By Alusine Kamara
Both Raphaella Esther Blackie and Mariam Hannah Turay are currently on the run after attempts were made to initiate the two girls into the Bondo secret society.
This is a case of kidnap and forceful initiation an event that has now reached the door step of the police. Report reaching this medium indicate that a report has been filed at the Goderich Police Division, and that the grandaunt of the two minors, Mariama Kamara allegedly kidnapped the children who were on their way from school; and took them to Pabul Village, Koya Chiefdom, Port Loko District- to forcibly initiate them into the Bondo Secret Society.
Raphaella, 12, is a pupil of The International School Limited, Jomo Kenyatta Road, and her cousin, Mariama, 19, is awaiting admission into university.
Reports further stated that both children went missing on their way from school on Friday, 21st November 2025; only for the family to learn on Saturday, 22nd November 2025 that they had been taken to the village for initiation into the Bondo Society, which involves the cutting of a woman’s genitals. The Bondo secret society is a long-standing traditional women’s society in Sierra Leone; and forced initiation is common, particularly involving minors.
The two children were staying with Mahawa Esther Blackie (mother of Raphaella) of Kargbo Drive, Metchem, Goderich; Freetown. When Mrs. Blackie returned from work that evening, neither her daughter nor her niece was at home. She made several calls to relatives and other contacts in an effort to locate them, but without success. She later reported the incident to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Goderich Police Station, Freetown.
Mrs. Blackie later reportedly travelled to the village on Saturday, 22nd November 2025, together with her husband, Raphael S .S Blackie, to rescue the children. They succeeded and returned to Freetown with them the same day.
Mrs. Blackie alleged that since the incident, her family had lived in constant fear for the children’s safety, saying that their Grandaunt, Mariama Kamara, whom she describes as a “Sowei” – designated head of the Bondo society – had repeatedly insisted that both girls must be initiated in accordance with the family and village customs and traditions.
The situation has reportedly forced both parents to run away with their children (Raphella and Mariama) to an unknown destination.
Despite, the much advocacy on the abandonment of the Bondo secret society culminating into human right violations, and signing of international treaties and conventions on human rights and other related human right laws in Sierra Leone, a good number of villages and Towns across the country still clinging on these traditional practices. The whereabouts of the two girls is still as unknown as at press time.
