Wednesday 27th April was a day of commemoration and celebrations. It was also a day of prayers and praises, not just in Sierra Leone but in all the different corners of the globe where Sierra Leoneans and friends of Sierra Leone happen to reside.
Raising a toast to the people and government of Sierra Leone, HE Dr. Morie Manyeh, praised His Excellency president Julius Maada Bio for his “astute leadership, his unfettered patriotism and his remarkable developmental strides”.
Dr. Manyeh urged Sierra Leoneans to love their country as they love themselves and pleaded to all to continue to work together “for the greater good of the motherland”, emphasising that to make a great Sierra Leone the country needs good Sierra Leoneans. The key to national progress, the High Commissioner maintained, lies in the hands of a critical mass of “decent, dynamic and dedicated citizens” who are “prepared to love their country as much as they love themselves”.
Taking her cue from the sentiments expressed by the High Commissioner, the Deputy High Commissioner HE Mrs. Yvonne King-Odigboh called for “unity and love” amongst all Sierra Leoneans “as we work together to make our country better”. The Deputy High Commissioner went on to express great satisfaction with the positive development trajectory of the country under the leadership of His Excellency president Julius Maada Bio.
Mrs. King-Odigboh underlined the need for supporting government efforts in its determined drive to move Sierra Leone forward.
“The hardest task is to get the fundamentals right; and that is what is happening right now in Sierra Leone. Once we get the foundation right, in a place where the base has largely been rather wobbly, the building will gain strength and rise way beyond the heights of our dreams”, she emphasised.
Before all the memorable toasts and the cutting of the colourful cake to honour the country, the High Commission loudly and proudly honoured one of its own.
Amidst a thunder of all-round approving applause one very deserving employee was singled out for recognition. Mrs. Olayinka Christiana Williams, a shinny gem of a tireless worker at the mission was awarded a beautifully handcrafted accolade, to mark her 26 unbroken years of “dedicated, distinctive and diligent service” to Sierra Leone in the capacity of a leading Secretary in a very busy mission. Mrs. Williams, who is adored as “the Institutional Memory of the Mission” also rightly received “the employee of the year 2021” award accompanied by another enthusiastic show of approval from all staff present.
The celebration which culminated in an excited flurry of admirable dancing routines had begun a day earlier with a more solemn gathering. On the 26th of April, the staff of the embassy and invited guests assembled inside the hallowed halls of the iconic Westminster Abbey in central London. With the Green White and Blue Sierra Leone flag flying high above the rafters of the Royal Church of Saint Peter, the sound of praises and prayers to God above were ringing roundly from deep within the bustling bowels of the church. It was a call from the hearts and souls of men to the Maker of Man, to “strengthen direct and protect the president of Sierra Leone, His Excellency the rtd. Brigadier Julius Maada Bio, members of his government and all Sierra Leoneans everywhere”.
Standing at the pulpit with a humble gait to the Lord of the worlds, the words from Sierra Leone’s High Commissioner, Dr. Morie Manyeh served as a befitting culmination of a service that was officiated by three senior priests of that heavy history-heaving church. The High Commissioner read, with compelling feeling, from John 15 Verses 4-11: “Abide in Me, and I in you….if you abide in Me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you….These things I have spoken to you, that My joy shall remain in you, and that your joy may be full”!
To which prayers the church rang out in full-throated chorus of an “AMEN!” that would surely reverberate far beyond the gothic-shaped walls of that holy house, and way beyond the day of a meaningful independence celebration.
And AMEN, it shall continue to be for all the good people of a great country- Sierra Leone!
Abdulai Braima
information.attaché@uk.slhc.gov.sl
