Diamond In the Rough: The Reason Why I Survived

By Kamara Mohamed

The first-born son and brother to six siblings, author Mohamed Kamara was just a year old when the civil war started in Sierra Leone. But it wasn’t until he was six that the war reared its ugly head in his village, Mile 91 Tonkolili District of the Northern Province. In the middle of the night, Mohamed and his family fled into the woods, leaving their burning home behind.

In Diamond in the Rough, he shares the story of his flight from Africa to the United States. As a young child, he witnessed unspeakable atrocities while the family struggled to stay alive, hiding in the woods and journeying from village to village during the night. Kamara narrates his tale of survival and his return home when the war ended.

In this memoir, he tells of his opportunity to travel to America, graduating from both high school and Johnson and Wales University, and creating a nonprofit to benefit his village. Kamara offers a story of pain, suffering, love, endurance, and courage.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Mar 22, 2017
• ISBN: 9781483466903

Book preview

DIAMOND

IN THE

ROUGH

The Reason Why I Survived

Mohamed Kamara

Copyright © 2017 Mohamed Kamara.

Artwork by Agnes Waithira and Taron Everett

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-6691-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-6689-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-6690-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017903982

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 03/16/2017

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Paying Homage

Chapter 1   Mile 91

Chapter 2   Downhill Road

Chapter 3   Man among Boys

Chapter 4   A Cry for Help

Chapter 5   Life in the Woods

Chapter 6   The Joy of Hope

Chapter 7   A Helping Hand

Chapter 8   The Dream

Chapter 9   In Search of My Father

Chapter 10   Free at Last

Chapter 11   Life in Guinea

Chapter 12   Victory

Chapter 13   The Dreamland

Chapter 14   Hope

Chapter 15   One in a Million

Chapter 16   Enlightenment

Chronology Of Sierra Leone

Summary

About The Author

To my beloved mama, Isatu Y. T. Kamara (July 17, 1968–April 8, 2009).

May your lovely soul rest in perfect peace. You

are deeply missed. I love you very much.

To my beloved father, mentor, teacher, husband, uncle, and brother,

Mr. Joseph Patrick King (August 26, 1968–January 4, 2016).

May your gentle soul rest in perfect peace. We love you very much. We deeply miss you.

To my son, Joseph Patrick King Kamara.

Thank you for bringing joy and happiness into our lives.

Mommy and Daddy love you very much.

In Loving Memory

Uncle Musa Fofana (September 7, 1959–November 10, 2009)

May your soul rest in peace. You are a great guy, and you are truly missed.

Uncle Kanu (April 12, 1947–May 4, 2015)

May your lovely soul rest in peace.

Grandpa Lamin Tholley (1945–1995)

Sleep in peace, Grandpa. We love you very much.

Grandpa Pa Sorie Kamara (1905–1956)

We miss you deeply, Grandpa. May your lovely soul rest in peace.

Grandma Ya Samah Kamara (1910–1959)

We miss you, Grandma. May your gentle soul rest in peace.

Mr. Patrick Johnson (October 5, 1940–September 6, 2015)

Sleep in peace. May God be with you.

Jonathan Melvin Moore (class of 2006) (September 19, 1992–April 2, 2016)

May your soul rest in peace, brother.

To all those who lost their lives during the Sierra Leone Civil War and the Ebola crisis, may your lovely souls rest in peace.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my family members, the Kamara and King families. Without your support and encouragement, I would be where I am today, so I thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. My brothers— Owusu, Daniel, Alpha and Alex—you guys are the best brothers I could have ever asked for. Thank you for always being there for me when I needed you the most.

To my 831 family and the rest of I.S. 162 class of 2006, I want to thank each and every one of you for your continuous support and love. My Bronx Leadership Academy family and, of course, Ms. Lawrence and the class of 2010, your courage is quality. My Johnson & Wales and Xavier families, I want to thank you guys for making my college years the best experience and for always encouraging me to continue my dreams.

Grace Obame, Dickson Kamara, Agnes Waithira, my wife, Isha Kamara and my favorite cousin Mabinty Kamara, thank you all very much for the support throughout the book process. You are all major blessings to me.

PREFACE

I wrote this book with a compelling attitude that when relevant issues take place, the need to air them is of the utmost importance. This might change the approach of other generations for better development in society. Those generations might emphasize better education and improve the community by lowering the rate of illiteracy, which will result in peaceful communities.

I wrote this book by meticulously questioning my parents on our experience in the devastating rebel war of Sierra Leone. Because I was six during the war, I needed more details to recap the atrocities and mutilations that we saw. Those recollections have helped me put my story together and write my book, Diamond in the Rough: The Reason Why I Survived. And most importantly, as our traveling did not call for a scheduled location or village and we traveled mostly in the night to different villages, I was unable to remember the names of those villages, so they are therefore missing from this book.

God bless America, the land of hope where my life was changed for the better. Thanks to my uncle, James Kamara. At my age and given the responsibilities I started handling, who knows what my future would have been? Who knows where I would have been and what would have happened to me by now? My good behavior and leadership abilities are the reason why I survived.

The lovely folks of this wonderful nation, the United States, are part of my inspiration, especially the late Mr. Joseph King and his lovely wife, Stacey, who lit the platform of opportunities for me to work through. Without my family and friends, life would have really been difficult. With a college degree and what I have in my dreams, I encourage you to read my book, Diamond in the Rough: The Reason Why I Survived.

PAYING HOMAGE

Ishmael Beah and Mariatu Kamara

I t has been a long journey for Diamond in the Rough: The Reason Why I Survived , but two native people from Sierra Leone have paved the way for me. Without them, it would not have been possible for me to tell you my story. I would like to thank and acknowledge them for their great success. Ishmael Beah wrote Long Way Gone and Radiance of Tomorrow . Mariatu Kamara wrote The Bite of the Mango . All three of us were a part of the civil war in Sierra Leone. Although we have different experiences, our stories are still the same. Pain, suffering, love, endurance, and courage bond us. Here’s my story.

Chp1mile91.jpg

O n October 8, 1992, a family of three welcomed their first son, me. In Sierra Leone, we lived in a village called Mile 91 in the Tonkolili District of the country’s Northern Province. The name was derived from its location, which is exactly ninety-one miles east of our capital city, Freetown. I’d like to share a little history about my family, the Kamaras.

My father, Morlai Kamara, was born in a small village called Mile 91 in Sierra Leone. His father, Pa Sorie, and mother, Ya Samah, were natives of Mile 91. My papa is very tall man with dark skin who worked hard in Sierra Leone’s diamond mines. At a very young age, my papa lost both of his parents. It left him feeling hopeless and very unsure of what to do in life. At the time, my papa and his brothers had to work together to put food on the table. No one was there to take care of them.

My papa’s oldest brother, James Kamara, was the only one of the three brothers who went to school. As the eldest son, Uncle James did everything he could to provide for them, so he worked multiple jobs. He was their only hope for survival and the first one in our family to move to the United States.

Uncle Abass Kamara was a construction worker in the village. He helped build most of the houses throughout Mile 91. The community relied on Uncle Abass for his skilled craftsmanship. Brick by brick, his esteemed reputation elevated our family to a well-respected status in the Mile 91 community.

As a teenager, my father became interested in carpentry, so he took the initiative to leave the village in order to learn the craft from a friend, Abu Komoro. Papa respectfully called him Uncle. After a year as Uncle Abu’s apprentice, my father returned to Mile 91 and opened his own carpentry workshop. He built a successful business, making beds, fixing rooftops, and laying wood foundations in the homes. Working as a team, Papa and Uncle Abass built houses together. Business began to expand throughout the village, and life became less of a hardship and struggle for the brothers. Between 1975 and 1990, my father and his brothers contributed to changing Mile 91 from a village to a town.

My mother’s cheekbones pierced the momentum of the African wind that slowed down time, including my papa’s eyes. Papa was working on a rooftop when he spotted her walking down the red dirt street. He almost fell off the roof. Mesmerized by her beauty, he could hardly concentrate. At the time he saw her, my mother was thirteen years old. Papa told me that they dated for about six months before he asked for her hand in marriage. My mama accepted, but her papa, Lamin Tholley, didn’t approve.

As you may assume, my father had to woo my grandfather with gifts, including cows, goats, eggs, and light work around my grandfather’s house. My mother’s father was in the diamond field as well. My grandfather felt she was too young to get married. She was his firstborn, the only girl, and his precious baby. Still my father persisted and never gave up on my mother. For two years, my father courted my mother, and at the age of fifteen, my mother became my father’s wife.

In 1985, my mother gave birth to their firstborn, my beloved older sister, Fatmata Kamara, also known as Fatima. Amid the promise of being young and married and starting a new family, this was also the beginning of my mother’s struggle. At fifteen years old, my mother was unprepared for the responsibilities of motherhood and knew nothing about raising children. She was still a child herself, one who had never attended school. Back in those days, women were taught by nature. They were taught to work in the field.

My mother was learning how to become a young woman, a wife, a farmer, and a parent. It was overwhelming for her. Because of this, my grandmother Adama decided to take Fatima to live with her until she grew a little older and my mother was better able to care for her. Since my father was traveling and working away from home, he agreed that my mom needed the help.

When I began writing my book, I talked to my mother, and she told me that giving up her baby, though temporary, was painful and difficult. But it was the best option for both my mother and my sister at the time.

As my mother grew older, she became a pillar of Mile 91 society. She did not have an easy life, especially when my dad would go for trade. But she always went out of her way to help others in need, providing the people with food and clothing. Everybody loved her.

My grandfather Pa Lamin died when I was very young. From our family portrait, I could see that my mother’s dad was a tall man who was always willing to help others and put people’s needs before his own. This generous spirit runs through the generations of every family in Sierra Leone and Africa. It is a spirit of willingness to give and serve each other. We see ourselves and our loved ones in each other.

As a young man, my father was away from the home a lot. He traveled back and forth between various cities in Sierra Leone to work. He usually returned home weeks, months, or even a couple years later to look after us and make sure we were doing okay. At a young age, I imagined that my father had another family—another wife with other children—and was leaving us behind to be with them. As time progressed, my suspicions grew into a gnawing worry that I could not shake.

I finally confronted my mother and asked the big question. Mama, where is Papa?

She answered, Well, son, your father is on a business trip in Bo Town. He will return soon.

Bo Town is a larger city in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone, about fifty miles away. The woman who lived with us would usually leave and return with my dad. Finally I came to realize that this woman was my papa’s first wife.

Education was paramount in my family. My parents’ main goal was to make sure that we all went to school as much as we could. When there was no money to pay for school, my mother would always find ways to earn money. She would go to the farm and sell food in the market. In my mother’s mind, nothing was beyond reproach. School was her highest priority, and she did what it took to invest in our futures.

When Papa was home, he would preach, School is your job, and that is the only job in your life right now. So stay focused and work hard in life.

Then Mama would back him up with, Never settle for less. Always work hard, and you will get farther in life.

As I was the eldest son, my father had the highest expectations of me, and he could be very harsh in his commands. Papa never had a ticket from his parents for a crutch, so, if anything, he wanted me to know how to build a wheelchair. He often gave me a significant number of responsibilities and depended on me to look after the family when he traveled to the diamond mines. Building and trading seemed to be his hobbies.

I took my place as the eldest son very seriously and extended my leadership to the whole town. Growing up in Mile 91, I felt responsible for many chores, and I became a young role model for a few of the boys in the village. They looked up to me and followed my example. My parents had shown me how to work around village: planting corn, raising rice, helping the elders with getting water from the wells, going to the market, and buying groceries for the family.

Instead of playing childhood games, I had to make tough decisions for the boys, like advising them to help others in the village when they were not asked. Life and my relationship with everyone in the village was very good. We even came up with a group name, SLB, which stood for Sierra Leone Boys. SLB became very popular and highly regarded in the village. We were trusted and respected for looking out for everyone in the community. The boys were between the ages of five and seven.

We all attended the same school and played football together, pounding our bare feet into the dusty red earth of the village fields. We rode our bikes through the streets, dodging palm oil and cotton trees under a blazing azure sky. One of my closest friends was a boy named Pa Sorie. We did everything