"If they could have gotten their hands on God, they would have killed Him too," Sierra Leoneans say about the rebels. The civil war in Sierra Leone, West Africa, (1991-2001) was labeled "the cruelest in Africa's recent history". Characterized by destruction - of property, but more so of human lives and values. Tens of thousands civilians died, hundreds of thousands were raped, burnt, tortured, enslaved, mutilated. The Sierra Leonean amputees, their limbs cut off by rebels, became this war's heartrending icons.

Faith in Chaos I named my photography project about hope in post-war Sierra Leone. For six years already, I have been capturing the lifes of Sierra Leonean youngsters whilst they are creating chances for themselves in a land where opportunities are very rare. Even before the war, Sierra Leone was the poorest country on earth (UNDP figures). It still is, and now it's in shambles too.


THE BLIND
Some had their eyes poked out by rebels. Eighty five children live and learn in Milton Margai School for the Blind in Freetown.The children learn English, Braille, typewriting, and to play music. Some are now getting old enough to leave school. I want to follow them into the outside world and capture how they seek a life for themselves. Some have already found jobs!


THE AMPUTEES
"Long or short?" the rebels would ask when they caught you. They meant: Do you want us to saw your leg off at the thigh, or at the knee? In those days, being asked that question was a great relief. You knew there was a chance you would live.

Most amputees were found by patrolling Nigerian peacekeepers, who took them to capital Freetown in the backs of their trucks. Two thousand ended up living in Murray Town Camp. Twenty two boys got themselves together and trained eachother into the Amputees Soccer Team, now a sportive force the nation has to reckon with. Through soccer, the boys have regained their pride and self-confidence. They learned that with their abused bodies they can be even stronger than before. I want to document how far their stamina will get them in life.


THE TRAUMATIZED
It is estimated that the war left 50,000 Sierra Leoneans psychotic and 300,000 others depressed and in need of psychiatric treatment. Only 148 of them found a place in Freetown's Kissy Mental Hospital. The wards remind of Dante's inferno, patients are chained to the floor. But Kissy is all Sierra Leone has for the mentally sick. Worse: Kissy is all Africa has! Mental healthcare is virtually unknown on the continent.
Most of Kissy's inmates are young. Many are former child soldiers. "It's the things they were made to do by their commanders that made them go crazy," Sierra Leoneans say. They were forced to kill, sometimes cannibalize, their own kin.

A few get better. They find the confidence to leave Kissy, go back to their villages and work to be accepted back in their communities. I want to travel with some of these young men and women and document their encounters with the people they hurt when they were child soldiers.

Eugene Smith Humanistic Grant in Photography

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