mining and agricultural activities, the answer from the group was a categorical no. "We no longer go to the mines," reconfirms Moriba.

"For us," adds Bangalie, "agriculture is really the best way out."

Story and photo by Laura Lartigue