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“Except for the sound of the rain, on the road, on the roofs, on the umbrella, there was absolute silence: only the dying moan of the sirens continued for a moment or two to vibrate within the ear. It seemed to Scobie later that this was the ultimate border he had reached in happiness: being in darkness, alone, with the rain falling, without love or pity.”
― Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter

“Many signs point to the fact that the youth of the Third World will no longer tolerate living in circumstances that give them no hope for the future. From the young boys I met in the demobilization camps in Sierra Leone to the suicide bombers of Palestine and Chechnya, to the young terrorists who fly planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, we can no longer afford to ignore them. We have to take concrete steps to remove the causes of their rage, or we have to be prepared to suffer the consequences.”
― Roméo Dallaire, Shake Hands with the Devil

“We took a bowl each and started eating. He went back into the little room, and by the time he returned to the table with his own bowl of food to eat with us, we had already finished. He was shocked and looked around to see if we had done something else with the food.”
― Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

“Children played guessing games, telling each other whether the gun fired was and AK-47, a G3, an RPG, or a machine gun.”
― Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

“Cynthia was originally from Sierra Leone, and I loved the way those two dusky words rolled off her tongue. As we drove along I found myself fascinated with the deep “Oooooohhsâ€� and “Aaaahhhhssâ€� that made up her conversational speech patterns”
― Karl Wiggins, Grit: The Banter and Brutality of the Late-Night Cab

“We got here the only way people get anywhere good: together”
― John Green

“I was so happy that my mother, father, and two brothers had somehow found one another. Perhaps my mother and father have gotten back together, I thought.”
― Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

“When an immigrant speaks of feeling uncomfortable just know, you are in the presence of man who knows what the sting of assimilation is.”
― Hannah V. Sawyerr, For Girls Growing into Their Hips

“In spite of being a relatively poor country, Cuba is one of the most committed in deploying doctors to crisis zones. It sent more than 460 Cuban doctors and nurses to West Africa. In October, Germany sent medical supplies, and later that month a hundred additional U.S. troops arrived in Liberia, bringing the total to 565 to assist in the fight against the deadly disease. To understand the severity of the disease, a supply order was placed on October 15th for a 6-month supply of 80,000 body bags and 1 million protective suits. At that time it was reported that 223 health care workers had been infected with Ebola, and 103 of them had died in Liberia.”
― Captain Hank Bracker, The History of Liberia & West Africa

“In 1821 the United States government sent Dr. Eli Ayres to the Pepper or Grain Coast of West Africa, to buy the land discovered by Samuel Bacon prior to his death the preceding year. Dr. Ayres sailed aboard the U.S. naval schooner the USS Alligator, commanded by Lieutenant Robert Stockton, to the proposed new colony near the Mesurado River. After several days of negotiations in November of 1821, this valuable land was purchased at gunpoint from the tribal chief King Peter.
Soon after this purchase, the colonists and their stores were landed on Providence Island and Bushrod Island, two small islands in the middle of the Mesurado River. Once the armed schooner sailed out of sight, the settlers were challenged by King Peter and his tribe. It took some doing, but on April 25, 1822, this group moved off the low-lying islands and took possession of the highlands behind Cape Mesurado, thereby founding present-day Monrovia, which was named after U.S. President James Monroe. It became the second permanent African American settlement in Africa, after Freetown, Sierra Leone.”
― Captain Hank Bracker, The History of Liberia & West Africa

“Never judge a book by its cover. At first glance, even Jesus appeared unimpressive.”
― Andrena Sawyer

“I have dealt with killahs before."
I study her face. She is not speaking figuratively.
Her dark eyes hold mine. "I told you where I came from."
I do some quick math. In the 90's, around the time my world was shattered by my father's death, Sierra Leone was brutalized by civil war. Mariama would have been a young adult, watching everything around her being blown to pieces. I learned it as a fact in a college classroom. Mariama lived it. How little thought I've given to the life of this woman I've come to depend on.”
― Virginia Hartman, The Marsh Queen