Timothy Sumer

Lost Freetown - Sierra Leone, 2009 - The expansion of this City has lead to it being on the brink of environmental and social disaster, and there appears to be no relief. For downloads and more information visit: Sierra Leone is booming. In capital Freetown the population is rising and new homes spring up daily. But, like the 1950s sewage pipes, the city is creaking under the weight. How long before Freetown cracks? A land of wooded plains and white beaches, Sierra Leone was known as a pearl in the African crown. But the brutal civil war damaged the country's rural economy and displaced farming families. Now Freetown is expanding rapidly, but few see this as cause for celebration. 'Yeah we have come a long way', says OLU Gorden, a Journalist here. 'But there has been so much sacrifice for so little ground gained'. In the slums of Kroo Bay in Freetown, children pick their way across rivers of sewage on their way to school. 'You see children holding ...