Sierre Leone People, Very Intelligent!

Heroes Remember

Sierre Leone People, Very Intelligent!

Transcript

What’s the right way to describe them? They’re like a sponge. They absorb everything. They’re very, they’re intelligent people. There’s no doubt about that. They can put together anything, especially cars. They can take a car that was coming out of a junk pile. And it’ll be going by the time the day is done. I’m serious, they’re amazing like that. They did uh…well Sierra Leone has always been a British Colony. The British freed the slave trade there years ago so they’ve been there ever since. And yeah, they respect the people there. They just want…they want I guess a free shake,or a good shake in life. Interviewer: And looking back at your time there and coming back to Canada, do you feel it was necessary for you people to be there? Yeah. Yeah. It was necessary to be there, for someone to be there. But, what a lot of people don’t understand is you can’t go there with the intention of solving all the problems. You’re not going to do it. Forget it. You’ll come back totally disappointed and all that. If you can change one little thing, that’s perfect. Interviewer: And do you believe you did that? You accomplished that? Umm. Yeah. In a general sense, yeah. Six months is long but yet it’s too short. Because you’re just getting…it takes you a month to get in there and get settled away. You got to take three weeks holiday somewhere. There’s two months gone. So, the last month, you’re getting ready to come back. You got about three months there altogether. And you can’t do all that much in three months. And once you get to know people and so forth and so on, it’s time to pack up and go. And that’s why it’s important that you can’t go in there with this intention that, “I’m going to do this, this, this and that.” These people look at you, like I say, they’re intelligent people. They look at you and say, “You’re going to be gone in a couple of months.”

Description

He speaks about his interaction with the local people and his realization of their intelligence and ability to overcome many obstacles.

Bill Hickey

Mr. Bill Hickey was born July 5, 1956 in a small town outside of St., John’s, Newfoundland. As a young boy, Mr. Hickey always has great involvement with sports and recreation. Realizing his desire for community work, Mr. Hickey held a career as a Police Officer and as well at a very young age joined the Reserves in role as chief warrant officer having opportunities to deploy to different areas of the world. Together with this Police and Reservist career, Mr. Hickey expresses his great sense of pride for his achievements and opportunities throughout his years in service. After 34.5 years of police service, Mr. Hickey has retired and now resides in St. John’s Newfoundland with his family. As part of the delegation of Newfoundland Veterans, Mr. Hickey accepted the opportunity as part of the 100th Anniversary of Battles of Somme and Beaumont-Hamel to travel overseas to commemorate this special event.

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