Funny how time flies... Birthday soon come! The Visit Sierra Leone Newsletter! Created::
11/07/2005 00:21:59

Hello again (kushe kushe!) and welcome to the June 2005 edition of the "Visit Sierra Leone"
newsletter!

It's funny how time flies...
The "Visit Sierra Leone" site will be a year old on the 6th of July and oh what a ride it has
been!! but more on that in next month's newsletter...

On the subject of time flying, we will soon enter the second half of the year and that means
Christmas is not that far away... have you started planning your holidays? Ok, ok, maybe I'm
a bit too keen but one can never have enough holidays. Anyway, back to business...

A couple of initiatives:
Jus-Gi-We-Di-Light!
Have you signed the "Jus-Gi-We-Di-Light" online petition? There are 656 signatures to date
but i believe the target is somewhere around the 2,000 figure so do share the link:
http://www.jus-gi-we-di-light.info

Tackling outdated information on Sierra Leone being presented on the internet
With the VSL forum being as active as it is, yet another initiative is being championed by
some members. It attempts to address the problem of out of date information being
presented on Sierra Leone with a focus on the internet. This is made even worse if the web
site in question belongs to an Embassy of your country.. Members came across the web site
of the Embassy of Sierra Leone in Washington and were shocked to find the information on
there grossly out of date and quite frankly...of not much use.

See for yourself:
http://www.embassyofsierraleone.org/Government.htm

The Embassy has been contacted by members of the forum, some of whom are volunteering
their services for free... just so that the information can be updated. A letter has also been
drafted which should be signed by anyone who supports this initiative.
See the letter here:
http://alystaconsulting.com/action/

Read up on background of the initiative here:
http://forum.visitsierraleone.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=432

Site Updates

More pictures have been added in the downloads section, these are mostly pictures from my
April trip but they have been customised for your desktop. To whet your appetite, you can
download a free desktop background of Tokey Beach by clicking here:
http://www.visitsierraleone.org/images/tokey_800.jpg
For access to the full array of desktop backgrounds please go here:
http://www.visitsierraleone.org/login/downloads.asp

Feedback on the Sierra Leone Diaspora forum:
In last month's newsletter i told you about the upcoming forum in London. Well.... it went
very well and there was some very positive feedback from members of the public. Everyone
is looking forward to the next move but the parties involved are quite dynamic and i'm sure
this will not be another lame duck. For more information from the forum please see here:
http://africadiaspora.com/sld/seminar.htm

In the news...
Sierra Leone have won the four-nation Peace Trophy organized in Freetown by the Sierra
Leone Football Association (SLFA).The Leone Stars defeated a second string Guinea team 2-0
in the last match of the round-robin tournament on Tuesday to give them three wins out of
three.
http://www.visitsierraleone.org/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=328

Bellview Airlines in Sierra Leone will on July 2 commence direct flights on the Freetown-
London route.
http://www.visitsierraleone.org/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=327

Sierra Leone is among nine countries, owing 11 billion dollars, who could have their debts
wiped out in 12 to 18 months.
http://www.visitsierraleone.org/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=324

On Monday 30th May 2005, Thomalind Martin Polite, 7th generation great grand-daughter of
Priscilla, a slave girl that was taken from the shores of Sierra Leone in 1756 to Charleston,
South Carolina in the United States of America, met with Sierra Leone's Head of State
http://www.visitsierraleone.org/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=322

The spirit of politics has inspired erstwhile Chairman of the National Provisional Ruling Council
Rtd Captain Valentine E. M. Strasser to throw his hat into the political ring.He has declared
his intention to take part in the 2007 race and form a political party called..
http://www.visitsierraleone.org/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=316

HEALTH chiefs in Haringey have announced a project to twin the mental health services with
those in the desperately under-resourced Sierra Leone.
http://www.visitsierraleone.org/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=315

Sierra Leone swore in its first female electoral commissioner, preparing the field for the 2007
presidential polls, seen as a crucial test of whether the West African state is on the road to
recovery.
http://www.visitsierraleone.org/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=309

and in the forum...

The Anti-Corruption Commission is being investigated for corruption...
This started off as a story about the ACC indicting 6 senior officials but in the weeks after that
a story broke that they (the ACC) are now being investigated for corruption. These things are
never black or white. What do you make of it?
http://forum.visitsierraleone.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=386&PN=1

Native Son delivers Aid

This is a really inspiring story of how one person can make a difference... what can you do
for your country?
http://forum.visitsierraleone.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=449&PN=1

Tackling outdated information on Sierra Leone...
This is the inspiration behind a recent initiative being spearheaded by members of the VSL
forum
http://forum.visitsierraleone.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=432

Kanye West's..Diamonds from Sierra Leone?
Those of you in tune with the recent Hip Hop releases will probably have heard of Kanye
West. His album was probably the hottest record last year for which he won multiple awards.
So we were quite interested when we heard he renamed his latest track from "Diamonds" to
"Diamonds from Sierra Leone". We don't quite know his thinking behind it and whether this
means anything for Sierra Leone. What do you think?
http://forum.visitsierraleone.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=406&PN=1

An African American feedback from trip...
Another African American - Dr. Barbara Morrison-Rodriguez - traced her roots to Sierra Leone
and paid a visit in the last month of so. She sent me an email which i posted on the forum.
Interesting stuff...
http://forum.visitsierraleone.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=457&PN=1

What does AGOA mean for Sierra Leone?
With other countries seemingly gaining from the AGOA agreement between Africa and US.
What does Sierra Leone need in order to benefit from this arrangement?
http://forum.visitsierraleone.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=448&PN=1

Treasury Bills - Good or Bad Investment?
This is for all those out there looking for some form of investment in Sierra Leone. See this
thread... it was an eye opener for many
http://forum.visitsierraleone.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=402&PN=1

and on a somewhat lighter note...

Ongoing search for Sierra Leonean celebrities or Sierra Leoneans in the public domain. We've
had footballers, musicians, boxers, presenters... can their high profile help raise awareness
about Sierra Leone?
http://forum.visitsierraleone.org/forum_posts.asp?TID=418&PN=1

Job Vacancies
Project Officer, Road/Infrastructure [European Commission Delegation]
Assistant Auditor General [Audit Service Board]
Ministry of Finance Vacancy Notice [Ministry of Finance]
Marketing Executive & Sales Supervisors [Foresees Consultants]
IT Manager [Celtel]
Various [Sierra Leone Brewery Ltd]
Accountant [ARC]
See here for a complete list and more details:
http://forum.visitsierraleone.org/forum_topics.asp?FID=11&PN=1
I think that's a wrap for another month!
Next month is a special 1st anniversary edition where we'll look back at VSL activities over
the past year.
Please offer any feedback about ways of improving the site etc. as always you can catch me
hanging out in the forum: http://forum.visitsierraleone.org
Don't forget to check out those couple of initiatives i mentioned earlier. Get involved.
Until next month....

B
http://www.visitsierraleone.org