Growing up as a young girl, I was the happiest child anyone could come across. My parents were not rich but they did their best to make sure my siblings and I had a good life. My father worked for the United Nations and my mother ran a Beauty Supply store. Little did we know that our perfect lives would soon come to an “end”. Being that my father worked for the United Nations, our family was always watched under the public eye, and we were expected to fulfill high expectations that were set by the public. One night, a messenger knocked on our door while we were eating dinner and delivered a message to my father: “the rebels are coming for you and your family because anybody who works for the government steals money”. This was the ending of a good life, to a horrify moment I will never forget.
In 1996, Freetown, Sierra Leone, was attacked by the rebels who were lead by Foday Sankoh. The rebels’ missions were to wipe out the mass population of Sierra Leone and anyone whom they thought had stole goods from the government. News spread all over town that the rebels have arrived and that all United Nations workers or government workers must leave the country if they wanted to stay alive. With nowhere to go, yet desperate for our survival, my father begged relatives to take us into their homes, but as we expected, everyone declined. They were afraid of putting their families’ lives in danger, leaving us no choice, but to go back to our house with the fear of knowing that any day our lives could be over.
A few days passed by with still no sign of the rebels, and everyone was locked up in their homes, hoping our part of town would not get attacked. The peace and quite that eased our mind a little finally ended on September 14, 1996, when I woke up gun shots outside the gates of our house. My first reaction was to hide under my bed and pray as my father had told me to do when this day came that we had all been dreading for so long. Even though my father was terrified of what was going to happen to us, he stood up to the rebels and pleaded for our freedom. The rebels laughed and made a mock of my father and proceed to burn anything they felt belonged to the government. After that, the rebels still continued to torment my father and raid our home while we watched helplessly. Finally, my mother spoke out and offered a deal to the leader of the rebels. She offered to give them any item they wanted to take from the house and one million Leones, which is equivalent to one thousand dollars. The leader of the rebels slapped my mother across the face and said “I do not want your dirty money". After several minutes of my mother pleading with the rebels, they agreed to take my mother’s offer taking off in their combat truck. Relieved that the worst was over we packed our things and drove to Bo Town where my father’s best friend and his family lived. The war had not hit this particular part of town and we were safe.
This experience has shaped my life in so many good ways. It has made me appreciate everything in my life including the bad. I do not take life for granted because tomorrow is not promised to anyone. The most important thing is that our family has become closer from this experience and, I have learned that whenever in need family is all you have. After many years, I finally came to peace with myself and decided to put the past in the past and move on with my life.