(Photo courtesy Ernest Cole)

The long civil war in the West African nation of Sierra Leone has left a terrible legacy: thousands of people who had arms, hands and legs cut off. But a professor at Hope College in Holland is trying to help them by telling their stories. As WMUK's Andy Robins reports, he hopes that will help break the cycle of violence.

English professor Ernest Cole left Sierra Leone in 1997, six years after the civil war started. He returned in 2009 and again last year to help document the use of amputation during the conflict in his native country. Cole says rebels fighting the government began hacking off the limbs of opponents during a presidential election:

[Cole] "A group of boys and young teenagers who were just returned from voting encountered rebels on the way. And they [the rebels] said to them, 'Where are you coming from?' And they explained to the rebels, 'We're just coming from voting.' And they [the rebels] said, 'Well, it's because of hands that you can vote. So, from now on, we're going to launch a campaign against hands because it's when you have hands that you can join hands together through the ballot box to vote for the president's regime.' There and then, these boys, they chopped off their limbs. Before you knew it, it became a very popular practice of the rebels to chop off the hands of their victims."

The civil war in Sierra Leone was officially declared over in 2002. But by then Cole says at least five thousand people had become amputees. Many moved to special camps near the capital city Freetown along with their families. But Cole says many still suffer from a lack of medical care and from lingering psychological trauma:

[Cole] "So, I think there is a need for a constant discourse; a discourse that will get amputees to rise beyond the physical limitations of their bodies; a discourse that will engage what the victimizer intends to inscribe on their bodies. It is as if the amputee would say, 'I have come to realize that by chopping of the limbs, this is what you want me to remember. Now that I know that this is your intention I can turn that message against you and transcend the trauma, the humiliation, the guilt, the sense of helplessness and of handicap you want me to internalize.' Because I believe when those details are internalized by the victim it promotes self-hate, it promotes revenge, that's not the basis for reconciliation. But if we empower the victims, if we restore them to where or what they were before they lost their limbs, then they can reclaim their humanity. Then they can reclaim their dignity. Then they are in a position to forgive. Then they are in a position to reconcile."

Cole is writing a book about the problems facing amputees in Sierra Leone and about how to reintegrate them into society. He points to the creation of a soccer team of amputees that has toured Africa and Europe as an example of helping victims regain a sense of self-worth. Despite the challenges, Cole says he's optimistic that Sierra Leone will recover from the destruction caused by war and the atrocities that came with it:

[Cole] "These are difficult things, given the fact that my next door neighbor was the one that chopped off the limb of my daughter; given the fact that my co-worker was the one that raped my mother. It's a destruction of community trust. So, where to we start? How to we go ahead? What do we do? These are huge challenges. But I'm sure we can, with one spirit, with collective involvement, with total involvement, with a clear sense of vision at a political level, we can make it."

Students at Hope College have created a short You-Tube documentary about the issue based on video and pictures Cole took during his trips back to Sierra Leone.

  (SL Video clip)

Cole says material he gathered in Sierra Leone will also be used in class at Hope College to help students learn about the political, social and theological issues at stake - a project Cole calls an example of "digital humanities". Cole and a colleague have also taken direct action to help people in the amputee camps. He says they've already raised enough money to put 20 children of amputation victims back in school.