African artist’s work benefits Sierra Leone

While change has to come from within, it never hurts to have a little help.

Africa Yes! is a Durham-based nonprofit started by former Peace Corps volunteer Steve Cameron, whose goal is to help communities in Sierra Leone rebuild after an 11-year civil war. Though the organization provides funding and supplies to the villages, Cameron said the projects are always community-driven.

“One of the main things that gave me so much respect for a particular group of people was that they had lots of problems, but they also had solutions,” he said.

“They’re not just sitting back and saying, ‘Give me something’ or ‘Help me out’ — they’re coming with ideas saying, ‘Hey, we want to do this to improve our situation, and we’re willing to do all the work and provide all the native materials. We just need some tools and some materials that can be purchased. Can you help us?’ That’s the kind of attitude that made me really want to help.”

Africa Yes! funds a variety of programs in several villages in eastern Sierra Leone including rebuilding houses, creating a micro-credit loan program to create businesses, funding health clinics and schools and fostering sustainable agriculture.

“What I really want Africa Yes! to achieve is building on the needs of the people, to have programs that sustain themselves,” said Braima Moiwai, co-founder of the organization who moved to Durham from Sierra Leone in 1986. “That’s what Africa really needs.”

One Sierra Leone native, F.A. Sonnie, is helping his village, Gbeworbu, through his artwork, which is on sale through January at The Palace International, a restaurant in Durham, and will also be present at the city’s annual Kwanzaa celebration. While he will be privately compensated for his work, 100 percent of sales and donations will go toward rebuilding the Gbeworbu community.

“He does get some compensation out of it, but the other reason is he can see what those projects are doing for his village, and he wants to be able to fund those projects,” Cameron said.

Sonnie’s paintings depict rural bush village life, and despite changes that war brought to Sierra Leone, Cameron said his artwork is timeless.

“In my two years in Sierra Leone, he was the only one I ever saw painting there,” he said.

“Kids love to crowd around and watch him paint — it’s almost like TV or something. Anyone who’s visited rural Africa or lived there at any time, it kind of resonates — it’s like a little piece of home that you never see any of here.”

While Africa Yes! has several volunteers in Durham, the majority of involvement comes from the people of Sierra Leone. Juliet Jensen, a Durham volunteer, hopes that Sonnie’s paintings will help local involvement grow.

“We’re hoping that the show will bring awareness to the nonprofit and that we can cultivate a support basis of people that are interested in helping these people in eastern Sierra Leone,” she said.

“Just the fact that an artist would roll up his canvases and send them off and say, ‘Please sell them to raise money for the village,’ is pretty special. It takes a special person and it also, to me, demonstrates how great the basic needs are that he’d want to do that.”

Moiwai said he hopes Sonnie’s artwork will promote the larger initiatives of Africa Yes!, as well as gain more support in the Triangle.

“Sonnie’s paintings are one little thread in this project,” he said. “(His art) is introducing Africa Yes! to the community, to the Triangle, to our friends. We want them to spread the word.”

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