Caroline Irby – Moussou was the one child who I met in 2002 who we were unable to locate in 2022. I had really hoped that Moussou might be found, and that I could meet her again and perhaps discover what her life had become, but the public radio and poster campaigns that led to the three other children didn’t lead us to Moussou. The International Rescue Committee, who launched the search campaigns, thought that this most likely meant either Moussou was living in such a remote area of Sierra Leone that the radio broadcasts had not reached her, or that she had crossed into a neighbouring country for work, or fallen victim to Ebola or another illness; Sierra Leone also has the world’s highest mortality rate. There’s also the chance that she had chosen to lie low, fearing stigmatisation or not wanting to open up old wounds. I still hope that one day I’ll find her, even if not to share her story.

Sierra Leone’s children of war, 2002-2022