Joseph Fobie and Children

Joseph Fobie (Joseph Carpenter) with his children. Joseph was a very talented carpenter. 

Joseph was the carpenter for the HRSS and TTC Kenema school compound.  We became good friends at the school. Joseph could make anything and was very creative. Just ask him for something and he would design it and make it usually in a short time.  He lived on the other side of the compound from us in a section of Kenema that extended to the back of the compound. I do not remember his wife's name. I also do not remember his children's names (pictured above). This photo taken in 1969 was at the front of the convent, near the gate and Dama Road. Towards the end of our time in Kenema Joseph ran into some trouble. I was never sure if what I was told about him was true. My memory however is mostly about how very creative he was, and how very good with his hands he was.  I did commission him to make wooden crates for us so that we could safely ship some of the things that we collected home. They all arrived safely. [double click on photo to enlarge it]