Letters from Sierra Leone -- 1963 to 1965

Letters from Sierra Leone, 1963 to 1965

College yearbook photo, 1963

by Freddie Liebermann,
Peace Corps Volunteer

In 1963, I graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in Geography. As my future was uncharted, I answered President John Kennedy's call "to ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Although I had no interest in a teaching career, when my country asked me to teach social studies in Sierra Leone, I said yes. I entered a nine-week, intensive training program at Cornell University in June 1963. In September 1963, the 53 Peace Corps Volunteers who comprised Sierra Leone IV arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone to begin our two years of service. (We were called Sierra Leone IV because we were the fourth group of volunteers to be sent there. SL I was comprised of rural development volunteers; SL II of secondary teachers; and SL III were medical personnel.)

Sierra Leone is a small country on the West African coast between Guinea and Liberia. It is where Britain sent its freed slaves, hence the name of its capital – Freetown. During its colonial days it was known as 'the White Man's Grave' because so many of the British colonials sent there to govern and/or exploit it died of black water fever, one of the less common but most dangerous forms of malaria. It gained its independence from Britain in 1961. When we arrived there the population was less than 2.5 million. Its main exports were bauxite and diamonds. Click here for maps of Sierra Leone

In the summer of 2018, while sorting through a cache of my late mother's memorabilia (cards, photos, old letters and her favorite jokes and stories), I discovered the letters I had sent home from Sierra Leone. I had not read them since mailing them over 50 years ago. I found them interesting enough that I thought others also might enjoy reading about my adventures/misadventures.

— Alfreda (Freddie) Liebermann

Letters to Home

PC Training at Cornell # 1 July 1, 1963

Last day's
morning exercises

PC Training at Cornell # 2 Aug. 1, 1963

Letter # 1 Sept. 9, 1963

Freetown from
Fourah Bay College

Freetown from
Parliament Hill

Fourah Bay Dorms

Lumley Beach
& mountains

Diary of first 10 days in Bo Sept. 8 to 17, 1963

Jeep breakdown on
1st trip upcountry

QRS --
Brand new campus

Letter # 2 Sept. 30, 1963

Traders at
Bo train station

Sewa River's one-lane bridge
on road to Kenema

Girls selling oranges

Lorry park

Letter # 3 Oct. 21, 1963

Letter # 4 Nov. 15, 1963

Magburaka Girls Gov't School	A typical upcountry bridge	Washday	Moyamba -- George Gatewood
Moyamba -- Fire	Moyamba -- Weaver making strip of country cloth	Mud & wattle house construction -- stage 1	Guma Dam construction -- Temporary dam
Inner core of future dam	Entrance of future bypass channel	Building the dam bypass	Spillway & diversion tunnel -- 17 months later

Letter # 6 Dec. 26, 1963

Freddie at Cape Club,
Lumley Beach

Letter # 7 Jan. 3, 1964

Pit crew making mud bricks	Buck, Kevin & Peter pouring concrete posts	Al & Kevin laying bricks	PCVs on New Years Day 1//1/1964
Benni Devil (Poro Society) dancing	Musicians and Bundu Society Devils	PCVs & villagers dancing	Village dancers & gourd rattles

Letter # 8 Jan. 30, 1964

View from our living room.jpg	Trader's stand in front of our house.JPG	Freddie, pikiyns, & PC jeep	Girl with sugar cane stalk in outdoor kitchen in our back yard
Parade of Bundu Society initiates	Street musicians

Letter # 9 Feb. 5, 1964

Letter # 10 Feb. 18, 1964

Ramadan float

Moslems in
end-of-Ramadan finery

End-of-Ramadan finery

Letter # 11 Apr. 11, 1964

PE class exercises

QRS girls carrying books home

Farming in Sierra Leone Essay by a student, Juliana Genda, 1964

Slash & burn farmland clearance	Planting seeds	Boy on bird chasing platform	Corn & cassava patch
Upland dry rice paddy	Yam patch	Rice harvest	Drying rice in yard

Answers on geography tests     1964

Letter # 12     May 24, 1964

Letter # 13     June 2, 1964

Letter # 14     July 12, 1964

Letter # 14.5     Aug. 8, 1964

Letter # 15     Sept. 5, 1964

Letter # 16     Sept. 16, 1964

Market stalls in center of Makeni	Makeni Hill -- view from front of our house	Street where I lived	In the yard at our house
Houseboy Amadu washing dishes	Amadu doing laundry	Washday next door	Boys playing in fountain

Letter # 16.5 Oct. 21, 1964

Letter # 18 Dec. 1, 1964

Kalangba primary
school's lunchtime

Mothers waiting for
CARE powdered milk

Letter # 19 Jan. 10, 1965

Launch leaving Freetown for the Little Scarcies R	Rice fields along Little Scarcies	Waiting for arrival of launch with CARE food	Unloading CARE food
Guarding CARE food at Kaserie	Winnowing rice at Kaserie	Early morning at Kaserie market	Kaserie market

Letter # 21 Mar. 24, 1965

Letter # 22 Apr. 27, 1965

Bridge I drove
Landrover across

Postcard from Conakry     July 18, 1965

Letter from Dakar     July 20, 1965

Letter from Casablanca     July 22, 1965

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For more information, contact Freddie Liebermann at fredlieber@aol.com