Jerry Mills, Aminatta Forna, Sean Farren, and Wilbur

          The moment we’ve been waiting for:  Jerry Mills has sent the first chapter of his novel My Heart Is Like a Cabbage.  Jerry will be taking a Charles-Dickens-like approach, trying to write chapters quickly enough to meet a regular “publication” schedule.  I will keep adding installments as they arrive.  To read what has come to date, go to Pages on the right side of the blog and click on the novel’s title.      - Tony

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         Also on the literary front, Jim Murphy sent me an article about Aminatta Forna, a woman from Rogbonko in Sierra Leone who won the 2011 Commonwealth Prize for her novel The Memory of Love, which follows the lives of three men as they try to come to terms with  the war in Sierra Leone and its aftermath.  A London University law graduate and former international reporter for the BBC, Forna has also written a compelling memoir called The Devil That Danced on the Water.  She has said, “"What ultimately happened is that my country had a war. I think it would be extraordinary, as a writer, not to want to write about that."  It’s a fascinating article.  Here is a link so you can read it for yourselves:  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/aminatta-forna-my-country-had-a-war-it-would-be-extraordinary-not-to-want-to-write-about-that-2291536.html

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The Friends of Sierra Leone listserv recently carried the following message from Sean Farren, whom some of you may remember.  I’ve posted it here because you may not have seen it and might enjoy contacting Sean.  [His e-mail address is correct as it appears here, without the “m” in “yahoo.co.”]   - Tony

Hi, 

I've recently become aware of FoSL.  I'm a member of a similar group in Ireland--Sierra Leone Ireland Partnership (www.slip.ie)--and would like to make contact with former colleagues at the Catholic Training College, Bo, where I taught 1961-64, and at Holy Trinity Secondary School, Kenema, 1967-69. SLIP members include former missionaries, teachers, nurses, doctors, development workers, etc., as well as Sierra Leoneans living in Ireland. We recently held a very successful reception to mark 50 years of SL's independence. It was an evening of acquaintances and friendships renewed. The names of PC volunteers were frequently mentioned as tales from the past were recalled. So any former colleagues, I would love to hear from you.  My e-mail address is seanfarren@yahoo.co.uk

Sean Farren

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     Wilbur Mellema has had a humorous exchange with other ex-SL PCVs about the news that the newest group of PC trainees (45 new education trainees: sound familiar?), which left for Sierra Leone last week, is being referred to as SL II, evidently because they are the second group after the long break caused by the civil war and its aftermath.  Wilbur wrote, “How about SL 28, or whatever?  Can't the people in the Peace Corps office count?  I'm a real 2'er and won't stand for being left in the bush of history.” 

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