Sierra Leone gangster leaves streets for life of poetry

Yousef Kamara works on a poem in the Way Out media center's "Writers Room" in Freetown, Sierra Leone February 11, 2020. (Reuters)

In his poem “Rough Path”, Yousef Kamara reflects on his years selling drugs and stealing as the leader of a street gang in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown.

“Like a traveler in a rough jungle/Self propelling all alone/Edging through danger sharper than blades/My rough path is a cracked zone,” he writes.