November 22, 2021
By Ilyasa Baa
The government of Finland and that of Germany have supported Sierra Leone through the Faces Reggae Festival on the theme: Make Sierra Leone Green, which promoted afforestation and the culture of planting trees in Sierra Leone which is already on the list of disaster prone countries in the world.
The initiator of the Faces Festival who led the four man delegation from Finland, Borje Mattsson, in an exclusive interview with A-Z newspaper said the faces festival was established to promote unity in diversity dealing with emerging issues such as conflicts and climate change.
Being the President of the Finnish cultural organization known as Etnokult, Mr. Mattsson noted that Sierra Leone is in the heart of Finland when it comes to climate change solution. He said the bilateral ties between the two countries is something good to write home about noting that when the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs Dr. Memunatu Pratt paid an official visit to Finland, the proposal for the replication of the Faces festival was put to the Minister and was followed with a green light from the government of Sierra Leone. “The Covid pandemic prevented us from organizing the make Sierra Leone Green faces festival but we thought this is the right time to raise awareness about climate change in the country”, revealed Mr. Mattsson. “The concept behind the word faces, he went on, “was to show people, especially Finns that the Maiden Blond faced woman was for all races and tribes in the universe not limited to a single race” he explained.
He said the festival had been done in Bosnia, South Africa and Kosovo as a way of maintaining peace and unity in those conflict torn countries.
In the conference hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on Friday November 12th, the Director General of the Orince Cole commended the delegation for traveling all the way from Europe to promote climate change in Sierra Leone which he said has suffered immensely from climate change citing the mudslide and flooding as instances of disaster due to climate change.
He said the planting of trees at Matormeh by the delegation goes a long way in mitigating climate change hazards. Mr. Cole assured the Head of the Sierra Leone Consulate Planning Team who formed part of the delegation that the doors of the ministry are always open and will respond accordingly when called upon.
Head of the Sierra Leone Finland Consulate Planning Team, Sorie Obai Kamara aka Ob-phrase thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs and by extension the government of Sierra Leone for providing the space for climate change sensitization.
He said the cooperation of the government of Sierra Leone and that of Finland and Germany made the programme successful.
The entourage paid a courtesy call on the German Embassy in Freetown who lauded their climate change drive at this point in time when countries are trying to figure out how to deal with the issue.
The programme was climaxed by two days reggae festival at Aberdeen beach where the faces of various artists surfaced to sensitize on climate change.
Various musical bands including Afro Kombo, Sister Odellia and the Bo Town Dance Band, the popular Refugee All Stars performed exceptionally well passing the vibes for change of attitude towards the forests. Leader of the band, Reuben called in Sierra Leoneans to plant more trees and avoid cutting them.