So it’s going to be three days of mourning the Freetown fuel tanker explosion dead with prayers as the main effort.

And then what?

I have no issues with prayer, but what happened to the idea that we must do more than pray? In this case, I think we should have affirmation of the line in the national anthem’s second verse that “we pray that no harm on thy children may fall” alongside the attitude drilled into me as a schoolboy in Sierra Leone that “God helps those who help themselves”. For now, indicators of the help to ourselves that will merit the divine bonuses aren’t exactly flowing.

A further point – and feel free to jump down my throat and scratch if you find it necessary or comforting to do so – my recent observations of Sierra Leone tell me getting the people praying is as good as ordering them to carry on as usual. What I stumble on in most neighbourhoods and hear through most days and nights make it difficult to imagine more capacity for praying.

Those who died need to be honoured by serious effort into learning from what happened; and that means detailed examination of all the contributing factors, followed by meaningful actions to minimise risk of repeat. Basically, simply praying from one disaster to another is already giving meaning to the definition of insanity attributed to Einstein – “…doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. On that note, maybe also needed now is some time and effort to pray for sanity.

© Othame Kabia