A collection of news, updates, information and personal stories from trips to Sierra Leone.
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Alpha Jalloh
On the day I was to return to the U.S., my ferry to the airport experienced mechanical issues. In the time it took to repair the ferry, I missed my flight. I rushed back to catch the same ferry back to Freetown as it was the last of the day. The missed flight must have been an act of divine providence. It meant that I had to stay an extra few days in Salone.
When we visited Sierra Leone in February of 2011, we met two brothers, Umar and Alpha Jalloh, who own the Hill Valley Hotel in Freetown. The brothers used to live in the United States. Umar was in the U.S. military before returning to Sierra Leone. They have been funding the construction of a high school with revenue from their hotel. The public high schools are really bad in Sierra Leone so they trying to build a school more like the those in the U.S. Progress on the hotel has been slow but steady.
