Conciliation Resources: Building paths to peace: Bo Peace and Reconciliation Movement

Niawa-Lenga’s Voluntary Peace Monitors

Niawa-Lenga’s voluntary peace monitors from left; Edward Johnny, Juliana Goba, Emanuel Josie, John Kobbay and Margaret Koroma.

Margaret Koroma and her chidlren

Margaret with three of her children.

Margaret Koroma is an entrepreneur, skilled in trading, tailoring and hairdressing. Margaret has built a business that takes care of her five children while serving as one of Niawa-Lenga’s highly respected voluntary peace monitors.

Margaret’s old school teacher, Goba Smith, tells everyone how as a child Margaret was spirited. “When she was bad and I wanted to cane her, she would hold the cane and challenge me.” Corporal punishment has now been banned which poses a challenging change for teachers. Margaret Koroma admits that she was outspoken and sometimes aggressive as a young teenager which, particularly for a girl, would not have put her on favourable terms with the community as she would have been considered to have ‘bad behaviour’.

Margaret is now 32-years old and a single mother to her five children. Her outlook on life has changed, but it has not been an easy journey. When rebels entered Negbema they burnt homes and left the village scattered with bodies. Margaret ran into the forest with her two young children where she spent two weeks trying to find enough food and water to keep them alive. She managed to walk many miles to Bo town, taking refuge in friends’ homes. When the rebels left Negbema, Margaret returned home and tried to rebuild her life.

Conflicts within the community brought BPRM to Negbema where they held a workshop to mediate tensions. Margaret attended the meetings and asked many questions, eager to understand the process of reconciliation. A challenge for women is that Sierra Leone’s patriarchal society has favoured educating boys who are groomed to be at the forefront of decision-making. This leaves a large population of illiterate women often without the confidence to speak out in a public forum or, in some cases, the permission to attend meetings. Margaret was not deterred by this, and when the community was asked to elect people to be trained as voluntary peace monitors, she was elected. Aside from participating in solving the conflict between two chiefdoms, Margaret is asked by community members to mediate conflicts and take part in important community development meetings.

“I was afraid to stand in front of people and talk... but I’m no longer afraid. Nothing will shake me and I say what I want to say”

Margaret is now a highly respected peace monitor and community member and confesses that initially, “people didn’t take me seriously.” Margaret’s relationship with her mother has improved after feeling resentment for the fact that she was not encouraged to be more independent, “I now see her worth, my attitude has changed towards her which has inspired her to be more encouraging to me.”