Sometimes people ask me how difficult the astronaut program was, but being in Sierra Leone, being responsible for the health of more than 200 people, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, at age 26 – that prepared me to take on a lot of different challenges.
– Mae Jemison, American Astronaut
The Country 
OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Sierra Leone
CAPITAL: Freetown
OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: English
POPULATION: 6.6 Million
LAND AREA RANK: 40th largest in Africa
LITERACY RATE: 43%
”I grew up in Sierra Leone, in a small village where as a boy my imagination was sparked by the oral tradition of storytelling. At a very young age I learned the importance of telling stories – I saw that stories are the most potent way of seeing anything we encounter in our lives, and how we can deal with living.
– Ishmael Beah, Sierra Leonean author
The Book
TITLE: The Devil That Danced on Water
AUTHOR: Aminatta Forna
PUBLISHED: 2002
Aminatta Forna is an acclaimed Scottish & Sierra Leonean writer. Her family’s history is intertwined with that of her country and in this autobiography she returns to the story of her childhood and her country’s political upheaval.
More Information
More about the Author:
Author’s Website
Reviews of the Book:
Goodreads Book Review
The Guardian book review
Travel to the Country:
12 reasons to visit
Lonely Planet information
The Culture Trip information
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