Smith began exchanging letters with the current chief of Sinkunia, Alimamy Lahai the Fifth, in the 1990s, and later exchanged e-mails with one of the chief’s sons, Sheiku, who had immigrated to the United Kingdom. The relationship finally solidified into plans to visit Sinkunia once again, and last Christmas, the family flew to London, where they met up with Sheiku and traveled together to Freetown, Sierra Leone. A few days later, they were making their way over treacherous, nearly impassable roads to visit Sinkunia and stay with the chief. Staton said she was hesitant to go to Sierra Leone because she knew the sight of such poverty and destruction would be powerful and disturbing, and she wasn’t sure how she would handle it. But she, her husband and Lily, now 14, discovered that not only was the entire trip a positive and glorious learning experience, but they came back empowered to help their new friend the chief achieve his plans for educating his people. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to return (to my old life),” she said. “When you go to a place where there’s a lot of suffering, you can’t turn your back. But you can go and come back home and do something about it.”
Greg Smith isn’t sure what pushed him to serve in the Peace Corps in Serra Leone but believes it was partly because he served as a soldier in Korea during the Vietnam War, and was trying to balance his time in “the war corps” by offering his services in the Peace Corps
The Story Next Door: Family reaches out to Sierra Leone
By THERESA HOGUE
Gazette-Times reporter
Caption: Clare Staton, left, Greg Smith and Lily Smith traveled to the village of Sinkunia in Freetown, Sierra Leone, last Christmas and are now back in Corvallis, trying to find ways they can help out those in the village who are in need. Photo: Casey Campbell | Gazette-Times
Greg Smith isn’t sure what pushed him into the Peace Corps. He believes it was partly because he served as a soldier in Korea during the Vietnam War, and was trying to balance his time in “the war corps” by offering his services in the Peace Corps.
“I do believe in deeds,” he said.
But he also said he joined because “I didn’t have anything to do.”
Both may be true, but what remains is the fact that in 1974 the Corvallis native found himself in Freetown, Sierra Leone, a place in Africa he’d had to find on a map when he learned he was going there.
“I’m sure glad it all happened, but back then I wasn’t sure,” he said.
Smith was sent to the village of Sinkunia to work on an inland rice project, building paddies near the village. He spent a year building irrigation systems and forming friendships, but when he returned to the United States, he went back to school, and back to his American life, without much thought for what he’d experienced.
But the older he got, the more Smith recalled his times in Sierra Leone. When civil war broke out in the country in 1992, he watched the news with interest and regret. The war ended in 2002, leaving the country devastated, and ranked as the most impoverished country in the world.
He married Clare Staton in 1991 and after they had a daughter, Lily, Smith began to want to share Sierra Leone with them.
“It is incredibly powerful what Africa can do to a person if you allow yourself to be immersed,” Smith said.
Smith began exchanging letters with the current chief of Sinkunia, Alimamy Lahai the Fifth, in the 1990s, and later exchanged e-mails with one of the chief’s sons, Sheiku, who had immigrated to the United Kingdom.
The relationship finally solidified into plans to visit Sinkunia once again, and last Christmas, the family flew to London, where they met up with Sheiku and traveled together to Freetown, Sierra Leone. A few days later, they were making their way over treacherous, nearly impassable roads to visit Sinkunia and stay with the chief.
Staton said she was hesitant to go to Sierra Leone because she knew the sight of such poverty and destruction would be powerful and disturbing, and she wasn’t sure how she would handle it. But she, her husband and Lily, now 14, discovered that not only was the entire trip a positive and glorious learning experience, but they came back empowered to help their new friend the chief achieve his plans for educating his people.
“I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to return (to my old life),” she said. “When you go to a place where there’s a lot of suffering, you can’t turn your back. But you can go and come back home and do something about it.”
When Smith had been in the Peace Corps, he met a young boy named Balla who was too poor to buy a school uniform and so couldn’t attend public school. Before he left, he made arrangements for Balla to get a uniform, and he’d always wondered what had become of him. While visiting, Balla’s brother arrived to thank Smith for his long-past generosity, and to inform him that Balla was now a school teacher in a neighboring town.
This moment solidified the family’s determination to help the people of Sinkunia in any way they could. After many talks with the chief, they determined that his highest priority was education. The chief required that all school-aged children attend public school, but the classrooms were overcrowded and understaffed. His dream was to build new school rooms and the ability to staff them adequately, and eventually to offer secondary school so older students wouldn’t have to travel for their education.
Staton, is a former school teacher, and Smith, who also has a master’s in education, were touched by the chief’s dedication to learning, which he put even above food and transportation issues.
“The chief and I found something in common without even knowing it,” Smith said.
Now that they’ve returned to Corvallis, the family is in the first stages of getting a tax ID number and creating a non-profit organization so they can collect tax-exempt donations to help build more school rooms in Sinkunia.
Smith hopes his 14-year-old daughter’s experiences in Sinkunia will have a long-lasting effect as well, and currently, she’s been eager to share her times in Sierra Leone with friends.
“The education we pass on to her and her friends is the only way for us to go beyond our own lifetime,” Smith said.
For Smith, it’s just the beginning of a vibrant new relationship with Sierra Leone.
“I didn’t go there with a mission,” he said, “but I came back with one.”
To find out more about the Sinkunia education project or for a presentation to your group on Sierra Leone, e-mail grsmitty@aol.com or clarestaton@gmail.com, or call 754-1418.\
AT A GLANCE
Who: Greg Smith, 59
What: Former Peace Corps member, now clinical supervisor, Polk County Mental Health and Addiction
Hometown: Corvallis
Education: Corvallis High School Class of 1966, master’s degrees in education and social work from Oregon State University
New goal: Fundraising to help build classrooms in Sinkunia, Sierra Leone
