Why You Should Buy Krio Salad

If you’re a young Sierra Leonean who’s grown up in the diaspora and you love Sierra Leone like you say you do, there should be no reason why you shouldn’t learn to read and write standardised Krio. This book is a beginner’s guide to reading and writing Krio, written by Sierra Leone National treasure, Daphne Barlatt Pratt. 

English (or whatever your country of residence language is) shouldn’t be the standard of communication in any Sierra Leonean home. It should be an addition to our very own mother tongues. Growing up in the diaspora as a Sierra Leonean, it amazes me how many of our counterpart west Africa nations instil their mother tongues into their 2nd and 3rd generation offsprings, whilst it seems when it comes to Sierra Leone, our language die out with Generation one.

As an adult now, I understand all the hardships my parents went through existing in a foreign land bearing foreign tongues, so maybe not passing on their mother tongue is their idea of making life easier for their offsprings?

“One does not only inhabit a country; one inhabits a language.”

Have you ever met an Englishman who did not speak English? I mean yes it may be the language of the world, but seldom, if ever, will you meet an english man born outside of England who claims the English nationality but cannot speak the language.

Leaving Sierra Leone before my teenage years, I never got to experience learning to read and write Krio in senior secondary school. I wasn’t even aware that Krio was taught in school until I started digging some more after learning through a random encounter with Krio Salad. Besides teaching you to read and write Krio, the book is also filled with poems, parables and other interesting folktales; just as suggested by the books subtitle; ɔltin de insay.

I believe being Sierra Leonean is beyond claiming Sierra Leone at the end of April, or having the green white blue flag on your social media bio, it’s about preserving our non-problematic culture and updating/eradicating all our malpractices and other activities that hinder our chances of making it in the free world.

It’s up-to us as a community, to make sure our language lives beyond just orally… it takes a village to raise a child, and this village of young Sierra Leoneans, is open to all who is interested in learning the fundamentals of reading & writing Krio. 

If you’re an individual wishing to learn to read and write Krio, look no further because the Young Sierra Leonean is currently in consultation with Krio Salad’s author, Daphne Pratt, and we will be running trials on online and in-classroom Krio classes soon.

If yu de wɔnda wetin mek dis post nɔ da na krio, na bikɔs a fil se sɔm ɔf wi pipul dɛn nɔ sabi rid ɛn rayt krio et… pas da broko broko wan we dɛn ki du.

Krio Salad is available as part of the Sierra Leone Writers Series publishing on Amazon.

The Sierra Leone Writers Series mission is to identify and encourage writers of Sierra Leone origin, and to publish and disseminate their work in Sierra Leone and to the world at large.

If you’re reading this and you can afford to buy even just one book in the next month or two, please let it be Krio Salad, or any other book in the Sierra Leone Writers Series.