I am raising funds for my organization, Twenty-First Century African Youth Movement (AYM) to support our Business Incubator and Global/National headquarters in Mattru Jong, Sierra Leone, West Africa.  The building is currently being used as a Youth Business Mentoring Center and office space.  However, it needs furniture and repairs and we need your help.  It is all for a good cause.

Sierra Leone went through eleven years of civil war and gained a reputation for gruesome atrocities against its citizenry.  It took the combined efforts of the international community to end that war in 2001.  We chronicled that event in our popular travelling art exhibition, Representations of Violence:  Art about the Sierra Leone Civil War.  

This exhibition catalog and conference proceedings, ISBN 0-615-12818-1 edited by Patrick K. Muana and Chris Corcoran, highlights the despicable agony that the people of Sierra Leone endured during eleven years of civil war. The book includes 41 color reproductions of the art that appeared in the exhibition of the same name as well as scholarly work addressing issues of violence and art and the Sierra Leone civil war by notable scholars from Europe, Africa and the United States. The book is a must have for Sierra Leoneans, friends of Sierra Leone, humanitarian workers, human rights advocates, art historians, artists, art lovers, Africanists or anyone curious about matters relating to international relations and the role of politics in creating conflicts in Africa and beyond. For a donation of $15 or more this well-bound catalog will be yours to keep.

With an additional $10 or more, we can also throw in The Mixing Crew & The Young Sisters' Tell Them The Truth, No Place Like Home.  During the last decade, artistic responses to the swiftly unfolding events in Sierra Leone erupted into what one young artist/rapper called an "Ecstatic Renovation."  Musicians, poets, theatre groups and painters created powerful media of social commentary, inspiring responses to the war. Now, as the people of Sierra Leone struggle to build peace and heal, they rely heavily on the inspiration of their artistic community to chronicle their national history and communicate their stories.

Things are relatively peaceful now in Sierra Leone.  However, peace does not only mean the absence of war. It means providing the economic development needs of the people. It means providing a system of affordable healthcare for the people. It means ensuring that every child has an opportunity to go to school and be educated. It means developing the community’s natural resources to generate the essential economic components that will address all of the above. This is what the Twenty-First Century African Youth Movement believes in and is working on. This is why I am a part of the organization and also asking you today to support us with a donation.  No amount is small enough for this purpose.

Donating through this website is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts.

Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!

Warmest Regards,

Abu-Hassan Koroma