A House for Fanta

Paul and Fanta met in Makeni in the north of Sierra Leone, fell in love and got married. Paul managed a project to improve the quality of English teaching in Sierra Leonean primary schools for the British Council, whilst Fanta over in neighbouring Guinea supervised the construction of their dream house by the sea. In the mid 90s, the house was seized by the wife of Guinean President Lansana Conte, who claimed she owned the place and installed Presidential Guards in it. By the time they got the house back several years later it had been completely trashed, so they sold it for what they could get and then took the President's wife to court a second time for damages. The story of how they struggled for many years to get justice is one of endurance and perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds.