Speeches of Former Amb. Chaveas

Amb Chaveas Farewell Speech May 20.2004

MAY 20, 2004

REMARKS BY AMBASSADOR PETER R. CHAVEAS AT FAREWELL RECEPTION AMBASSADOR’S RESIDENCE

Lucille and I thank all of you for honoring our invitation tonight and for giving us this opportunity to say goodbye. We are quickly coming to the end of our time here and it is not just the end of this assignment but the end of an association with Sierra Leone that dates back to 1970 and of a thirty-four year career with the United States Foreign Service. Lucille and I also very shortly will celebrate the thirty-fourth anniversary of our marriage, so you can see that Sierra Leone, the Foreign Service and our personal lives are very much intertwined.

Before I go any further I would like to introduce a very special visitor with us this evening. Charles Williams is the Director and Chief Operating Officer for Overseas Building Operations at the Department of State in Washington. I don’t want to detract from the very special event that will take place just below Leicester Peak tomorrow morning but suffice it to say that tomorrow will be a very significant day for the future of Sierra Leone/American relations. For me it will be the realization of an objective that I set for myself the very day I arrived back in Freetown in October 2001. I just want to take this opportunity to thank you General Williams and the members of your team for taking the time from your intense schedule to be with us tonight and more importantly, for tomorrow’s event. In January 2003 you paid us an even briefer visit and saw our situation. You promised me that day that “we will fix it.” You are a man of your word and I am most grateful.

As Lucille and I look back on thirty-four years of involvement with Sierra Leone, it is with many happy memories but also with sadness. Over that period, we have collected many good friends, Sierra Leonean, American and from other countries, who are now part of our personal history. They will always be our best memories. As Ambassador, I have had the honor of leading an exceptional team at the American Mission.  Thirty-four years ago, I had the privilege of starting my career as a member of the team led by Ambassador Robert Miner. I had good teachers from the very start.

We have good memories of every corner of this country. From Kamakwie to Koindu, Tiwai Island to Kambia, and from Kabala to Bure Town, we have traveled by road, air and boat, including our very first up-country trip in early 1971 that ended on the back of a truck when our vehicle broke down coming back from Makeni. We have been received with generosity at all those destinations and more. And we have seen the great beauty of this land from the mountains of the Peninsula to the great forests of the eastern border.

Indeed, we have seen a country that is rich – rich in its people and rich in its natural resources.  And in many respects, it is this very wealth that is the source of the sadness that we feel about our experience here because it has been so badly used. When I returned in 2001 after almost 30 years absence, it was, of course, shocking to see the extent of the destruction. But frankly, it was much more devastating to realize that as horrible as the events of the 90s and early 21^st century had been, the greater horror was that much of what happened to Sierra Leone during that period and for many years before had been quite predictable as long ago as the early 70s and no one had done anything effective to prevent it. Perhaps it was not preventable but it certainly behooves us all to think long and hard about what might have been done and how we can prevent it from happening again.

Of course, over the past three years, a great deal has been achieved. There has been no greater achievement during that period than more than two years of uninterrupted peace.  Our common objective, of course, is to assure that two years of peace becomes three, four and more and that the foundation is established for a peaceful, prosperous Sierra Leone that can stand on its own without the massive support of the international community.

We leave with very mixed feelings about the prospects for realizing that objective. On the one hand, we see far too many in the country’s political class who seem to have failed to grasp the wisdom that “those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” Among private citizens, we meet far too many who are unwilling to take risks and become involved or who simply accept what has happened before as what will happen in the future because “it is our tradition.” Such attitudes are a recipe for disaster.

But particularly this evening, I do not wish to dwell on the negative. Sierra Leone faces great challenges but it can do so secure in the knowledge that its greatest resource is its own people and that despite all the difficulties of the past and the present, there are Sierra Leoneans who persist in the effort to make this a better country for all its citizens. Many of the best of those people are in places that you might not initially think to look. I would just like to mention a few that I have met over the past three years.

This is by no means a comprehensive list. This is simply my effort to recognize a few people whom I believe provide examples of leadership that are worthy of emulation and who bolster my optimism about this county’s future.  Some of them are with us tonight and I hope that my singling them out is received not as a source of embarrassment but rather as an expression of my respect and admiration. 

Andrew Kromah, the Managing Director of SKYY radio, is a true believer in the message “that the truth shall set you free.” He also understands that no one has a corner on the truth. His tireless work with private community based radio has given a voice to many who formerly had none. He trusts in the intelligence of the common people of this country, convinced that they will do the right thing if given the opportunity to be informed and develop their own ideas through open discussion and debate.

Abator Thomas is the President of the 50/50 Group. As such, she is one of the strongest voices for the message that no country, but particularly not a country in Sierra Leone’s circumstances, can afford to waste the talents of half of its population. She has given hope to this country’s women and girls, telling them that they have a place in Sierra Leone’s political life. The experiences of the past 43 years demonstrate very clearly why politics are much too important to be left to the men. Perhaps the 50/50 Group can achieve what the United States has not yet achieved – produce a woman head of state!

Wilfred Sam-King, Managing Director of Sam-King Services, is a true believer in the power of free enterprise. He knows that real wealth rarely if ever comes from government and certainly not from donors. It comes from the hard work of individuals pursuing their own dreams. Wilfred has built a considerable business organization and along the way has created wealth not just for himself but for those he employs, for their families and for the wider community. He has shown that the path to economic prosperity comes not from fighting over one small pie but from making new and larger pies that can be shared by all who work to make them.

Gabriel Madiye and all those with whom he works at Shepard’s Hospice have been among my greatest inspirations since I first returned to Sierra Leone.  Gabriel has seen a problem, a great human tragedy, and he has insisted on being part of the solution. In the process, he has given hope to some of the bravest people I have ever met – those Sierra Leoneans who are living with HIV/AIDS. Whenever my frustrations reached a peak, I would think of Shepard’s or better yet, visit it and realize that there were far bigger problems than those that I was dealing with and that Sierra Leoneans were dealing with them with skill, courage and resolve.

Finally, there is one individual who cannot be with us tonight. He has received far too little official attention and so I will make a wholly inadequate effort to compensate for this oversight. Dr. Aniru Conteh committed his life to the health of his people. When others fled during the violence, he stayed at his post. Regrettably, his very commitment took his life last month as he labored to overcome the threat of Lassa Fever. His life was a model of the very best this country has to offer. He is sorely missed by friends and colleagues both here and in the United States. Most of all, he is missed by those who have life because of his personal sacrifice.

Lucille and I will leave next week deeply concerned about the future of this country. We go to join the ranks of Sierra Leone’s many friends living in America. We go in the knowledge that there are many more Sierra Leoneans of talent and commitment than those I have mentioned here. As long as they are given the opportunity to contribute, you can rest assured of the friendship and support of the Government and people of the United States.