PRI: Public Radio International

DJ Focus becomes youngest visiting practitioner at MIT

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 08:00:00 -0600

Sierra Leone could become the next hub of innovation. In an effort to encourage more innovation among young people there, a Massachusetts Insitute of Technology doctoral student set up a contest in his home country. And one of the contest's finalists is already making a positive impression at MIT.

Alexander Sterczek

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 20:14:10 -0600

Sierra Leone, lays on the Atlantic Ocean in West Africa, where it boarders Guinea, in the north and east, and Liberia, in the south, are its neighbours.
Mangrove swamps lie along the coast, with wooded hills and a plateau in the interior while the eastern region is mountainous.Sierra Leone's 350-mi (560-km) Atlantic coastline is made up of a belt (average width 30 mi/50 km) of low-lying mangrove swamps, except for the mountainous Sierra Leone Peninsula (on which Freetown is situated).
The coastline is broken by numerous estuaries and has some wide, sandy beaches. Behind the coastal belt is a wooded plateau (average elevation; 1,000 ft/300 m). The eastern half of the country is mostly mountainous and includes Bintimane Peak, Sierra Leone's loftiest point (6,390 ft/1,948 m), located near the Guinea border. Several rivers, including the Great Scariest (which makes up a section of the boundary with Guinea) and the Mano (which forms part of the border with Liberia), flow through the country to the Atlantic.
Sierra Leone became an independent nation on April 27, 1961. A military coup overthrew the civilian government in 1967, which was in turn replaced by civilian rule a year later. The country declared itself a republic on April 19, 1971.

Alexander Sterczek

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 20:15:30 -0600