{"id":23272,"date":"2011-05-01T01:37:37","date_gmt":"2011-05-01T05:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/?p=23272"},"modified":"2011-05-01T01:37:37","modified_gmt":"2011-05-01T05:37:37","slug":"50th-independence-anniversary-picnic-extravaganza-in-washington-dc-metropolitan-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/?p=23272","title":{"rendered":"50th Independence Anniversary Picnic Extravaganza in Washington, DC Metropolitan Area"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">An atmosphere of togetherness which brought about sisterhood and brotherhood coupled with an identity of being Sierra Leonean prevailed at the Police Academy Lodge on the outskirts of Maryland where Sierra Leoneans and friends of Sierra Leone assembled to celebrate and rejoice in commemorating the 50<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of Sierra Leone\u2019s independence.\u00a0 <em>(Photo: Ambassador Bockarie K. Stevens and Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Conteh)<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">His Excellency Ambassador Bockarie K. Stevens who for the first time in the history of Sierra Leone in the United States initiated and accorded Sierra Leoneans to meet and celebrate without any political and tribal clout made this memorable occasion a success in which all Sierra Leoneans\u00a0 present appreciated and admired.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<div id=\"attachment_23276\" style=\"width: 458px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a class=\"highslide\" onclick=\"return vz.expand(this)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Masquerade-dancer.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23276\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23276 \" title=\"Masquerade dancer\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Masquerade-dancer.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"448\" height=\"336\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-23276\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Masquerade dancer<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In his welcoming remarks Ambassador Stevens said as Sierra Leoneans it is embedded in us to express our joy and happiness on the occasion of the 50<sup>th<\/sup> Independence Anniversary of Sierra Leone and we are therefore obliged \u00a0to lift Sierra Leone above all interests. He called on all to celebrate on the occasion of this golden jubilee of our beloved country.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<div id=\"attachment_23275\" style=\"width: 458px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a class=\"highslide\" onclick=\"return vz.expand(this)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Sierra-Leoneans-at-the-50th-Anniversary-Picnic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23275\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23275 \" title=\"Sierra Leoneans at the 50th Anniversary Picnic\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Sierra-Leoneans-at-the-50th-Anniversary-Picnic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"448\" height=\"336\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-23275\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sierra Leoneans at the 50th Anniversary Picnic<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a class=\"highslide\" onclick=\"return vz.expand(this)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Attendees.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23274 alignnone\" title=\"Attendees\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sierraexpressmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Attendees.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"448\" height=\"336\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The occasion was celebrated in grand style where activities such as masquerade dancing from various Sierra Leonean cultures, interaction with friends and a peaceful atmosphere of coexistence prevailed.\u00a0\u00a0 Indeed, it was a joyful occasion because the fraternity that is missing within Sierra Leoneans because of political and tribal differences prevailed in this ever memorable occasion.<\/p>\n<p><em>Joseph S. Sherman, Washington, DC<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An atmosphere of togetherness which brought about sisterhood and brotherhood coupled with an identity of being Sierra Leonean prevailed at the Police Academy Lodge on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[745,1],"tags":[5246,8154,8155,8156],"class_list":["post-23272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-and-entertainment","category-uncategorized","tag-50th-independence-celebrations","tag-embassy-picnic","tag-sierra-leone-embassy-washington-dc-picnic","tag-washington-dc-picnic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}