The Genesis of KDU Global

Since the mid to the late 1990’s, Mama Garber on her visits to the US would cajole and encourage Krios wherever she visited to rally together to form Krio Descendants Groups. Even though she originally had limited success, however in August 2007 she was hosted by a small group of Krios in Dallas Texas who were introduced to the Krio Disendants Y union (KDY) of Fritong. They agreed to start a local chapter which became known as Krio Descendants Union Texas (KDU TX). The following year (Labor Day weekend 2008), they hosted a weekend of activities which subsequently came to be known as tile KDU Family Reunion.

The 1st officially recognized Family Reunion was hosted by the Krio Heritage Society of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut during the Labor Day weekend in 2009. They were the first
‘ Krio-named” association in the diaspora, which they renamed initially to KDU New York, New Jersey and Connecticut but is now known as KDU Northeast.

After this event Mama Garber urged all the Krio affiliated groups to come together. At the first conference call of all the groups it was decided that we should have a unified vision for Krios from Sierra Leone with a unified name and mission.

• Rokel Association under the leadership of Late Mr. Collins Macfoy became KDU Washington Metro.
• Krio Heritage Society of NY, NJ and CT under the leadership of Mr. Melbourne Garber and Mrs. Eugenia Chinsman became KDU NY, NJ, CT which later became KDU Northeast.
• Freetown Overseas League under the leadership of Mr. Tom Jones became KDU Southern California.
• We Yone Descendants Association in Georgia under the leadership of Mrs. Helen Walker became KDU  Georgia.
• KDU Texas, the first with this name in the diaspora was part of this new union.

KDU Washington Metro hosted the 2010 Family Reunion that Labor Day weekend. At this event, Morehnikeh Davies and her mother Mrs. Onike Davies attended and informed those in attendance that they were in the process of forming a similar group in North Carolina. Additionally, some of the younger KDU members led by Ms. Pauline Pratt expressed their desire to have a Youth group within the KDU family. This was enthusiastically embraced but it was noted that the logistics would have to be worked out.

To coincide with Sierra Leone’s 50th Independence anniversary in 2011, KDU Global hosted their Family Reunion in Maryland with all the current chapters participating. As KDU Global had no finances, it was agreed that ali chapters should make a donation of $1,500 to offset the cost of hosting this event. KDU North Carolina joined KDU Global that year. KDU Global made a donation of $1,500 towards the making and erection of the Thomas Peters statue, which was unveiled outside Cathedral Church, Freetown on December 14, 2011. We also sponsored Miss. Ruby Johnson for the Ms. Sierra Leone USA Pageant, which she won.

In 2012, the KDU Family Reunion was hosted by KDU California and KDU New England joined KDU Global. As part of the review of KDU Global By-laws, chapter dues were set at $200. The bylaws also included that 25-30 % of the profit of the hosting group should go to KDU Global.KDU continued to look at the possibility of securing land or a ”Krio bode ose” so they could build or restructure for a KDU Global office. Also with the establishment of the KDU Y virtual group, led by Ms. Pauline Pratt, we created the position of a KDU Y, youth leader and Mr. Jestyn Shoyoola became our first representative in the Global Leadership.

In 2014 we had planned to have our 1st Homecoming to Freetown but unfortunately the Ebola virus disease scuppered our plans. KDU Texas and KDU Northeast made generous donations of $1000 each and other chapters donated as was financially possible and the KDU Global effort led by Texas in collaboration with a local donor “The Idea Foundation” sent a container of medical supplies and medicines with our portion of our donation to the Ministry of Health. An Ebola prevention education in Krio, sponsored by KDU Global and led by KDY, pioneered by Dr.Francis Dove was sponsored with a financial donation of $500.

In 2013, both KDU London led by Mr. Wilfred Wright and Ms. Iyamide Thomas and KDU Canada formed and joined the KDU Global. In 2013, KDU (Georgia) GA hosted the annual Family Reunion and they honored the updated bylaws by making a financial donation to the KDU Global after hosting the Family Reunion.

At the end of 2014, the Global leadership voted to include 2 newly formed chapters Krio Descendants United of CA and a newly formed group in Canada now known as Krio Diaspora United of S. Ontario, Canada. However the two existing groups (KDU Canada and KDU S. California) were opposed to the inclusion of these groups and peacemaking strategies prior to accepting them. We ended 2014 on a positive note by adopting the Team Krio project by Olalekun Ogundapo, producer of”History of the Krios: A Landmark in West Africa”. KDUG pledged $3,000 as the premier sponsor and executive directors of the film.

Early 2015 led to the expulsion of KDU Canada, KDU South California and KDU Washington Metropolitan Area for disruptive behavior of the first meeting of 2015 and verbal attacks to some of the key officers of the leadership.

In April 2015, KDU Houston joined the global leadership. Resulting in the fact that Texas is now officially the first state to have two KDU Global chapters.

2015 brought a very successful Family Reunion in North Carolina, possibly also as a celebration of Sierra Leone beating the Ebola Virus Disease also. After this success, we welcomed our 11th group to the KDU Global family, KDU Maryland. As we hoped, they keep growing from strength to strength.

Last year, our first Homecoming to Freetown was hosted by KDU Freetown and for many of us who attended it was a memorable week of activities.

KDU Global continues to expand its reach and we now have a couple of other chapters in their formative stages; Philadelphia and Minnesota. We hope that we continue to grow globally and be the one stop organization advocating for Krios in the diaspora and at home.