Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars

Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars. Photo from SodaSoap Productions, from New York Times article

There is a nice write-up in the New York Times about the documentary about the Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars. I saw them for free in Central Park right before I left for Angola. Their story is incredibly moving and inspirational. The band played first and then they presented the documentary. There were several Sierra Leoneans in the audience, and their excitement and emotion was catching. Their music is great- a mix of traditional music, reggae and other styles.

The documentary the talk about will be shown on PBS's P.O.V, but sadly I think it has already passed. It's available on Netflix, though!

Later in Angola, I heard similar stories. It's hard to imagine living in a war-torn country, much less one where you are forced to literally leave everything behind in order to survive. I was overwhelmed when, talking to people who had been internally displaced (fleeing within their country, as opposed to refugees who cross borders), I heard about women having to grab their children and run- in the middle of cooking lunch for example. Makes my complaints about not having fresh broccoli seem quite superficial.