On Sunday, January 12, Ottawa StoryTellers presents Bringing Villagers' Voices to Life: Stories from Sierra Leone as part of its 2024/25 Signature Series season.
In their performance, storytellers Nancy Edwards and Dauda Mansaray will engage audiences through stories, spoken word poetry, and song, sharing complementary yet contrasting perspectives on village life from Sierra Leone’s post-independence and civil war periods. Nancy, a retired public health nurse, worked in Sierra Leone, and Dauda was born and raised amidst conflict in the country. As Nancy and Dauda weave together their experiences of rural life in Sierra Leone, they want the villagers' voices to be heard. Nancy says "I worked in Sierra Leone as a public health nurse. The voices of chiefs, elders, health workers, and traditional birth attendants are prominent in my stories of cultural adaptation. I share those villagers' voices and stories with my family and colleagues when I readjust to life in Canada." Dauda brings a different perspective: "I grew up in rural Sierra Leone. I left the country in my late teens when I escaped the civil war. I bring the perspectives and voices of children (myself, my siblings, my friends) who were eager to attend school but thwarted by the realities of unaffordable school fees and a civil war. My mother's voice is prominent. She was a remarkable woman - wise, gentle, and courageous." This performance will include compelling and powerful stories that reveal the ancestral roots of knowledge and oral traditions, the strengths of the family, community, and social connections, the hardships of poverty and child labour, and the trauma and injustice of civil war. When asked what they hope audiences will take away from their performance, Dauda says, "We hope the audience will feel like they have visited the villages and met some of the people who live there, recognizing their strengths, resilience, and determination. These stories are about our common humanity. The human spirit is strong everywhere."
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