The Gallery
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Sierra Leone
A third of the population can neither read nor write. Slash-and-burn farming has resulted in widespread deforestation and soil exhaustion. Life expectancy is falling; infant mortality is on the rise. But these grim facts tell only half the story.
In Freetown, where street kids have to live on their wits alone, there is an almost total lack of infrastructure. No schools or buses or public housing. A chronic shortage of hospitals. Open sewers causing a massive increase in bacterial diseases.
While Sierra Leone gets substantial aid from abroad, it boasts a rich array of natural resources - diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite and gold. But it also has the widest gap in income distribition. Diamonds account for most of the country's earnings, yet two thirds of its workforce lives below the poverty line.
With mounting overseas debts of over $2 billion, it looks as if the infrastructure will just have to wait.