The Children of Yele

Yele sits at the geographical centre of SL, half-way on the dirt road linking the traffic hub towns of Makeni and Bo. The journey from Freetown takes approximately five hours. The village used to have electricity, but the infrastructure was destroyed during the civil war. As they swept through the area, the rebels torched all the nice houses, forcing their occupants to flee. Many never returned. At first glance, the place looks sad, faded, rickety...





Until you move in closer and you begin to notice them: The children of Yele. Everywhere, they seem to magically appear from behind doors and trees and clothes lines and abandoned cars. With dozens of smiling and waving kids calling out “apoto, apoto” (white person) it isn't long before Yele feels like a sprawling kindergarten.





They all want their picture taken, and go absolutely wild when seeing themselves on the camera screen.





Some like to pose... Others rush to extend their little hands to check out what white skin feels like... Or push to the front, where they are too irresistible not to be picked up...







A few look on attentively, approaching with caution...



SL has a fertility rate of 6.5 children per woman.

It also suffers from the highest maternal mortality rate in the world: 18 deaths for every 1,000 women giving birth.

The mortality rate for children under 5 is 282 deaths per 1,000 births. That means 28% of children do not live to the age of 5. Only 54% will make it to 40.

SL's public expenditure on health is 1.9% of GDP.

Like their children, mothers are happy to stop for pictures and show off their bouncy babies...









Interestingly, it is almost always the men who ask white women how many children we have. They strongly urge those of us who do not have any to procreate. "You must have at least one," they say. When I put the same question to them, the answer is never straightforward. They typically have several "pikins" from different women. I often inquire how old their children are. Responses commonly begin with "Well..." and include "about" and "I think" and other vague references.

Somehow, it is a little bit easier to empathize with the mothers...