Memoir vs. Mass Media The documentary Invisible Children and the Kony 2012 campaign are examples of a story being through mass media. The book we’re going to read this six weeks tells a similar story of a child soldier and the horrors of war, but through a memoir, which is a first person account.

Sierra Leone Profile  Full Name: Republic of Sierra Leone  Population: 5.7 million (2009)  Capital: Freetown  Major Languages: English, Krio, and various African languages.  Major Religions: Islam and Christianity  Monetary Unit: Leone  Major Exports: Diamonds, Rutile, Cocoa, Coffee, and Fish

History of Sierra Leone  Sierra Leone: Name means “Lion Mountains”  1462: Portuguese explorers arrive in Sierra Leone, which was also already occupied by several African tribes that had migrated to the area.  1500s-1700s: Traders stopped in Sierra Leone to exchange cloth and metal goods for ivory, timber, and slaves. *Abolitionists later help slaves return to Africa in what is now the “Province of Freedom” or Freetown in Sierra Leone. They came to be called Krio.

Civil War in Sierra Leone  March 1991: The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) began attacking villages in eastern Sierra Leone. *Goal: To rid the country of the APC government * Rebel leader: Foday Sankoh  April 1992: The National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) was established, but it proved to be as ineffective as the APC at repelling the RUF.  1995: The RUF held much of the countryside in their control.

Civil War in Sierra Leone  : Sierra Leone tries various campaigns to stop the RUF, including signing a peace deal in 1996 that unraveled in  1999: The United Nations finally became involved in the effort to disarm the rebels  2001: A second peace agreement was signed that allowed disarmament to begin as the government regained authority in rebel-held areas.  January 2002: President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah (elected in 1996) declared the civil war officially over.

The Ebola Outbreak of 2014 Damaged public health infrastructures Sierra Leone, which is among the poorest countries in the world, had only recently emerged from years of civil war and unrest that left basic health infrastructures severely damaged or destroyed and created a cohort of young adults with little or no education. Road systems, transportation services, and telecommunications are weak in all three countries, especially in rural settings. These weaknesses greatly delayed the transportation of patients to treatment centers and of samples to laboratories, the communication of alerts, reports, and calls for help, and public information campaigns. According to the World Health Organization