Emma Fofanah

Emma Fofanah grew up in a large family in the town of Makeni in the northern part of Sierra Leone, situated on the West Coast of Africa. Emma’s father had two wives and she grew up surrounded by many brothers and sisters. Her mother had ten children and her father’s other wife had five children. They all lived together in a big house. Each wife had her own house and garden, and grew all the vegetables used for cooking. Although the family was Muslim, Emma’s father sent her and her sisters to the Catholic school, which was the only school available for girls. When Emma was a child, it was not common for girls to be educated in Sierra Leone, especially if there were male children. In her family, however, education was a priority. Her father decided that despite having very little money, he would provide an education for each of his children. After finishing high school in Makeni, Emma attended technical college. She immigrated in 1987 to the United States with her two children, Fatmata and Abdul, where she joined her husband, Alhassan. After completing a degree at the Northwest Business College, Emma took a position as a sterile processing technician at Oregon Health Sciences University. Since coming the United States, Emma has returned to Sierra Leone only once, in 1992, to visit her mother when she was ill after Emma’s father passed away.

The outbreak of Civil War that engulfed Sierra Leone in the 1990s took a terrible toll on Emma and her family. Prior to the War Emma remembers Makeni as a very beautiful and safe place to live. But during the Civil War the rebel group took over, forcing people to flee their homes and escape to the jungle, heading to wherever they could find shelter. Most of them ended up in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, but Emma does not know what happened to others, for whom people are still searching.

While in the United States, Emma experienced the traumatic effects of the violent conflict indirectly through friends and family in Sierra Leone. Emma tells how she received a phone call late one night from a sister living in Freetown. Emma’s sister and her family were sleeping when somebody knocked on their apartment door. At that time, Emma explains, when you heard a knock late at night, you knew something bad was coming, so her sister told the children to hide under the bed. When the rebels came in they found Emma’s niece and took her with them to carry supplies. Emma’s brother-in-law followed them, begging the rebels not to take their daughter. He started to fight with the rebels and was stabbed in the back with a knife. Although her brother-in-law survived and her niece was able to escape her captors and return home after two weeks, Emma was deeply affected by their experiences. She said, “I was just crying and yelling, very upset, because just imagine, it was very, very hard. I said, [to my sister] ‘Okay, whatever I can do, I will send some money, I will do what can to help find her.’ I was so upset I didn’t go to work. I just prayed; I told my friends the story, they started praying. My sister started talking to people over there, they started praying, the Muslim way, the Christian way, it doesn’t matter, they just prayed.”

Emma was profoundly affected by the suffering in Sierra Leone, and frustrated by the barriers to getting aid to the country. With the loss of friends and family, Emma transformed her grief into social action. She became a leader of the Sierra Leonean community in Portland, working to promote cross-cultural dialogue. She has participated in many activities, including a documentary video and curriculum project on women, war, and the peace movement. She continues to be known for her wonderful “pap,” a traditional Sierra Leonean rice porridge.