Ambassador Maria Brewer unveiled a plaque on Local Staff Appreciation Day at the U.S. Embassy in Freetown last November. Embassy office staff found a dust-covered plaque from 1997 that praised the Sierra Leonean staff for supporting the embassy after a coup, evacuation and temporary post closure. The facilities team polished and re-hung the plaque in a central location. At the unveiling, Brewer spoke to the combined embassy team about the dedication, loyalty and heroism of local staff from personal experience, having served in Freetown during the 1991–2002 Sierra Leone Civil War. She praised their extraordinary care for one another and for U.S. interests, then and now.
Photo by John Terry
