Naturalized American citizens, even those who have lived here for many years and consider themselves to be patriotic Americans, often retain a soft spot in their hearts for their native country. After 22 years in the United States, Sulaiman Tarawaley, a VOA studio engineer, decided to do what he could to help a group of survivors of the civil war in his native Sierra Leone.
On a recent visit to Sierra Leone, Sulaiman Tarawaley, a journalist and radio technician by profession, visited a camp for amputees -- victims of the 10-year civil war that had just ended in the country. As a newscaster he had regularly reported on the situation in Sierra Leone, but seeing the reality made a great impact on him.
Upon returning home to the United States, Mr. Tarawaley found an organization called the Chariots of Hope that was willing to help him. The organization collects and refurbishes used wheelchairs to donate to needy people. It promised to donate a total of about 150 wheelchairs for Sierra Leone. Mr. Tarawaley says the first installment of 35 wheelchairs is already stored in his home.
Sulaiman Tarawaley, one of a family of 13 siblings, came to the United States to study journalism in 1979, when he was 30 years old. He says that at first he found some of the customs here strange and different.
It was not only the customs that were different.
While attending first the University of the District of Columbia and then the University of Maryland, to support himself Mr. Tarawaley worked part-time in a steel mill, then drove a taxicab. At the suggestion of a professor, he also volunteered as a newsreader at a radio station to build up experience in the field. After graduating he worked in a variety of jobs in commercial radio, including broadcasting news from Africa and hosting an African news talk show. Eventually he found a job as a newscaster and reporter for the English to Africa service of the Voice of America. For the last three years, he has worked as a broadcast technician in VOA?s studios.
In the meantime he bought a house, a car, married, and now has a 3-year old daughter that is the apple of his eye. Mr. Tarawaley says that while building his life in the United States, he never lost touch with his Sierra Leonean culture and roots. Now he is concentrating on delivering the wheelchairs donated by Chariots of Hope to Sierra Leoneans whose limbs were amputated by marauding rebel factions.
Sulaiman Tarawaley, one of an estimated 10 thousand immigrants from Sierra Leone in the Washington metropolitan area and a veteran of 12 years with VOA.