🌊 Inside Sierra Leone's Secret Societies

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We seek to hold a mirror to the world. To do so, Roca editor Max Frost traveled to Sierra Leone – a country synonymous with war, disease, and poverty – to understand how countries fail and what it means for their people. In the coming weeks, he’ll send out a weekly on-the-ground report. This is part 2. If you missed part 1 – a report from inside Trash City – it’s at that link.

Report 2: The Societies

Makeni, Sierra Leone

It’s 95ºF with 100% humidity. We’re in a room with no electricity, no AC, and no fan. Sweat runs down everyone’s faces. Through the wall sounds the constant high-pitched honking of passing motorbikes. Next to me, a group of men sit around a table discussing a major concern: How to stop the US government from imposing “gender equality” on their communities.

The US government sent $97M in foreign aid to Sierra Leone last year. A majority of this ($53M) went through USAID and was intended to achieve goals like reducing malnutrition, improving human rights, and boosting gender equality. 

To Americans, these may sound like programs that everyone can support – programs that would improve life in Sierra Leone and boost the popularity of the US there.

Yet many Sierra Leoneans see something different: An effort to control their politicians, transform their culture, and destroy their traditions.

Sierra Leone’s government is among the world’s most corrupt and ineffective. In much of the country, it’s as though no government exists. In response to anarchy, tribes have created secretive “societies.” In many places, it doesn’t matter what the government says – the society decides what happens.

The men I was seated around the table with were society members.

“Whenever you are part of a ‘society,’ if you do anything that is against the people or against the laws of the land, they will call on you to report,” one of the group said. “That’s what the society is all about – to hold their leaders accountable for their actions. Because the society is the only thing that is above the leader…It’s like the Constitution of the United States is above the president: These societies are the authority over the leader.”

Maintaining such a tight community involves enforcing strict traditions. To join one, people have to undergo “sacred” initiation processes, which often run distinctly counter to Western concepts like “human rights” and “gender equality.” 

In today’s report, we explore how Western governments are trying to eliminate one of the most notorious “sacred” practices – and meet the men who hope to thwart them.

Editor’s Note

A ton of replies to our yesterday’s report about our time with supporters of the AFD. If you missed it, read it here. We’ve featured a selection of your replies below. Also, here’s the link to our first Sierra Leone report ICYMI.

 Steve wrote:

Tom wrote:

And Marian replied:

Thank you all for reading and the kind words. If you have thoughts on today’s report, please share them here.

–Max and Max