Pendembu is a town in

Kailahun District Kailahun District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital city, capital and largest city is the town of Kailahun. The second most populous city in the district is Segbwema. Other major towns in Kailahun District inclu ...

in the Eastern Province of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

. The town population was 7,243 at the 2004

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

but increased to 20,502 according to a more recent estimate. Pendembu lies approximately 36 miles from

Kenema Kenema is the third largest city in Sierra Leone (after Freetown and Bo), and the largest city in the country's Eastern Province. It is the capital of Kenema District and a major economic center of the Eastern Province. At the 2015 national cens ...

and about 235 east of

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and po ...

. Pendembu is a

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

center and is one of the main towns in Eastern Sierra Leone. The vast majority of Pendembu's population are from the Mende ethnic group. As with most parts of Sierra Leone, the

Krio language Sierra Leonean Creole or Krio is an English-based creole language that is lingua franca and de facto national language spoken throughout the West African nation of Sierra Leone. Krio is spoken by 96 percent of the country's population, and it uni ...

of the

Sierra Leone Creole people The Sierra Leone Creole people ( kri, Krio people) are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Liberated African slaves who settled in the Western Area of ...

is by far the most widely spoken language in Pendembu and is the primary means of communication in the city. The most widely spoken languages are Mende and Krio. The town is the birthplace of former

President of Sierra Leone The president of the Republic of Sierra Leone is the head of state and the head of government of Sierra Leone, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. As the head of the executive branch of the Sierra Leone government, the presi ...

Ahmad Tejan Kabbah Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah (February 16, 1932 – March 13, 2014) was a Sierra Leonean politician who served twice as the 3rd President of Sierra Leone, from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007. An economist and attorney by profession, K ...

. A health clinic south of Pendembu is operated by the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus religious order.Side by Side: The Cafod magazine, published Spring 2022Conference of Religious Superiors Sierra Leone
Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus (HHCJ)
accessed 5 June 2022

Namesakes

There are a number of other towns with similar names.

References

Populated places in Sierra Leone Eastern Province, Sierra Leone {{SierraLeone-geo-stub