Prior to this year, the longest distance Hindola Pokawa ever walked was the six miles between his parents鈥� house at Congo Water, east Freetown, and St Helena Secondary School, on the outskirts of Sierra Leone鈥檚 capital city, Freetown. That was two decades ago when he was a secondary school student.
But on 6 January this year, the 43-year-old Sierra Leonean and his American friend, Dustyn Montgomery, 23, decided to walk 500 km听from the Kailahun Court Barray in eastern Sierra Leone to the iconic 500-year-old Cotton Tree in the middle of Freetown which is in the west of the country. It would take them 21days.
鈥淲e wanted to contribute to the fight against rape and gender-based violence,鈥� Mr. Pokawa said in an interview. 鈥淪o, we decided to walk the distance to raise needed awareness.鈥�
The duo had been moved by the widely publicized tragedy of a five-year-old girl who reportedly was raped and murdered by her cousin in June 2020.
The little girl鈥檚 death sparked local and international outrage, prompting human rights activists to call for severe punishment of perpetrators of gender-based violence (GBV). 听
At the time, President Julius Maada Bio said: 鈥淭he depravity of sexual violence [in Sierra Leone] is obscene, criminal and totally objectionable.鈥澨�
听鈥淚 felt a direct connection [with the girl] because many young people I know, two to six years of age, could have been her,鈥� Mr. Pokawa said.听
鈥淚 decided to walk that distance. But I thought I shouldn鈥檛 do it alone, so I asked Dustyn to join me. He was all in.鈥�
Mr. Montgomery and Mr. Pokawa became friends in the late 2000s when Mr. Montgomery was a student with the Minnesota-based Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA) and the Sierra Leonean was a faculty member.听
Mr. Montgomery鈥檚 trip to Sierra Leone was his first outside the United States.听
Mr. Pokawa says the first five days of the journey were tough and exhausting, physically and mentally.听
鈥淭he constraints of insufficient sleep, muscle aches, and inadequate food were severe, but the pain we experienced was nothing compared to the pain and trauma of rape victims,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he trauma lives with the survivors for the rest of their lives.鈥澨�
Publicized by the local media, their walk caught the attention of citizens, government and international organisations based in Sierra Leone.听
As they walked through villages and towns, people urged them on.听
鈥淔rom village to village, town to town, city to city, we met rape survivors. We listened to their stories. And we felt that there were more rape and GBV cases that are reported,鈥� said Mr. Pokawa.
The UN Resident Coordinator in Sierra Leone, Babatunde Ahonsi, applauded their effort.听
鈥淭his laudable awareness-raising effort not only calls attention to the declaration of rape and sexual assault as a national emergency by President Bio in 2019, but it also speaks to Goal 5 [gender equality] of the SDGs. Rape is a national catastrophe, and every Sierra Leonean must play a part in fighting this malaise and other forms of violence,鈥� Mr. Ahonsi said in a tweet.听
He later crowned Mr. Pokawa a听HeForShe champion at a meeting听facilitated by UN Women.听HeForShe听is a global solidarity movement led by the UN to promote gender equality.
Naasu Fofana, a rape survivor and campaigner against GBV in Sierra Leone, posted on Facebook: 鈥淲alking 315 miles from Kailahun to Freetown is no child鈥檚 play. But Hindolo [Pokawa] and Dustyn challenged themselves鈥� Thank you for your selflessness.鈥�
Rape declared national emergency
President Bio has declared rape and sexual violence a national emergency.
Sierra Leone in 2019 passed the Amended Sexual Offences Act of 2012, which stipulates up to 15 years in jail for those who use power or position to sexually abuse or harass others.
Born in Mondema village, Kenema District, in eastern Sierra Leone, Mr. Pokawa pursued liberal studies at the University of Minnesota in the U.S. He returned to Sierra Leone in 2011.
He launched a non-profit called the Sierra Leone Foundation for New Democracy to 鈥渂ring communities together to address the extractive and exploitative relationships that keep communities in poverty.鈥澨�
Overall, Mr. Pokawa is happy about the outcome of their walk. 鈥淲e have raised the profile of GBV in the country, we have increased awareness, we have challenged men to join women in this fight. We are happy about that.鈥�
They intend to continue their anti-rape advocacy. 鈥淭he fight goes on until we have a society where women and girls can live without fear of sexual violence. We will never relent,鈥� Mr. Pokawa vowed.
Mr. Sankoh is the Programme Communications and Advocacy Officer in the office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Sierra Leone听
