Beverley Bell

The Other Side of the Ocean Beverley Bell

In Freetown, Sierra Leone, the boy Saah Kamandu is enjoying a secure and loving childhood in the care of his family. His days are filled with school, soccer, friends and family. His main concern is to succeed at school. This changes dramatically when rebel soldiers invade his home and take him captive, along with his brother in law. He faces a horrifying reality of death and destruction beyond anything he ever imagined. He believes the rest of his family is dead. The pair eventually escape the country, being forced to live as outcasts until they are accepted into a refugee camp. From there Saah migrates to Australia where he finds safety of a sort. He risks losing a sense of his own identity as he struggles to come to terms with his new world.