Back in the days of armed turmoil in Sierra Leone, Madeline Albright was photographed holding a small girl whose arm had been chopped off by a local militia who regularly maimed the civilian population in a bid for power. The girl, whose full name is now Memuna Mansaray McShane, is the subject of an essay by Nicholas Kristof that reminds us that sometimes good wins out quickly.
“Those wrenching images of this girl, whose arm was amputated after she was shot, and other children whose limbs were hacked off by the militia built the global political will to intervene and end Sierra Leone’s civil war (Britain did the heavy lifting). I had been fascinated by the girl as an example of the power of individual stories to help end mass atrocities — and then I heard, from Albright, that she is now an American.
I dropped by her home in Washington and found 15-year-old Memuna Mansaray McShane, a wonderfully adjusted high school freshman who plays on her school’s varsity soccer and basketball teams.
‘In basketball, you only use one arm,’ she explained. She paused for a moment, and then acknowledged: ‘Except to shoot or catch the ball.’ Another pause and a sheepish smile: ‘I guess that’s a lot.’
She added defiantly: ‘I can do anything people with two arms can do. Except monkey bars.’”
Rotary International brought Memuna to the United States when she was four years old where she was adopted by a former Peace Corp volunteer who had served in Sierra Leone. Her new family gets much of the credit for how she was able to overcome such a horrific childhood trauma.
Read the full account here.
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Wonderful story: *thank you* for bringing it to us.
JC Fisher
Memuna goes to school with my son, Chris. They were just in a dance recital together. She is an amazing child.
Tis another technicality, but Memuna Mansaray McShane lost her arm after she was shot by the militia in an attack. She lost her arm because she had to wait for three days at the hospital before receiving any care. Her story is still incredible and inspiring, and yes, good does indeed win out in the end.
When I was visiting in Sierra Leone three years ago, on our first day we were taken for a drive along the beach near Freetown. I saw some people playing soccer and then I SAW those people playing soccer. Every one of them was an amputee, survivors of the war. So many of them in one place…That was only the first day of our week in Sierra Leone.
I hate to nitpick, but the possessive pronoun is “whose,” not who’s. It’s a minor copyediting issue, but really distracting in light of the seriousness of the subject. (You don’t have to post this message if you just want to fix the error.)
(Fixed: thanks Mary. Ed~)