Vickie Remoe Institute of Digital Communications

Sierra Leonean Diasporas need to check their privilege when returning home in a pandemic

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On the 21st of January 2021, NaCOVERC announced the resumption of curfew and some other additional Covid-19 measures due to the rise in the number of cases after the December holidays. This comes 2 months later after the initial curfew that was imposed to cut down the spread of the virus in Sierra Leone was lifted.

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In their recent publication, British-Sierra Leonean writer Memuna Konteh discusses the trend of Africans in the diaspora returning home during the pandemic and the consequences of their actions on the continent.

She interviewed Vickie Remoe who said:

“A lot of people that come home just want glory. It’s all good and well using your uncle who’s the minister of something to go straight to the top but who does that serve other than yourself?” said Remoe

Remoe spent most of her teenage years and adulthood in America before returning back to Africa to settle down and start her own business, and according to her being a responsible diaspora returnee for those planning to move back permanently, is all about making a purpose-driven decision to move, rather than just chasing a desire to escape wherever you are.

According to Konteh, last year’s #DettyDecember was business as usual for Africa with many black people from all over the world flying to the continent for either tourism or to visit loved ones. The end of the festive season saw a very high surge in Covid-19 cases, especially in countries that were recording single-digit cases before the start of the festive season.

“The damaging effects of December’s tourist boom are only now coming to light, as coronavirus rates are drastically on the rise in some of the most popular African holiday destinations,” Memuna Konteh

She reiterates that this is alarming considering that a lot of countries in Africa don’t have access to adequate healthcare services making a number of Covid-19 cases unrecorded and in most times untraceable

Read the insightful article on Gal-Dem

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