Sorie Fofana… The Man With A Difference
By Pastor Mohamed Sesay
Journalist/Commissioner RAIC
In the journalism world, the name ‘Sicco’ is a name that stands out.
It rings a bell, a loud one for that matter. Echoing, reverberating among journalists not only in Freetown but the whole country.
When you meet the very man that bears that nickname, Sorie Fofana, you meet humility at play, you meet a man who denies himself for others.
A Mandingo man who hails from a town called Manjoro.
Manjoro is a place that most Mandingos in Sierra Leone claim as their own.
Sorie Fofana needs not lay claim to it but the people there see him as one of their greatest sons.
In the last Eid UL Fitri prayers, the Imam made an appeal, “We need prayer mats to meet the Eid El Adha prayers”.
Sorie Fofana was not the only Manjoroka present but come the Eid UL Adha prayers and the same Imam said openly and gratefully: “Sorie Fofana don buy the mats dem for we.”
It was as if nobody else heard the appeal of the Imam except Sorie Fofana. And there are no mean fit coming from Manjoro.
Going home after prayers which coincided with the death of the town chairman, Alhaji Foday Bockarie Fofana there were some middle aged, gallant women waiting for Sicco at home.
Why? They came from afar to enjoy the blessings of Eid and what motivates them was the assurance that there will be a Sorie Fofana to facilitate their return journey to Bo, Kono, Kenema, Kabala, Makeni and Tongo Fields.
Children came in numbers looking forward to a service of soft drink and a grease on their palms (Salmafo). In fact, it was like a centripetal pull leading to the Sorie Fofana family home in Manjoro where his 92-year-old mom lives.
There was a man who always prays but he kept his best prayers for Sorie Fofana knowing that his prayers will not only ascend to heaven, but that Sorie Fofana will understand. And he did understand.
Sorie Fofana and other journalists have the language they speak which yields dividends without any waste of time.
If he knows I am writing about him, his humility will tell him to stop me. He does not like the limelight or the publicity.
I fell seriously ill in September of last year and had to be admitted at the stroke unit word of the Connaught Hospital.
It was a month after I was discharged that I asked who was paying the bills. You guessed it, Sorie Fofana, of course. Not my own SLPP. Not the man that I laid 20 years of my life for. God Almighty Be The Judge.
Yes, I have to say thanks to Sorie Fofana in my own little way because at the time of an emergency when I could have died, he came to my rescue.
The Hon. VP Juldeh Jalloh sent one of his staff to check on at Connaught Hospital.
Even Chief Minister, David Moinina Sengbeh, knew and called me at the hospital and sent the deputy minister of Health to visit but spoiled everything later by telling me that he called as a form of routine.
Sorie Fofana (Sicco), the man with a difference.
May God Almighty grant you a place in heaven!!!!
InshaAllah!!!
