Sierra Leone’s traditional rulers are known as chiefs, the traditional tribal kings of the country’s regions. The country has 149 chiefdoms, each with a paramount chief. They uphold the customs of their respective province, collect taxes, mitigate disputes, punish crimes, extract labor, and hold revelry for weddings and birthday feasts. Twelve paramount chiefs are even elected by elders to sit in the country’s parliament. Politics here in Sierra Leone is still in a bit of disarray, even a decade after their civil war, and enacting any new changes brings the legislative process closer to a crawl. The tiers of tribal rulers are finding themselves at odds with parallel councilors and wards at the local government level. Many find no reason for celebration at the circumspection of their powers, knowing well that they are not yet figureheads, but they are being nudged in such a direction.
Fr. Francis and I have been accompanying Bishop Biguzzi on his pastoral visits to the local village outposts; the Bishop said that he could use somebody to translate and also wanted a seminarian on call (for comedic relief). Today we headed back down south to a village named Manegre. We piled into Father’s pickup truck and began the bumpy journey through the marshes and swamp. I had a notion that I might run into one of these chiefs.
It was quite the sight to watch a bishop interacting with a village chief. It felt like I was straddling two different eras of the world’s history. You would never know by his somewhat common dress that he was a “paramount chief,” but I could tell from the reaction of the people that the chieftaincy still holds a distinct prominence in their eyes. After the dedication of their newly built chapel, we were treated to a banquet of rice and local fish. I counted 17 children who had the courage to shake my hand. The others stared at me like I had tentacles.
-Bob
written 06/21/11
* (I have hidden twelve Kings of Leon song titles within this post for the fans out there. See if you can find them all!)
Dang...I can only find 11!
ReplyDeleteI could only find 11 for awhile, too. UNTIL, I realized "Celebration" is on an extended version of Come Around Sundown. Is that the one you were missing?
ReplyDeleteVery tricky, Mr. Angel. However, I am only slightly impressed. Now, if you had slipped in Holy Roller Novocaine THAT would have been impressive.
Katie! You're so smart...
ReplyDeleteHow long have you been waiting to use "Kings of Leone" as a blog title? I bet you came up with it the day you found out you were going to SL.
ReplyDeleterevelry, birthday, closer, crawl, use somebody, back down south, pickup truck, notion, and 17. Those are the only ones I got. I hope you are well Bob.
ReplyDeleteMet a "King of 16 tribes of Sierra Leone" in Philadelphia, PA, a few months ago. Interesting, so I googled it and your blog came up. I enjoyed reading a few posts and then it took me to a spot where I accidentally started my own blogspot. A bit overdue, actually. http://marianvisionhelpmychildren.blogspot.com/
ReplyDelete