Although Admira Thomas has lived more than 25 years in the United States, she thinks often of her native country, Sierra Leone. She says it boasts one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. It's rich with fertile farm soil, mahogany trees, and diamond mines. But there's more to Admira's continuing love for Sierra Leone than its beauty; she is engaged in humanitarian work for its citizens.
In 1991 a conflict in Sierra Leone arose when a rebel faction attempted to overthrow the government. Their objective was to take control of owned diamond mines. The rebel army, or Revolutionary United Front (RUF), moved from village to village, torturing people, primarily civilians whom the RUF suspected might have ties to the government.
After a number of signed—and broken—peace agreements between the RUF and the Sierra Leonean government, the injustices continued more or less uninterrupted for the rest of the decade. In 1998 Nigeria's Economic Community of West African States Cease-Fire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) stepped in to guard Sierra Leone's capital city of Freetown and to restore the civilian government. But most of the horrors—still concentrated in the interior regions—continued just as before.
