We often say we have forgiven and forgotten the past, but have we really? In Sierra Leone, forgetting doesn’t erase trauma; it lingers, shaping our identity and our future in ways we rarely admit.

In this episode of Honestly Speaking, Antonia Howard sits down with writer, historian, and human rights lawyer and advocate Joseph Ben Kaifala to explore the dangers of forgetting. From colonial legacies to the civil war and its aftermath, we ask: what happens when a nation chooses silence over memory? And what are the consequences of building a future on stories half-told, or not told at all?

If we forget our past, are we destined to repeat it?