David Eulitt

year in review: 2010: A long journey from Sierra Leone

A 14-year-old Kei Kamara sits in a wooden boat filled with about 40 Africans who are trying desperately to escape the war-torn city of Freetown, Sierra Leone. He, along with a handful of family members, is heading toward Lungi, a coastal town that houses Sierra Leone’s only airport.Make it there, Kamara knows, and they could fly to nearby Gambia, a much safer country.Kamara worries the boat — designed to carry 20 people — will sink. As the water splashes around at his feet during the hour-long ordeal, his fears only intensify.It’s just another type of terror for Kamara, who played soccer as a child amidst 12-year-old soldiers carrying guns and dead bodies strewn about the road. To this day, it’s still enough to give Kamara, now 25 and a forward for the Kansas City Wizards, nightmares."People like us," Kamara says of native Sierra Leoneans, "are scared for life. Sometimes I feel like I’m still living there. Every time that I wake up, I’m like 'I’m alive'… and I just pray."--Terez Paylor, Kansas City Star reporter
A long journey from Sierra Leone, photo by David Eulitt / The Kansas City Star ©

A 14-year-old Kei Kamara sits in a wooden boat filled with about 40 Africans who are trying desperately to escape the war-torn city of Freetown, Sierra Leone. He, along with a handful of family members, is heading toward Lungi, a coastal town that houses Sierra Leone’s only airport.

Make it there, Kamara knows, and they could fly to nearby Gambia, a much safer country.
Kamara worries the boat — designed to carry 20 people — will sink. As the water splashes around at his feet during the hour-long ordeal, his fears only intensify.

It’s just another type of terror for Kamara, who played soccer as a child amidst 12-year-old soldiers carrying guns and dead bodies strewn about the road. To this day, it’s still enough to give Kamara, now 25 and a forward for the Kansas City Wizards, nightmares.

"People like us," Kamara says of native Sierra Leoneans, "are scared for life. Sometimes I feel like I’m still living there. Every time that I wake up, I’m like 'I’m alive'… and I just pray."

--Terez Paylor, Kansas City Star reporter