TRIBUTE TO A GREAT MAN, PAUL KALISO SESAY

The Late Paul Kaliso Sesay

The urge to have home flavour when I arrived in the United Kingdom is the path that enabled me to see a great man, famously called Kaliso.  My visit to his SAMKAL bar and restaurant was triggered by a comrade nicknamed TTOT (Official called Tom Gbonda), and it was a form of familiarisation. Tom was the one that gave me the password to Kaliso’s entertainment venue. Upon our arrival to the venue, I sat quietly and started observing the environment. I was listening to the vuvuzela of home voices whilst sipping my Guinness in peace, trying to ease the stress of the day. The scenario was mixed with loud political gossips here and there, and in some instances the situation became tensed. After a couple of minutes, I saw a short black stuffy man enter the venue holding plastic bags full of purchased items. This stuffy man went behind the counter to drop the bags and later came to join us. As smart as he is, he was able to sense a new face among the people present at that time. He came over to me to greet in our Creole parlance. What I gathered from the visit is a reminiscence of the ghetto life in Sierra Leone, and this enabled me to have affection for the venue, as I grew up in the ghetto. I saw the spirit of serving the house culture and the norm of ghetto is sharing during boom periods (a period of higher income due to the unexpected). I went home but ensuring on-going visits whenever I have free time. It was during my continual visits that I was able to understand and have a friendly link with the proprietor of the hub, Kaliso. In the many times I went to the social gathering, I noticed him to be a real entrepreneur, though he was yet to explore growth opportunities. He was a great sweetener of the gathering and his presence was like adding an all purpose seasoning to a cooking sauce. He was receptive to everyone and his multi-lingual attribute is something worthy of admiration. He speaks Temne, Mende, Limba and very sharp in picking up languages. He dances to the tune of all his clients and easy to integrate. The thing I liked about him is that, he keeps to the political flow at home. He will hang in his business premises the poster of any President in power, though he had strong allegiance to All Peoples' Congress. It came to a time when I became so attracted to his way of keeping the gathering lively and entertaining, and that unique feature was a great magnetic field for attracting me and presumably others to his hub. He will speak the jargon of the format of our ghettos in Salone and could raise his voice when speaking, to the extent that, all will be moved to be attentive to him. The mannerism I picked from him whenever he is speaking is, “Leh ah halaki”, and he will say this to drag us to be convinced about what he is saying, and this jargon reminds me of our ghetto scenario back home.  When it comes to political discussions, he is a great defender of APC and ready to counter any excesses raised about the party. However, he is a great listener, sometimes, when other people among the group want to express their own views, though you wouldn't convince him on salient issues, as long as it against APC. One unique thing about the late man is that, he had the taste of all the regions in Sierra Leone, ranging from north, east, south and west. He spent the major part of his life with his father in Mano Dasse, southern province. I want to be convinced that his accommodating nature may have sprung from the many cultural and regional orientations. His passion for business emanated from his dad who was a sole proprietor (having a “limba corner”). "Limba corner" is a business venue for selling palm wine, and this is usually located at the outskirts of Towns. He hailed from the Limba tribe in Sierra Leone, a tribe generally known to be docile, accommodating, dangerous in terms of  the way they operate in communities and love to live at the outskirts of towns, though this is different when looking at the educated Limbas or modernised ones. The traditional Limbas are known for upholding strong social dynamics, as Limba Corner is where the gossips of the community take place, and the chiefs or authorities of those communities count on their social hub as an outlet for their grape vine (a grape vine is an outlet used to gather response on policy decisions in the pipe-line). Kaliso went through many tribulations before his death and some even termed him as a dead-man still alive. He confessed to me in an exclusive chat with him that, he was shot by a “witch gun”, when he traveled to see his family in Sierra Leone. The other information I gathered is that, he went through major life threatening operation. Before travelling to Sierra Leone to face the recent death, he experienced a fatal accident that led to two people dying but him hospitalised by a U-turn car driver. Honestly, if I have the opportunity, I would have told God for him to stay alive, as he was playing an important role for the Sierra Leone community in London.  However, God Has the reason for certain things, and I trust Him for that. He may have unconsciously hurt some people, but this is the society that we live in. As I will say in social gatherings, if you don’t want to be hurt, then our national or  global society is not for you. For 2013, I had 20% of my family and friends that hurt me, but I saw it as a normal human issue or deviation. I pray that the lovely soul of the great man rest in perfect peace. Amen! We need you brother, but God needs you most. I am wondering how the gathering at the Samkal Bar and Restaurant will be after his death and want to suggest a big poster of his image on the wall of the entertainment venue for an ongoing remembrance. Kaliso died on Tuesday 19^th November 2013, lived for 56, had is funeral service at the Roman Catholic Church Mabonkeni and finally lay to rest at the Mabonkeni Cementery on 8^th December 2013. He was the baby son of the Catholics to some point but later rebelled to take-up a freelance life. However, I am happy that the mission took him as a prodigal son to give him such honourable burial in Mabonkeni, his home town in the northern province.

PRINCE FODAY,  UNITED KINGDOM