Experiences from United Nations Field Missions
THE VILLAGE CHIEF
In my first year working at the International Labour Organization, something happened which left a lasting impression on me. I had come on mission to my country Sierra Leone as a United Nations “Technology Expert” and had to visit villages to do a survey of their requirements for improved technologies. On our way to the villages, in the company of officials from the Ministry of Social Welfare, I admired the clear blue April skies and the green foliage along the vast expanse of virgin land. Then in other areas, we saw the illicit diamond miners, who had abandoned their farms in the search of instant wealth. At the seaside villages we marveled at the beauty of the unspoiled beaches which are some of the best in the world. My country had so many natural resources, but we were still poor. Something needed to be done.
We arrived at one village, in the north of Sierra Leone, where, as is usually the case with esteemed visitors, a welcoming ceremony had been organized for the “expert”. As we approached the village, I was most impressed with the preparations. The women were dressed in very colorful “Sunday Best” and as they danced to the rhythms of the drums their hips undulated in such a remarkable way that one could not resist also responding to the music.
There were also masked “devils” as part of the celebrations. Sierra Leone has a rich cultural history, with a strong presence of traditional local mascots, who appear in the form of masked “devils” at special occasions. These are often highly decorated and represent an important part of local traditional culture and society and are
I joined the dance all the way to the “court barre”, the mud-walled and thatched roof village community center.
As we sat down for a meeting, the Village Chief looked disappointed. Speaking through his spokesman, he inquired why the Expert had not showed up. We were puzzled. Then it dawned upon us that I did not look like the Expert they were expecting. Usually, Experts were white males, who did not speak the local language. The official from the Social Welfare Department had a job explaining to them that I was indeed the expert.
The Chief being an astute politician did not fail to seize the opportunity to use this situation to send a message. So he announced boldly to the saddened crowd that the “expert” was a woman from “here”, who through education had managed to enter a sphere hitherto restricted to men from the First World. Then he went on with a message to the parents:
“Now you have seen how a female compatriot has made it to the United Nations, you should realize that educating a girl child is not without laudable reward. So tomorrow morning, I would like to see you all bring your girls to enrol in school”.
I was later told that this campaign worked well, as there was a long queue of parents with their daughters outside the school the next morning. I must have made quite an impression on the villagers.
After my survey of the village, it was the parting words of the Chief that I recall to this day.
“Well,” he said “you have come to us as yet another UN expert to survey us, you have raised our expectations and we have given you our time. You are one of us and if we never see you again bringing some help to us, as is the case with all the others, then we leave it to your conscience.”
His words struck me like lightning in a tropical storm and resounded in my ears and guided my actions throughout the over thirty years I spent working with the United Nations.
