New library to be builtBy Kate Smith
Olaudah Equiano knew the power of words; the power to free a people from slavery and to make amends for bloody conflict.
Unlike most West African slaves of the 19th century, Equiano was given the gift of literacy, and his autobiography depicting the horrors of slavery formed the basis of William Wilberforce's abolition campaign.
Now, with the help of a team of young Scots, Equiano's name will once again be used to help right a wrong when the first library built in Sierra Leone since the devastating 11-year civil war is named after him.
The library, resource and education centre will be built in the town of Waterloo next year by a group of architects and engineers who have donated their labour.
A generation lost out on an education, and literacy rates for women under 30 fell to just 10%. The project aims to enlist the help of the country's over-50s to teach them how to educate the young. It will be followed by a project in Malawi, which has strong links with Scotland and where Jack McConnell will be installed as High Commissioner in the next few months. The Waterloo Charity is fronted by politicians from all the main parties, including Labour MP Claire Curtis-Thomas and former Tory leader William Hague. It aims eventually to build 50 libraries across Africa, in countries including Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia.
When the bloody civil war ended in 2002, Sierra Leone, which is rich in diamonds, fell from being the second richest country in Africa to the second poorest nation on earth.
Alex Whitby-Scott, 25, an architect from Edinburgh, said: "This is a country with one book per 250 people. A whole generation simply cannot read because everything ground to a halt during the war. Imagine a world where the internet is worthless because you can't read.
"This is about empowerment through literacy and reading. We are sowing the first seed in Sierra Leone, but that seed will germinate, growing into a forest.
"Young people in Britain are often seen as being only about drugs, knife crime and violence, yet this is a project where young people are making a real difference.
"British young people and the literate over-50 Sierra Leoneans will be teaching the young people of Sierra Leone how to read and train for jobs. It is such a positive project that everyone loves to be involved.
"It is reminiscent of the great libraries founded in the 19th century in the UK and US, which inspired the mass education and emancipation of the people."
At the end of the war the people of Waterloo were asked what one project would improve their lives. In a country where there are just 20,000 books for a population of five million, a library was the obvious choice.
The country has vast mineral deposits, fertile land and oil reserves. Sierra Leone, which since the end of the war has had two fair and free elections, offers a lot of promise, yet the majority of people still live in dire poverty.
Paul Steen, 31, based at the Edinburgh office of Ramboll Whitbybird, the engineers responsible for the construction, said: "We are working in an extremely deprived country, creating the legacy of an operational library and literacy centre to those who missed an education due to the war, a legacy which will last for hundreds of years.
"As well as running literacy programmes, it is envisaged we will run health education programmes with literacy woven in."
BACKGROUND
War spread to Sierra Leone from neighbouring Liberia in 1991 after years of post-colonial corruption. The fighting continued until 2002 and in 2005 Sierra Leone was rated 176 out of 177 countries in the UN Human Development Index, a measure of a country's life expectancy, literacy rate, education and standard of living. Sierra Leone was traditionally prosperous and enjoyed high literacy rates prior to the war.
