9rivermedia

As the elections draw closer,  young people in Calaba Town are getting ready to vote on March 7, 2018. This Saturday,  November 25,  many collected their voter registration cards.  I got to meet and talk with a few of them. They want to vote for people they believe in, people they know can help bring about a better Sierra Leone. One vote is all they have to make that change. Saya Turay, a 24-year-old hairdresser,  said that she's happy to have acquired the card because she'll be able to vote in her candidate. Her wish is to make the right choice while placing her vote, as she favors someone that she thinks would add more meaning to the lives of young people. "If we the young people are given a chance, then Sierra Leone will be a better place," she said. Twenty-year-old Idrissa Koroma, a shop assistant, will be voting for the first time in the 2018 general elections. He hopes that his vote is going to help bring in the right person. "The people need someo...

Over the past month, numerous reports of sexual assaults have rocked the world. People in Freetown are not immune. Here are a few real-life stories from young men and women in Freetown. "I was 12 when I moved into my uncle's house and I still remember how his wife assaulted me," said twenty-two-year-old Samson Jalloh . “After every shower, when my uncle was out, she'd ask me to apply gel on her back. That's how it continued until one day she started sneaking into my room, demanding I take off my pants and climb on top of her. I knew it was wrong, and that she was my uncle's wife. One day, I decided to tell my uncle because I couldn't take it anymore. My uncle didn't believe me at first but a week later he caught his wife seducing me in the courtyard when he came home one afternoon. He was very pissed and he divorced her.” Seray Khan , a 24-year old woman, said that in high school one of her teachers repeatedly harassed her. "When it was t...