Centuries ago, our ancestors entered our present home, Kono, from a part of a hilly country to the east of Sierra Leone in Guinea. This is corroborated by our Kono Legends. We talk about our former home as “Kono-Su-Ko” (Under-the Kono-Root) taken from Kono-Su the name of a hill in Guinea about fifty miles northeast of our present home of Kono District. Due to our proximity to the hill, we speak a language known as the Kono Language, but we were called the Lelli people.
Even though the world is changing, there is one thing about our Kono heritage that remains constant and that is our Language. Our Kono Language is the road map of our culture. It tells us who we are, where we came from, and where we are going.
KONO-KWAE : NIMOWAMA
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We believe our language is an important source of our continuity and cultural identity. Therefore, we want to pass on our culture through oral tradition to our children and develop a writing system of our language so we can teach our children and retain our culture and our identity.
Our language is very important to our culture. It allows us to pass on ideas, stories, knowledge, and even attitude to the next generation. It has been said that “language allows culture to develop by freeing people to move beyond their immediate experiences.” Without our Kono language, our memories would be extremely limited for we associate experiences with words and then use words to recall the experience. Above all, we don’t want to forget our Kono language and our heritage.