THE ROLE OF WRITERS IN SIERRA LEONE
By Raymond De’Souza-George
culled from Junior Pen Point Magazine May 2008
As I thought about presenting a paper on the role of writers in Sierra Leone, the importance of building a bridge over a gaping valley, which you and others can safely go across, assumed a significance and magnitude which I had hitherto, never been aware of or never given thought to. I go for the imagery of a bridge because – a bridge is a thing that provides connection, contact. A common language is a bridge between cultures-a writer uses language –writing is communication- writers are communicators with an obligation to create access into the hearts of their audience and also for their audience into their minds. Writers may build or destroy relationships within their communities. So considering the importance of a bridge in linking two blocks of territory which may be home to people of like or diverse orientation and cultures, I also came to realize that the necessity for the writer to be a responsible and skilled contractor cannot be over emphasized. Let us come to an agreement that writers are people who write under whatever genre they choose, with the intention of having their material read or accessed by a target group within their world.
Because wisdom and experience have it that “the pen is mightier than the sword”, I want to advice and believe that all who wield the pen must at least have some awareness of its potency, and also of the gravity of its consequences both for its audience and themselves. Just as no word should be carelessly spoken so none should be written and broadcast or published without thorough examination of its implications for the minds of all to whom it will be exposed. You might choose to communicate with your society by writing a novel, play, short story, screenplay, song, poem or article. Whichever you choose, never lose sight of your responsibility to your audience. It is sacred. Whether as an entertainer, educator or just to inform- a journalist, you are affecting minds that you may guide one way or the other, either to make, break or mar the existence or co-existence within an environment.
Sierra Leone needs healing and stability for development especially after its recent brush with the senseless and diabolical savagery that many use as an identification card for our nation. Writers therefore have a very delicate balancing role to perform in bringing about restoration to sanity and laying a runway for our future development to take off. In effect writers in
Sierra Leone have a responsibility to help build a new nation. In that vein let me invite you to come along with me as we consider some of the thoughts of Chinua Achebe between 1964 and 1966 writing on“The Role of the Writer in a New Nation”, ‘The Novelist As Teacher” and “The Black Writer’s Burden.” Confronted with the idea that African writers should deal with the here and now rather than the past, Achebe states “African peoples did not hear of culture for the first time from Europeans;…. Their societies were not mindless, but frequently had a philosophy of great depth andvalue and beauty,— they had dignity. It is this dignity that many African peoples all but lost in the colonial period, and it is dignity that they must now regain. The writer’s duty is to help them regain it by showing them in human terms, what happened to them, what they lost….. In Africa he cannot perform this task unless he has a proper sense of history.”
In “The Novelist As Teacher” Achebe wants us to know that “the writer cannot expect to be excused from the task of re-education and regeneration that must be done. In fact he should march right in front….” Repeatedly returning to the topic of colonization, its impact,and its legacy in” the Black Writer’s Burden” Achebe tells us that “without subscribing to the view that the African gained nothing at all in her long encounter with Europe, one could still say, in all fairness, that she suffered many terrible and lasting misfortunes. In terms of human dignity and human relations the encounters was almost a complete disaster for the black race. It has warped the mental attitudes of both black and white.
— Black writers have shown again and again, in giving expression to the plight of their people, how strongly this traumatic experience can posses the sensibility. I do not believe that anyone of us would question the necessity for a proper sense of history if we are to effectively attend to the demands and pressures of the present which must also eventually make way for us to enter the future with purpose, focus and determination. However, I am convinced that the tendency to access, reside, inhabit and dwell in and on the past has been a neutralizing gear in our drive for peaceful co-existence stability and development. It is this tendency that feeds a spirit of self pity that justifies stagnation and nurtures the evil of vendetta which sometimes informs our creativity as artists and our views as journalists. We do know of instances in both world and our local history when writers have influenced,guided, directed and controlled the thinking of their people for good.
In the 20’s both dramatists and journalists in Sierra Leone dictated the mood socially and politically and when those same writers who had authored the change stood up against those they had swept to power through their pens, they were pursued. That for me is the past which should concern us, much more directly as we try to direct our people’s thoughts to positive lanes of aspiration, rather than the all- too- frequent focus on imperialists, capitalist and western barnacles and handcuffs that we too readily invoke as excuses. As the krios say, “if yu nor no usay yu de go, tray no usay yu komot. “But when we are eternally focused on where we come from we are unaware that we are progressively losing sight of where we want to go or where we are going. We may have allowed negative sentiments for others to imprison and confine even our ability and capacity to think positively of ourselves to the extent that a sense of balance may have been better banished or exiled from our thoughts.
According to Ed Howe, “any man, who will look into his heart and honestly write what he sees there, will find plenty of readers.” Of equal importance is the submission of William Dean Howells who said. “If I were authorized to address any word directly to our novelists, I would say: Do not trouble yourselves about standards or ideals, but try to be faithful and natural.” We all need courage to ply our trade if honesty, truthfulness and faithfulness must be accolades that our writings will attract.
Oinam Anand tells us that “the writers’ vocation is to explain to the people the essential meaning of today’s world, which contains the seeds of tomorrowand future hope. Courage and determination are essential for that mandate in Sierra Leone as everywhere else. In this our current complex world the writer’s mission or role cannot be seen as other than complex. Even in that light we cannot ignore the fact that there are certain features shared by writers through theworld. Again Anand goes further to say that “the writer’s mission today is, as it has always been, to testify about man and his circumstances, and to seek to have a mark in literature by striking a blow at the indifference and ignorance which doom society and the world to stagnation and mutual misunderstanding. “The germs of the future should be discovered in the foundation of the present, and the foundation of the present for the use of the future is only laid by writers, philosophers and thinkers……. “The chief mission of the writer is to struggle for peace and upliftment of the society in which he lives. This role is determined not only by his place in literature but also by the degree of his involvement in the society’s public life. “What is your involvement in that context?“Since life is the source of all inspirations serious writers cannot ignore the problems which confront people from day to day. Therefore, they set out to expose and condemn all manifestations of evils wherever they appear. “We need to be the people’s people in the sense of seeking our society’s interest. It is vital for us as writers to realize that “society’s moral health and the intellectual climate in which people live are in no small measures determined by literature and art.
As writers in Sierra Leone, we have a war at hand, but we can only achieve success if we fight our unique battles with commitment,passion, discipline and truthfulness. Let us be responsible to our society, be aware of our social responsibility and our commitment to our nation. If we should be able to stand up to the challenges at our doorsteps, let us develop writing kits which contain curiosity, passion, determination, awareness, energy, openness, sensitivity, perseverance, a listening ear andan observant eye. The kind of interest which will feed a sense of nationalism is the least we need as writers to enable us to understandand perform the role which our aptitude has invested in us. Approve that however, let us protect our sense of honesty and also accept that if we cannot address the nation, we certainly can talk to a community.If any community that we attend can attend to those around it, we would have successfully built the bridges which are stipulated in our contract.
- Written and presented by Raymond de-Souza George, at the literary Evening held on 22 December 2007 in honour of a visiting Ugandan PEN centre delegate to Sierra Leone PEN centre
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