When Sierra Leone weaned itself from the boorish, barbarous and inhuman decade– long war of the 90s, many hoped that it will be the end of savagery in our society. One cannot fault the optimism that coursed through the hearts and veins which once rained blood at the hands of vandals and thugs masquerading as freedom fighters. The nation embarked on a nationwide healing process which involved organisations like Truth and Reconciliation Commission, NGOs, The Special Courts etc. Other sectors rolled out services to deal with the trauma that followed the harmed, the unarmed and the disarmed. However, if you quantify the level and duration of barbarity that took place in our country, it becomes obvious that any attempt to deal with the subsequent trauma of the victims would last a minimum of one generation. This minimum time limit though not exhaustive should be and should have been the least required to address the residual impact of the war on the victims.
The youth of today form the bulk of the victims that suffered from and survived the rebel war. While many were used as unwilling and impressionable perpetrators, they also suffered from the double-edged sword as victims of an unforgiving adult world. It is one thing to forgive and forget, but it is an entirely different case to heal and move on. The trauma, though unrecognised to many, remains a residual component of how victims see and relate to the world around them. Such a relationship becomes profound in the untreated and unsupported child and the youth, who grows to become an adult. As a nation, we might have the resources to provide, support and maintain such an undertaking to “re-wire” the victims for a considerable period. However, we owe it to the same victims to at least cauterise the bleeding,if not prevent it altogether.
It is obvious that victims of such reckless barbaric inhumanity would suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), among others. There are lots of behavioural evidence including the propensity for violence, anger, irritability etc to suggest the prevalenceof PTSD in our society. Each trauma is unique with its own set of biological, physiological, neurological and psychological signature. While conventional treatments for PTSD might include Trauma Focused -Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) Prolonged Exposure (PE), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) etc, itremains a silent but slow burning killer in our community.
it is difficult to identify if any, what our victims have had or continue to have as treatments. This piece does not include any scientific research- based evidence rather than the pretentious ramblings of someone who thinks he knows what he is talking about. However, it would not be criminal to conclude at face value that most of the drug– taking youth today, do so as an answer to their socio- economic circumstances. Some have theirs rooted deep in their historical exposure to the trauma of war. Current youth unemployment, poor housing, family circumstances, the lack of social networks and lack of safety netting etc. Thanks to its easy accessibility, cost,its potency and many other factors, KUSH has become the drug of choice at epidemic proportion.
The effects of the KUSH pandemic were vividly painted when the mayor of the Freetown Municipality, Her Lordship Yvonne Aki Sawyerr recently lamented the rate at which corpses were being picked up, off the streets. Rather than the exception, it is becoming a common sight to see crowds gathered around corpses reportedly from KUSH overdose or misuse. As a society, this is an indictment on us all. As a nation, we have failed the youths. This is a betrayal and a breach of contract by our political parties. As a people, we have woefully failed not only the youths of today but our posterity. Notwithstanding the high level of unemployment among the youths, allowing our communities to be infested by drugs that ensure the death penalty as a certainty is a betrayal of sorts. By allowing the drug to be freely accessible seems to serve as a smokescreen to temporarily remove its users from their social ordeals. By so doing, it buys them temporary relief, only to increase their craving for more.
Can anyone imagine what our youth employment canvas would have looked like had it not been for the Keh Keh and Okada brigade? The paradoxical nature of the employment created by this sector is twin fold. Firstly, it provides income for the majority that would have possibly ended on the employment scrap heap. Thanks to what looks like a salvation from the road to perdition, there is a silent percentage of graduates that is forced to take up this form of employment. Its obvious that their graduate skills could have been better utilised elsewhere had it not been for too many of us chasing fewer jobs.
However, we should not overlook the devastating impact of the KUSH epidemic. As a society, if we cannot offer our children the help they need, if we cannot offer them the treatment they need, if we cannot offer them the employment they need, and if we cannot help mould them into well meaning citizens and leaders of tomorrow, posterity will not be kind to us, for bequeathing a world littered with drug- fed leaders of tomorrow. As a people, we owe it to the youths and our future to fight against this KUSH trauma. As a nation, the sum of small efforts from everyone ranging from individuals, community and religious leaders, parents, family, government and law enforcement should be repeated day in day out.
We should not allow the youths to suffer from the double jeopardy of the adult world. They grew up as children watching their parents forcefully conscripted into wars.They watched their parents and families hacked to death. They got forcefully conscripted into wars during their impressionable age. They formed the bulk of the rag tag armies for the rebels. They grew up knowing nothing normal. Violence and drugs were the only thingsthey knew as normal. The use of drugs in those camps were statutory. As if that is not enough, our country is now gripped by a drug epidemic. Those in power are still reluctant to call it so or even acknowledged the scourge of the drug. Whenever they do acknowledge it, many believe that the effort to fight the epidemic is not commensurate to the scourge. If the effort put into fighting the KUSH epidemic, how come no “Alejo”, drug barons or importers have been caught and publicly made popular.? How come more manufacturing drug dens remain undiscovered? Why should the youths of today suffer the double jeopardy of war and drugs?
Sierra Leoneans will never forget or forgive those who make a living from this catastrophe.
Don’t forget to turn the lights off when you leave the room.
Credit: Abdulai Mansaray
