Another day
in the LemonAid Fund week saw The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
(TCSPP) PhD delegates having a slew of back to back power packed meetings with
different stakeholders in Sierra Leone. From the head of UNICEF to the
American Ambassador and his wife, directors of the AIDS secretariat, Ministers
of Education and Social Welfare, Directors of FGM NGO's, the delegation had a
huge mission in front of them because everyone was excited to share
possibilities and conduct dialogue with a group of psychologists from around
the globe.
LemonAid
enabled these meetings because of their long and trusted presence in Freetown,
Sierra Leone. So much so that when Dr. Nancy Peddle (founder) walks the streets
of Freetown, she's often greeted with a "Hi Aunty Nancy!". The
Ministry of Social Welfare was particularly enamoured with LemonAid's work and
The Chicago School Students and put forth the proposal of having a Memorandum
of Understanding between the Ministry and TCSPP for continuing work with Sierra
Leone including offering office space, Internet, support and protection.
The Group
had wonderful dialogue with each stake holder by listening to in depth
experience on the ground, fact checking, sharing of ideas and approaches.
Through this many bridges were formed throughout the day.
The next
day was very poignant to the delegation as they came out of meetings and
academic ivory towers and fully demonstrated their talents and those of who
they engaged. The delegation went to Goshen Community School in Rokel and
listened to village students do their morning prayers, do some class work,
recite skits and dance. At one point, a star dance student was asked to dance
but became shy so TCSPP students instead danced to Shakira's 'Waka Waka'! The
students then engaged the little students with capacity and skill building
games. PhD Candidate Valerie Saffold had a blast playing with the little
children and reveled in the simplicity and warmth whilst marveling at their
football (soccer) skills!
The PhD
delegation than drove deep up north to study and understand Female Genital
Mutilation(FGM)/Cutting/Initiation and were deeply touched to interact with
religious leaders, former cutters, chiefs of districts and the director James
Kunduno of the Amazonian Initiative Movement. The speeches and presentations
were impassioned and intellectually stimulating so much so that the FGM group
spent the rest of the day whilst the remaining students went back to the
Delle-Peddle School to continue work on their consultation presentations coming
up to a varied cross section of Sierra Lenonian society.