Land, Language and Liberation: Indigenous Approaches to Regeneration in Sierra Leone

“The forest does not speak, but it remembers.”(Limba: "yama thɔmɛ buyaŋ buŋ")

- A traditional saying shared by Gibrilla Kamara from SILCC, reflecting the deep memory and spirit held by the forests.

Across Sierra Leone, forests are more than ecosystems - they are sacred. Languages are more than tools, they are vessels of knowledge. Culture is not just heritage, it’s a living force in protecting land, restoring balance, and reclaiming community power.

Working at the heart of this is the Society for Indigenous Languages, Communities and Cultures (SILCC), a small but powerful grassroots organisation led by Gibrilla Kamara in Kambia District. Through language revitalisation, cultural preservation, and ecological regeneration, SILCC is demonstrating how indigenous knowledge and practices are not only relevant, they are essential.

The Forest as Sacred

In villages like Konta and Masoko, forests are understood as living beings, home to sacred trees, ancestral monuments, and ceremonial sites. These are places where songs are sung, healing rituals performed, and community identity rooted.

In the forest, the community looks for the biggest tree which they use as the ceremonial hub and the place of gathering. in that tree, it is a sacred place and the tree itself will become a sacred tree. - Gibrilla Kamara

SILCC’s work includes negotiating formal agreements with communities to protect these sacred forests, blending cultural protocols with regenerative land governance. In one example, the community of Konta signed a memorandum of understanding to prevent destructive commercial activity and reinstate traditional forestry practices.

The preservation agreements came from deep community dialogue. In 2018, SILCC hosted a gathering of elders from 17 villages in Konta, where discussions focused on fighting back against commercial logging and reviving sacred practices. “We cement the importance of these agreements with traditional ceremonies,” explains Gibrilla. “Each village is supported to hold ceremonies that revive customs and re-consecrate forest lands, with around fifteen hectares protected per agreement.”

Today, over 80 villages have expressed interest in making their own forest preservation agreements.

Photo from a ceremony in Konta, where community elders, youth, and families gather from across villages to witness and celebrate the revival of sacred traditions. 

Language as Regeneration

Language carries the worldview of a people, and with it, the ethics of how to live well with land, ancestors, and each other.

SILCC has developed storybook resources in Limba and Bullom (Mani), two indigenous languages under threat. These books blend environmental storytelling with cultural heritage. For example, the Limba storybook features ethnographic narratives and environmental stories rooted in daily life, rituals, and respect for nature. The Bullom book captures the history of a critically endangered language through tales of fishing, marriage ceremonies, and the crowning of village chiefs, teaching respect for nature, pride in heritage, and the importance of community knowledge.

“Traditional ceremonies happen only in our native languages - many things cannot be easily translated. When we lose language, we lose whole ways of seeing and caring for the land” - Gibrilla Kamara, Indigenous language Literacy Coordinator at SILCC

Teaching children in their mother tongues strengthens cultural identity, boosts learning outcomes, and ensures the next generation carries forward vital ecological wisdom.

Check out the Limba Literacy Book produced by Gibrilla Kamara and SILCC here.

Illustration from the front page of the Limba Literacy Book, credit to SILCC and the African Storybook Team

Regenerating Knowledge, Regenerating Land

Between February and July, SILCC worked with traditional healers to document herbal medicine and healing practices, including collaboration with a renowned bone specialist. This work ensures that ancestral knowledge remains accessible for future generations seeking holistic and sustainable healthcare.

They’ve also documented blacksmithing techniques, an essential craft for local farming tools, and are supporting intergenerational learning to keep these traditions alive.

Meanwhile, beekeeping and tree planting initiatives are helping tie ecological restoration to livelihoods. Eight beehive boxes were built this year, and over a dozen schools participated in planting trees and distributing cocoa seeds. “Young people are increasingly drawn to projects like beekeeping,” Gibrilla notes. “They see how it supports biodiversity, food systems, and even small businesses. There’s a real hunger to reconnect- with nature, with tradition, and with opportunity.”

Community members in Konta Village discussing the importance of

traditional forest and cultural practices.

A Call to Solidarity

SILCC’s work is a powerful reminder that regeneration is not just technical - it’s cultural, spiritual, and political. It’s about liberating knowledge, protecting sacred places, and reclaiming languages that carry centuries of wisdom.

“Traditional knowledge is not something to preserve in a museum,” says Gibrilla. “It’s a living system—relevant to climate action, education reform, food sovereignty, and resilience-building.”

As the climate and humanitarian sectors search for sustainable solutions, they would do well to listen more closely to those like SILCC - who are not only imagining a different future, but actively building it.

Interested in supporting or learning more about SILCC? Visit https://silccsierraleone.org/ or follow them on Facebook. You can also reach out directly at silccsierraleone@gmail.com.