The struggle to re-establish democracy in 1996. On that occasion the rebels were just 100 yards from my house. I knew I was the number two on their death list. For the past 10 years Sierra Leone has had the highest infant mortality rate and the lowest life expectancy in the world.
More women die at childbirth than anywhere else.
The civil war of Corporal Foday Sankoh and his RUF rebels, which was launched in 1991, has seen two-thirds of our population displaced. Over 600,000 are in refugee camps in neighbouring countries. Over 30,000 have been killed. Hundreds of limbs and arms chopped off. Thousands of boys have been abducted as child soldiers.