Mr. Sonny Cole explained to members of the Wayside organization how the 11-year post brutal and senseless civil war left the country into a ruinous situation. “The war has made our people to become more and more vulnerable in the country and poverty is the order of the day,” he said. Mr. Cole said health, education, roads and agriculture are all in shambles. “Although currently there are some signs of improvement in the country being made by the new government in power according to information,” said Mr. Cole. He said that if the information which he is receiving about some of the hard work down by the New APC government is true, we worth commend them for that and urged them to do more as the people of Sierra Leone desperately in dare need of rapid development to improve their lives in the country, despite that will not come overnight.
Mr. Cole said thousands of Sierra Leoneans were been killed, limps been chopped off/amputated and hundreds of thousands were been displaced, self exiled while others are still languishing in the refugee camps in foreign countries. “Not because some of our brothers and sisters in the refugee camps do not want to return to Sierra Leone but they have lost their homes (houses), properties and some of them cannot even be able to identify or recognize their villages and towns were they came from in Sierra Leone because of the vast destructions that took place during the war. Many villages and towns were completely been burnt down and some people have also lost their entire family, relatives and friends, he emphasized.
Mr. Sonny Cole told members of the Wayside about settlement in Australia: “honestly speaking it is not easy to settle in a new environment, especially where the language and culture of the people are different from ours, as a result, there is no place like home he said. “But we are gradually integrating into the Australia society because must of us have gained our Australian citizenship. Therefore, we thank the Australian government for giving us such opportunity in our lives,” he said.
He also explained to the Wayside members present how it is very difficult to be a devoted and professional journalist in Africa, particularly in Sierra Leone. “It is very difficult to be a devoted and professional journalist in Sierra Leone because the wicked and unpatriotic corrupt politicians and their so-called senior civil servants will not give you chance, especially during the past days. If you refuse to dance to their corrupt music and to promote their undeserved praise you are always in trouble with them. You will only be a good friend of them (wicked corrupt politicians and so-called senior civil servants) if you are always ready to sing songs of praise for them and to promote their destructive thoughts of writings and speaking at the expense of the masses and the country’s development,” said Mr. Cole.
Mr. Cole said a devoted and professional journalist should not allow him or herself to be cowed down by such wicked and selfish, greedy and power hungry politicians who have nothing good to offer in the country rather than hatred, tribalism and division. He said, any responsible professional and peace living journalist is always putting the interest of the poor masses first who are voiceless in the society in a very honest and positive way and the country’s progress above else, but not on a hidden agenda. Mr. Sonny Cole said the wicked and corrupt politicians and senior civil servants are responsible for the down fall of the one time renowned country, Sierra Leone good image in the world for its discipline, education, agriculture and for our vast and valuable mineral resources, especially diamonds.
At the end of Mr. Sonny Cole’s speech, the documentary “Darkness Over Paradise” was shown. During the period when the film was on, some members of the Wayside organization became astonished because of the terrible things the saw in the film. That was how children and parents suffered during the post civil war in their country Sierra Leone. After the film show, one of the Wayside members pledged to support two children in Sierra to improve their lives in the country through the appeal for assistance in the country, Sierra Leone made to members of the Wayside organization by the Exile journalists.
Mr. Graham, one of the members of the Wayside organization, in his closing remarks commented that some times it is good to get information from the people on the ground rather than documentaries alone. “The information we got from the Sierra Leonean Exile journalists in Australia, especially those in Sydney, no different from what we saw in the documentary “Darkness Over Paradise” in connection with the thousands of lives that perished, particularly those of innocent children during the post 11-year civil war in Sierra Leone,” he added.
