Immediately following the conviction of former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, for aiding and abetting the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone, I travelled to the country to launch the Memory Project, an oral history project sponsored by The Jeneba Project and Humanity In Action, to collect stories from those who experienced the Sierra Leonean civil war between 1991-2002.

The aim of the project is to collect testimonies that will provide a meaningful framework to publicly explore the traumatic memories of political violence; debate difficult questions about human behavior and choices in difficult circumstances; highlight the problematic nature of rigid ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’ labels; and ultimately provide future generations and leaders with powerful lessons about the importance of human rights and democratic values in preventing intolerance and violent expressions.

These pictures were taken during some of the interviews with those who lived through the civil war. We intend to make most of the photos and videos available for public view, soon.