Kono

[Mrs L Stanhope]

Hi we have just sponsored a 3 yr.old girl in the Koidu area of Sierra Leone on behalf of our 2yr old grand daughter.

We would love the girls to correspond as they get older and would like help with the basic language which we have been told is Koni we assume that Kono is just another name.

Is there anyone in your group who would be willing to help us out with basic words etc.

We would also love to know the meaning of her name which is Kadiatu.....unfortunately it does not appear in any baby name listing.

 

We would love to hear from anyone who can help us.

Thankyou Lesley and Andy

[Kono Community]

Hello,

It's great you are sponsoring a child in Kono.

The language is KONO pronounced 'Kohnoh' as is the tribe and the
district. I hope some of our list members will supply you with more
language help.

In the meantime our site at http://www.asfasuluku.org/kono/ has a
wealth of information and links to information about us, our land,
language, culture, history etc etc. links on the page include Kono
farm calendar, kono telling time, kono proverbs and much more.

To get you started here are a few simple words and phrases in Kono:
Enteh - hello.
Ingwai - thankyou.
Kweh - rice.
Chendeh - good or well.
Ih chende - are you well.
Mbeaaneh - well thats it/ see you/ good bye.
Don - eat.
Na mooin kweh don - come lets eat rice
Deh - mother.
Fa - father.
Ih deh - your mother.
Ndeh - my mother
Ta - go.
Ih ta - you go.
Ih ta mendeh? - where are you going?
Sih - sit down,
Sihyoh - sit have/a seat
Iiihsih? - wont you sit down?
Iiihta? - wont you go?
Atoka - leave it/him/her alone
Mohta - lets go
Nah neh - come here
Nah - come/ come here
Saa - sleep
Ih tah saa - go to sleep/ go to bed

Its a rich culture and language worth learning more about.

Other Kono related links include
www.sccan.org.uk which is a UK and Kono based charity for sickle cell
anaemia.

Please note that if your sponsored child is growing up in Koidu, she
is more likely to speak Krio in everyday conversation until she
attends school when she will start to learn English. Although they can
be written, most people do not write or read Krio or Kono. But it will
be important for conversation.

Post again if you need any further information. let us know how you
get along.

S O Fasuluku

[Pat McGeever]

I dont know how your request came up on my computer but as I  have worked in Koidu for about 15 years before the civil war i have always had an interest in the Kono people.  I saw the reply to your request from the Kono Community  website in the U.K.. Just thought I might add my tuppence worth. Kadiatu  is basically a name  popular with the Temne tribe of Sierra Leone-and a few other tribes who are predominantly muslim. The Temne are one of the two major tribes in Sierra Leone(togrther with the Mende tribe) . The Kono tribe are a small tribe-about 5% of the population and they are cousinsm of the large Mandingo  tribe who predominate in the neighbouring country of Guinea but are also in Sierra Leone and who also use the name kadiatu. . Because of the rich diamond deposits in  the Kono tribal lands their land has been "invaded" by all the other Sierra Leonean tribes and they are almost strangers in their own territory. They suffered much from the civil war when the rebels  took over and pillaged their territory. Even when I was there the Kono people got a raw deal from the government and the mining companies. Demographically the Kono tribe would be outnumbered in their own tribal province of Kono even today. Krio-a form of Pidgin English which is a language in its own right and is used as a lingua franca through out Sierra Leone is widely used In Kono as there are so many tribes living there because of the alluvial diamonds. The kono language is a tonal language-the pitch of the voice gives the meaning as much as the word itself. hard for Europeans to master it as it has nothing to do with accents in the european sense. Anyway forgive me for this reply- i just admire anyone who would help the Kono people who are one of the gentlest in West Africa.  I hope your grand daughter and kadiatu meet up some day.  If you want to read a book about Sierra Leone , there is one published by HarperCollins in Great Britain in 2002. The author is  Aminatta Forna-the daughter of a Temne doctor /politician and a Scottish mother. The book is called  The Devil that Danced on the Water   a daughter's memoir. Its ISBN number is 0 00 653126 1.  Quote this number and any bookshop will find it for you. It is beautifully written and describes  Sierra L beautifully as she trys to trace the whereabouts of the grave of her executed father. He was a doctor in Koidu  at the same time as i arrived there. . Aminatta has written a brilliant novel on Sierra Leone too(Ancestor Stones in 20070 but this is enough to start off with and you will get a     real feeling for the country from it. Sorry for the riot of words-I have to blame my Irish backgroun for that. Again, God bless you for caring for a child of Kono.

[Pat McGeever]

have just taken my own advice and googled  muslim+ female names   and have found that the prophet mohammed's wife was Khadeeja and so Africans would have  added  little syllables to Islamic names and it would have been easy to  TU to make the name sound African.  In fact  the Fullah tribe has Kadijatu instead of Kadiatu.  My own  Gaelic  Celtic language uses  the  syllable  IN pronounced  EEN to make a name feminine or endearing. So I presume the Temne, Fullah, Limba of Sierra Leone would have adapted the name of  the most esteemed female in Islam and Africanised it to suit the sounds of  their African language. I am sure  that african muslims would not be aware always of the original link to Mohammed when naming their daughters-but then, maybe some would be aware. Anyway you keep enquiring and you might get closer to the real meaning. its a lovely name anyway. Ah ne==that's it     pat

----- Original Message -----

From: Mrs L Stanhope

To: kono-co...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 7:07 AM

Subject: {Kono Community} Kono