The most precious award
In 1994 I was one of the proud recipients of the United Nations Environmental Protection Agency’s UNEP award for Environmental activities. There were about 20 of us from across the globe. Among my colleagues was a twelve year old boy from Mexico who was the star of the Presentation Ceremony in the prestigious Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London. They were made by the then British Prime Minister John Major who had missed part of the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the Allied landings in Europe which saw the beginning of the Victory over Hitler and his fascist allies like Mussolini of Italy. It began with the liberation of France which had fallen to Hitler in 1940. The 12 year old recipient from Mexico was an Indian boy who was protesting the devastation of the environment in his settlement by developers. He had walked his way hundreds of miles to the capital with a request to see the Mexico President, a request that was initially treated with levity. And so he began walking round the square close to the Presidential Palace. Soon he attracted the attention of both the local and the international news media. He not only succeeded in seeing the President, but his people’s concerns were addressed. (Photo: Dr. Sama Banya)
Prior to the UNEP award back in 1976 President Siaka Stevens had awarded me the Insignia of Officer of the Rokel OR for my contribution to the healthcare delivery in the country with my work at my Hangha Road hospital in Kenema. I wonder how many of my ignorant critics even remember this. Then in 2006 President Tejan-Kabbah recognized my work in environmental protection by the award of Insignia of Commander of the Order of the Rokel COR.
As I had mentioned previously, my colleagues and I in the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone CSSL, the Forestry division of the ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, the five Members of Parliament representing the seven chiefdoms surrounding the Gola Forest as well as the Gola Project staff spent the week touring the said chiefdoms. It was a very productive and rewarding exercise except for the condition of the roads which forced this 80 year old dinosaur to miss a very important National Council Meeting of the opposition Sierra Leone Peoples’ Party in the northern city of Makeni over the weekend. It was in the last of our consultative community meetings in Potoru in the Barri chiefdom of Pujehun district that my surprise presentation took place.
Tiwai Island is situated in the middle of the Moa River which separates the Koya chiefdom in the Kenema district and Barri chiefdom in the Pujehun district. It covers an area of 12 square kilometers and is an environmentalist’s, a naturalist and an eco-tourist’s delight. It is simply rich in Biodiversity with the largest collection of quadrupeds in West Africa; there is a large chimpanzee and monkey collection, not to mention the large variety of birds; in fact the Island is an Important Bird Area IBA of Africa.
A few yew years ago a BBC team took a photograph in the wild for the first time of the Pigmy hippopotamus. The Environmental Foundation for Africa is currently managing Tiwai for the people of Barri and Koya; it is at the southern end of the Gola Forest Reserve which is expected shortly to be declared a National Park. Prior to the EPA, conservation and research work on the Island had been carried out under the supervision of Professor John Oates of Hunters College of the City University of New York along with Professor Green of the University of Miami, Dr. Richards, Glyn Davies and Peace Corps volunteer John Waugh who with Nigel Wakem were founder members of the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone.
The list would be incomplete without mention of the leaders of the two chiefdoms in general and of a particular young pioneer Momoh Magona. Momoh was committed to the establishment, the development, the protection and the preservation of Tiwai as a wildlife sanctuary. Following the rebel invasion of the island, Momoh Magona would risk his life and sneak in there to confirm that things remained intact on the island. Mercifully they were except for the destruction and theft of the valuable materials left behind by the Anglia Television team Survival Anglia that had been filming a documentary on the island. Magona would always shrug his shoulders in modesty when I asked how he could take such risks.
It was at the Potoru meeting that I learnt with great sadness that Magona had died two years previously. He had commissioned a beautifully carved working stick with my name inscribed on it and which he planned to present to me personally as token of his appreciation for my own commitment to Tiwai and for my encouragement during his efforts. Alas he had fallen ill and did not recover. On his sick bed he had directed that in the event of his demise the walking stick was to be presented to me at a special ceremony.
The presentation which was unplanned took place on a most appropriate occasion, which was a meeting of the Partners of the Gola Conservation Programme with the Forest Management Committee and the stake holders of Barri chiefdom. I was really touched by late Momoh Magona’s sentiment and practical expression of his goodwill and appreciation for our involvement in Tiwai. I will cherish his memory and in a few words I tried but without success to adequately convey my feelings to his elder brother Vandi Kong Magona who made the presentation. That stick will come in useful when I shall have put my walking shoes away and begin to lean on it if it pleases God to keep me healthy and strong. MAY MOMOH MAGON’S SOULD REST IN PERFECT PEACE.
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