Building friendships with Bo

One World Link’s youth exchange, which took place during Easter 2012, was my second visit to Bo. It was a huge success and has gone some way to cement the relationship between young people in Warwick and Bo districts, a link I have seen blossom in my two years as One World Link youth co-ordinator.
By The Newsroom
Published 1st May 2012, 10:00 BST

During the trip, we ran workshops on ICT and leadership but I was primarily responsible for forums on global issues, in which young people from both Bo and Warwick would talk about a problem and try to come up with a localised solution. There were heated debates, but the discussions were beneficial. A particularly insightful moment was when we were discussing discrimination and the media’s image of our different cultures and communities. We discussed the methods aid organisations use to gain funding and the misrepresentation of our communities by the international media. The young people from Bo had never discussed these issues and found it fascinating.

While in Bo, our group experienced wonderful drama performances, met youth groups, visited a traditional African village and most importantly made lifelong friends. On the bus back from visiting Lahoma village the whole bus full of Sierra Leoneans and British young people got up, danced and sang together. The memories the group shares of these songs in Krio are special to everyone, and the CDs we brought back remind us of the friendships we developed.

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At Kandeh Town’s community development forum we shared experiences and a traditional meal as well as seeing a maternity health clinic, and at Bo’s Sunrising Film Industry we discussed practical methods of fundraising and film making and editing tips. This was a mutually beneficial experience and many of our participants enjoyed talking about English culture to the young people from Bo.

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The group also joined forces with OWL youth members to refurbish cells and an office in the police station.

A journalist interviewed me, and asked why One World Link should improve conditions for those in custody when the rest of the community experienced such a poor standard of life. I was able to justify our work in reaching out to the most vulnerable young people and improving their outlook. We were able to increase awareness of our work and issues surrounding youth crime, at the same time as improving conditions for inmates.