"There must be mutual listening of African leaders and supporters outside the continent as restoration and reconciliation begin in Sierra Leone," says Battu Jambawai, head of the Women's Desk of the All Africa Conference of Churches. Having traveled to the United States to attend the fiftieth anniversary event of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., which took place in November in Cleveland, Ohio, Ms. Jambawai visited the Interchurch Center in New York City, where she spoke, as she had to the National Council of Churches gathering, about the suffering and aftermath of war throughout Sierra Leone and the surrounding region.

Ms. Jambawai described the horrors of civil war and its impact on the lives of children and women, a subject of national headlines in the United States following Secretary of State Madeline Albright's November visit to Sierra Leone. Expressing gratitude for the response that has come from the ecumenical community, she urged the need for continued assistance, particularly in the time of fragile peace that has been negotiated for the country.

"Of vital importance is that the voices of women be heard. For it is on their shoulders that the greatest burden is placed in trying to restore normalcy within families families in which children bear the physical and mental scars of warfare; families in which thousands including the women themselves are amputees, yet are still expected to carry the greater load of maintaining households; families living in desperate poverty with no means of support and with insurmountable health issues that need to be addressed.

"There is need for forums enabling African women from different countries to come together," said Ms Jambawai. "Questions are often raised about the need for so many meetings, but this is how we do things. We are an oral people. Phones, faxes, and all that is taken for granted in industrialized nations is unknown to many of the women to whom the All Africa Council of Churches relates. And most of these women are not educated so we must talk. There is need to help them understand the importance of counseling for themselves as well as their children: boys who were drugged and forced to commit acts of violence against one another and family members; girls who were raped, some of them impregnated, not only by rebels but by soldiers sent in as part of the peacekeeping forces. There is also a need to decide what will become of the children born of warfare and what their place will be in communities."

Describing the horror of the atrocities committed, beyond what has been reported by the press, Ms. Jambawai spoke of children as young as three years old who had limbs, ears, and other body parts chopped off by rebels. She told of a mother who was given the severed head of her son and forced to place the head at her breast. Among stories of what has happened to her own family members is the account of a female relative who was forced to watch as her young children set on fire. "As horrible as Rwanda was, people were at least killed," Jamabawai noted, suggesting that death may be more merciful than the torture to which some have been subjected in Sierra Leone.

Mother of eight adopted refugee children, whose role as Program Officer of the Women's Desk includes services to refugees, Battu Jambawai today finds herself in the position of those whom she serves. Forced to flee to Guinea as the crisis intensified, she is currently based in Kenya.

When, recently, she temporarily returned to her country, she found everything in disarray. Hospitals are without needed medicine. Schools, homes, and much of the infrastructure have been destroyed and must be rebuilt. Ms. Jambawai emphasized the urgent need for response to health care issues including the resurgence of polio and an increase in the spread of HIV and AIDS. "Soldiers will be arriving in great numbers as part of the new peacekeeping force because of the pay incentive," she said. "Many have been infected by the AIDS virus and will pass it on to women. In order to survive, poor women who have no means of sustaining themselves and their children succumb to relationships with these soldiers. This will only heighten what is already a critical health situation. As the ecumenical community attempts to help, it is crucial that it hears what we as Africans have learned from our experiences. Although church leaders and consultants who are assigned to teach health awareness related to the spread of AIDS come with the best of intentions, it is not so much their presence that is needed, as is that of medical professionals. For everybody in Africa listens when a doctor speaks.

"And," she pointed out, "remember that, critical as the situation is, Africa is by no means poor." Acknowledging that there has been greed and mismanagement by some leaders, Jambawai stated that manipulation of the people and resources by outside forces also contributes to the difficulties being experienced throughout the continent. "What happens in Africa impacts the rest of the world," she concluded, citing as examples the international spread of drug traffic, the rise in crime, and the spread of disease.

"Just please do not dictate to us," she said. "But welcome us to the table as solutions are sought to these problems. And do insist that women be part of the process."

November 21, 1999