I was not born in Sierra Leone, I have never lived in or visited Sierra Leone. The connection I have with that nation is that both my parents were born and raised in Sierra Leone. Therefore, I was raised in the ways of Sierra Leoneans: my upbringing, mindset, and basically the way I look at life is from that of a Sierra Leonean perspective. Sadly, Sierra Leone is a nation that has been bombarded with a lot of shortcomings including a series of corrupt government which eventually led to a civil war that took the lives of estimately 50,000 people and displaced a lot of its citizens to different parts of the world. Ironically, Sierra Leone is a nation that is rich in natural resources and their most notable natural resource is Diamonds. As a matter of fact, diamonds were used to fuel the war that lasted for more than a decade and deteriorated the educational system and the general welfare of the nation. The mining and selling of diamonds helped fuel the purchase of weapons that were used to mutilate and kill a lot of Sierra Leoneans. Propitiously, on the 18th of January 2002, the eleven year long civil war ended and left a lot of damage to the nation that my parents and their families grew up loving and treasuring.
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