Joseph Ben Kaifala is a Sierra Leonean author, lawyer, historian and human rights activist. He set up the non-profit Jeneba Project, with the aim of providing education for underprivileged girls in Sierra Leone and the neighbouring countries of Guinea and Liberia, and also co-founded the Sierra Leone Memory Project to help communities to cope with and heal from past trauma.

Biography

Kaifala was born in Sierra Leone, where he was raised, as well as spending part of his early childhood in Liberia and Guinea. Later moving to Norway, he studied at the Red Cross Nordic United World College (UWC Red Cross Nordic), and subsequently enrolled at

Skidmore College Skidmore College is a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,650 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in one of more than 60 areas of study. History Sk ...

in New York, earning a BA in International Affairs & French, with a minor in Law & Society. He holds a master's degree in International Relations from the

Maxwell School Maxwell School ( ms, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Maxwell) is an all-boys secondary school, located north of Kuala Lumpur. The school is believed to be the oldest school in north of Kuala Lumpur as well as one of the oldest in Kuala Lumpur and ...

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

, studied International and Comparative Law at Vermont Law School, and is a member of the

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, bar association, among other qualifications. He went on to found the Jeneba Project, a non-profit organization with the focus of transforming the educational experience for girls in Sierra Leone, fostering intellectual growth and leadership skills that will "create ripples of social impact across communities". Kaifala is also co-founder of the Sierra Leone Memory Project, an oral-history initiative dedicated to recording testimonies from survivors of the Sierra Leone Civil War. In 2016, he was shortlisted for the "Outlook Inspirations Awards", initiated to mark the 50th anniversary of the

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programme '' Outlook'', and honouring people who "have shown real courage and inspiration". His published writings include ''Freed Slaves, Freetown, and the Sierra Leonean Civil War'', about which Adam Hochschild said: "It's no easy feat to write a country's history in one book, especially when the nation involved has been through as much hope and as much suffering as Sierra Leone. But Joseph Kaifala has managed the job knowledgeably and skillfully, by focusing on key periods of his country's evolution. This is a first-rate guide to understanding the deep historical underpinnings of the challenges facing Sierra Leone today." His memoir ''Adamalui: A Survivor's Journey from Civil Wars in Africa to Life in America'' (2018) has been listed as one of the "Best Sierra Leone Civil War Books of All Time". Among his other publications are ''Tutu's Rainbow World: Selected Poems'' (2017) and ''What I Think: Maxims of an African Philosopher''. In 2021, Kaifala became the first Sierra Leonean to be honoured as a Ford Global Fellow. In 2022, he was appointed a writer-in-residence by the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora (LOATAD), based in

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

, Ghana, the first Sierra Leonean to receive the honour.

Selected bibliography

* ''Free Slaves, Freetown, and the Sierra Leonean Civil War'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, * ''Adamalui: A Survivor's Journey from Civil Wars in Africa to Life in America'', Turner, 2018,

References

External links

Joseph Kaifala website

"30 Years Later: Joseph Kaifala on Remembrance and Healing"
''Poda-Poda Stories'', 15 March 2021.
"Identity: Who do you think you are?"
BBC News, 31 January 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaifala, Joseph Ben Living people 21st-century male writers 21st-century memoirists 21st-century Sierra Leonean writers Human rights activists Sierra Leonean activists Sierra Leonean historians 20th-century Sierra Leonean lawyers Sierra Leonean poets Sierra Leonean writers Skidmore College alumni Vermont Law and Graduate School alumni Year of birth missing (living people)