An unavoidable and tragic fallout of any war are the innocent civilians whose lives are shattered by the forces unleashed around them. Today on New American Voices you?ll hear what one individual, an immigrant from Sierra Leone, is doing to help victims of the war that recently ended in his native country.
Sulaiman Tarawaley has just personally delivered thirty-one wheelchairs to residents of an amputee camp in Sierra Leone, whose lower limbs had been hacked off by marauding rebels during the civil war in that country.
After that first visit to the amputees? camp a year ago, Mr. Tarawaley determined to do whatever he could, as an individual, to make a difference in these people?s lives.
Chariots of Hope is a U.S. non-governmental organization that refurbishes donated wheelchairs and distributes them, for free, to needy people. It promised Sulaiman Tarawaley 150 wheelchairs for amputees in Sierra Leone. Mr. Tarawaley was determined to personally accompany the first installment of 31 wheelchairs, to make sure that they were not sold or otherwise diverted.
The camp held a little ceremony for the American citizen who found a way to help his former countrymen by bringing wheelchairs for crippled victims of war. The amputees gathered under a tent, a government official and Mr. Tarawaley gave speeches, the wheelchairs were distributed.
Sulaiman Terawaley has nothing but admiration for the people in the camp, and their attempts to lead a normal life despite their handicaps. The young men, for instance, have organized a soccer team.
After 22 years in this country, Sulaiman Tarawaley considers himself an American. But throughout the years he has maintained contact with his native land, particularly with those of his twelve siblings who remained there.
On the other hand, he believes that the impulse to help others who are less fortunate, even in far-away places, is a typically American characteristic, and one that he, as an American, is proud to share.
The next installment of wheelchairs is scheduled to arrive in Sulaiman Tarawaley?s home outside Washington sometime in May. He also plans to accompany that shipment to Sierra Leone, to make sure that it reaches its intended recipients ? the crippled victims of Sierra Leone?s long and violent civil war.