Yengema is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Kono District Kono District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Koidu, Koidu Town. Motema is the second most populous city in the district. The other major towns in the district include Yengema, Tombodu, J ...

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 , Sierra ...

, lying approximately west of Koidu, Koidu Town (the largest city in Kono District), and about 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 p ...

. The major industries in and around Yengema are diamond mining and agriculture. The town is home to

Yengema Airport Yengema Airport is a regional airport located in Yengema, Kono District, Sierra Leone. It is the only airport that serves Kono District. It is one of the busiest airports in the country, due to the present of large diamond mining companies in K ...

, the main airfield serving Kono District. A 2012 estimate of Yengema population was 13,358 people. The population of Yengema is ethnically diverse, though the majority of its residents are ethnic Mandingo and ethnic Kono. The primary language of communication in Yengema is 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 ...

, which is widely spoken in the town. Yengema is a predominantly

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

town, though with a significant

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

minority population In the town. Yengema is home to the

Yengema Secondary School Yengema Secondary School or YSS is a government-sponsored secondary school that serves the town of Yengema, in the Kono District, Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast ...

(commonly known as YSS), and is among the most prominent secondary schools in Sierra Leone. Before the civil war, Yengema was one of the most populous cities in Eastern Sierra Leone. During the

Sierra Leone civil war The Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002), or the Sierra Leonean Civil War, was a civil war in Sierra Leone that began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), with support from the special forces of Liberia, Liberian dictato ...

, Yengema was heavily damaged and constantly fought over due to the rich diamond reserves in the area. This forced many of the residents to flee the city.

Religion

The majority of the population of Yengema are

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

at about 70%;

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

accounts for a large minority of the town population at about 29%. Muslim and Christian people in the town live peacefully together.

Religious violence Religious violence covers phenomena in which religion is either the subject or the object of violent behavior. All the religions of the world contain narratives, symbols, and metaphors of violence and war. Religious violence is violence that ...

in the city is extremely rare.

Sport

Like the rest of Sierra Leone, football is the most popular sport in the town of Yengema. The town does not have a major football club; however, the

Diamond Stars The Diamond Stars Football Club is a Sierra Leonean professional Soccer, football club based in Koidu Town, Kono District, Sierra Leone. The club represent the diamond-rich Kono District and is a member of the Sierra Leone National Premier Leagu ...

of Kono represent Yengema and the rest of the Kono District in the

Sierra Leone National Premier League Sierra Leone National Premier League is a professional football league in Sierra Leone. It was founded in 1967. The league is sponsored by the Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, one of the major Sierra Leonean banks. East End Lions and Mighty Blackpoo ...

, the top football league in the country.

Notable people from Yengema

Sia Koroma Sia Nyama Koroma (born on 19 March 1958 in, Kono District, British Sierra Leone) is Sierra Leonean biochemist and psychiatric nurse. She served as First Lady of Sierra Leone from 17 September 2007 - 4 April 2018. She is the wife of Ernest Bai ...

First lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

of Sierra Leone

References

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