by Casey Bryson
In the spring of 2014 Chief Titus Kamara of Talent Town in Makeni, opened up his home to me while I lived in Sierra Leone. He was also the headmaster of the school I was to be teaching at. While I lived there his wife Mary, and five sons took care of my every need. They fed me, protected me, showed me around the city, and took me in as one of their brothers. I had an invitation to intimately see how a Sierra Leonian family worked.
Chief Titus was an educator as well. He taught mathematics at the same school, but also at the end of each long, hard day of work, he would sit his five boys down and teach them a lesson that they would later use in life. One night it was a lesson on writing a business letter; the next could be adding fractions. He was a leader of his household, his community and a firm believer that education was important to advance their country. Even during the school breaks, young children from the village would come to the Titus house to be taught by one of the Titus brothers, shown in the picture above. This family all had a passion for spreading education.
In August 2014 Chief Titus was on his way back to Makeni from a teachers' conference in Magburka, and another motorist did not see him on his motorcycle. They collided. His family rushed him to a doctor in Freetown, a three hour drive. He died later that night in his sleep from his injuries. He left behind five sons, the youngest was ten years-old, a wife, and a granddaughter named Mary.
Mary was only two at the time, but since Titus was the breadwinner of the family, they no longer had an income to provide for them, purchase school uniforms, or pay tuition for the children's schooling. The community aided the family with food and other basic needs. They had their own farm which helped supply their own food. But they would never be able to afford the extra cost of school. So at the age of just two years old, little Mary had dismal chances to ever go to school or become anything more than a housekeeper under her future husband's reign. When she turned five last year, her father David, now the leader of the family and the eldest son of Titus, contacted me asking for help to purchase a school uniform and help with tuition. After all their family had done for me I could not say no, but I was worried about my own finances. I was a recent graduate and a new teacher with financial struggles of my own. When I asked how much it would be, he told me a little over two hundred dollars would cover both. My reaction was, "I can't afford two hundred a month!" That is when I found out this one time donation would cover her entire first year of school. My family and I got together and sent the scholarship, and now Mary is learning every day, and her future is bright.
You can see a photo of Mary on her first day of school in her new uniform. For roughly the price of a couple pairs of shoes or a couple date nights, I was able to provide a stable education for a young lady who faced adversity at such a young age; who started life in a deficit when it came to opportunity. When she completes her education, who knows what she will be capable of?
