Whatwouldyouliketoadd?

Each has its own form. An editor reads everything before it goes up, and credits you if you want.

Want to be listed as a contributor? Here's how ↓

What counts as history

Any record of life in Sierra Leone, or of its people, that helps someone understand how they lived, worked, celebrated, mourned or got through hard times. It doesn't have to be famous: a family photo from a wedding in Bo belongs here as much as Independence Day.

Would this help someone understand what life was like for Sierra Leone and its people, now or fifty years from now?

Everyday life: Family photos, markets, schools, churches and mosques, streets, fashion, hairstyles, transport.
Culture: Music, dance, masquerades, public ceremonies, Krio and our other languages, food, sport.
Places: Buildings, towns and landscapes as they were, especially ones now gone or changed.
Hard times: The war, Ebola, the 2017 mudslide, floods and fires, and how people came through them.
Objects: Letters, stamps, money, tickets, certificates, newspapers, record sleeves, posters.
Memory: Stories and recollections, especially from elders, written or recorded.
Abroad: Sierra Leoneans elsewhere, from Nova Scotia and London to today, when the link to home is the story.

It can be recent. Something from the last few years belongs if it records what is changing or disappearing: tell us why it will matter later.
Some real history is difficult: war, disease, initiation. You can send it; we may blur it and add a warning. We never publish images of unclothed children.

What we don't publish:

Anything not connected to Sierra Leone or its people.
Political campaigns, elections or interviews. Politicians appear only where they are part of a disaster or crisis.
Anything without its story: say who, where and roughly when, even if you're not sure.

№ 01A photo or an objectA family photograph, postcard, letter, certificate or anything old: scan or photograph it, and say what it is.
№ 02A storySomething that happened, a person worth remembering, the history of your town or family, with where you learned it.
№ 03A memoryYour own memory of a place, a day or a way of life, written or recorded on your phone in any language.
№ 04A poem or short pieceA poem, short story, scene from a play or piece of memoir you wrote, in Krio, English or any of our languages, about Sierra Leone, its people or its past. The best go up on Words, with a page of your own.
№ 05A place for the mapA building, grave, tree, rock, market or school with history that the map is missing.
№ 06Something we're missingA musician, a music style or an instrument; a dictionary or word list for one of our languages; an old book. Tell us about it and where to learn more.
№ 07A correctionA wrong date, name or caption, or a picture that shouldn't be here. Tell us what's right.
1.
You send it, with your name, your initials or no name at all: your choice.
2.
An editor reads everything, usually within a week, and checks the facts before anything goes up.
3.
If you left an email, we tell you when it's published, with a link to where it is.
Changed your mind? You can ask us to take down anything you shared, at any time. Ask us to take it down →
Write Krio? Every article without a Krio version has a link to translate it. Articles →
For contributors
Become a contributor
Anyone can share. To be listed on the Contributors page, with a short bio and your work, you need to have given something substantial that we've checked and published.
1. 1.Send your work under your full name, and leave an email. Work sent under initials or no name can't count.
2. 2.An editor checks it. Once it's published, it counts, and we email you the link.
3. 3.Reach one of the five routes listed here.
4. 4.Tell us, with links to your published work, and we list you.
Tell us you qualify →Meet the contributors →
One of these, published:
Writing
An article or long story you wrote, about 800 words or more, with its sources, published.
Voices
A recorded memory or oral history of about three minutes or more on one subject, published. The person speaking qualifies, and so does whoever recorded it if they're credited.
Translation
A full Krio translation of an article, published.
Photographs
Five photos you took or your family owns, each captioned with when, where and who, published.
Steady help
Five smaller pieces over time, in any mix (photos, memories, places, corrections), published.
What makes it count:
- Real and specific: it says who, where and when, and is something you lived, saw or heard first-hand, or facts we can check against a source.
- Checked: an editor checks it against at least one other source or witness. Anything we can't check, or that doesn't make sense, isn't published, so it doesn't count.
- New: not already on the site, not one piece split up to reach a count, and not written or made by AI.
- Editors decide what counts. If we say no, we tell you why, and you can try again.
And always:
- Credited by your full name (not initials or anonymous), 18 or over, and the work is your own, not copied from a book, website or another archive.
- Ask us once you qualify, or we'll write to you. The same rules apply to everyone, and we reply to every request.
- You get a short entry on the Contributors page: a few lines about you, in your words, and links to your work. If you like, an email or a website so readers can reach you. Never a phone number or where you live.
- Once you're listed, you stay listed. We only take an entry down if the work is removed for rights reasons, or you ask.
- Everyone is listed the same way, in the order they joined.
- The site handles no money for contributors. If a reader wants to thank or support you, they contact you themselves, and that's between you.

What counts as history

Would this help someone understand what life was like for Sierra Leone and its people, now or fifty years from now?

Become a contributor

Anyone can share. To be listed on the Contributors page, with a short bio and your work, you need to have given something substantial that we've checked and published.

1.Send your work under your full name, and leave an email. Work sent under initials or no name can't count.

2.An editor checks it. Once it's published, it counts, and we email you the link.

3.Reach one of the five routes listed here.

4.Tell us, with links to your published work, and we list you.

Tell us you qualify →

Meet the contributors →