From Deseret News archives:

Battle against corruption brought couple together

Published: Monday, May 12, 2008 12:04 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
In 2003 a hip-hop artist in Sierra Leone recorded an upbeat dance groove with some unlikely lyrics. The English translation of the Krio is something like "mismanagement, bankruptcy, unaccountability" and "no electricity, bad sanitation."

The song, called "Corruption e do so" ("Corruption: Enough Is Enough"), became a pan-African hit, and the album became the most popular in the history of Sierra Leone.

The singer/songwriter of "Corruption" is Daddy Saj, aka Joseph Gerald Adolphus Cole. Since last fall, Saj has been living in Utah, in the little town of Providence, after marrying Cache County native Ann Norman. It was the battle against corruption, and a shared tendency to say what they think, that brought Saj and Norman together.

Norman is a farm girl from Paradise who went on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Paris, graduated from Utah State University, got a job in public relations in New York and ended up raising private money for United Nations microloan programs for the world's poorest countries. In the summer of 2005 she made a quick stop in Sierra Leone, the West African country that by U.N. ranking is the poorest of the poor.

Story continues below
A few months later, back in New York, Norman got a phone call from the U.N. office in Sierra Leone. The president of the country, she was told, was starting a new program to combat media corruption following a devastating decadelong war, and he wanted her help.

"I said, 'I don't know the first thing about any of that, but I'll see if I can find someone else who does,"' Norman remembers telling the U.N. officer. "No," he told her "they want you."

Later, after Norman did, indeed, move to Sierra Leone to help President Tejan Kabbah with his communications campaign, she discovered why she had made such a favorable first impression. "They said, 'You weren't afraid of us and you're bossy. ... You were bold enough to say what you thought."'

"A blabbermouth," is how Norman describes herself. "My M.O.," she says, "is 'when bad stuff happens, tell someone."'

Meanwhile, Daddy Saj already had established himself as the boldest singer in Sierra Leone.

His song "Corruption" was "the talk of the town," remembers Chukwu Adeyemi Paul, a journalist for Sierra Express Media. "People thought he would be locked up. It was risky for his life and his family, to come out and slam (the government)." The song encouraged other people to talk publicly about corruption, Paul says, and other singers followed with similar songs.

Recent comments

this is a story of true love. hero's are good for the world. Ann...

sombo | June 12, 2008 at 1:59 a.m.

This is a wonderful story of selfless service, love, and commitment...

Glen | May 12, 2008 at 2:03 p.m.

Great example of true hero's changing the world on the scale of "me"...

Rednael | May 12, 2008 at 5:14 a.m.

Image

Ann Norman Cole and her husband, Daddy Saj, met while Cole was working for the U.N. in Sierra Leone.

previousnext

Latest comments

Cool information on what makes the English Holly unique.Helped a lot with my...

John your anger is misplaced. Our nation absolutely glorifies militarism and...

I stand by the Utes! We have the offensive players we need to beat any...

To Andy:453 PM! How dare you ASSUME I am a tea party member, republican...

"That's so gay" I think that would depend on who said it and when - you...

School sports were the greatest part of my high school career. I only did...

Considering that most of congress and the house members do not have passports...

Lobo suspended

Do not let this poor excuse for an athlete play anymore. SUSPENSION FOR THE...

I am the first to comment on this story.

USA Today poll: U. 14th, Y. 22nd

UTAH has no chance of beating TCU!!!!!!!!!!!! Why would any MWC fan pull for...

Advertisements
Advertisement