I was not born into a farm family and only learned some of those farming and gardening skills later in life, but it always has felt like such a rich privilege to raise a family in a rural setting. When you ask young people in Sierra Leone about this, they will quickly tell you about their desire to move to Freetown. Maybe it is an age thing. For me the pull is in the other direction at this point in my life.
I visited with a couple of families in Freetown, one who lives there by choice and the other out of an immediate health necessity. The one family is living in a community of other, once remote rural families, clinging to the edge of Freetown’s oceanside. I can only imagine what happens here when the rainy season comes. But it’s a community. The other family is renting a home in downtown Freetown and they are longing to move back upcountry to be close to their farm and community. Whose to say?