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Kamara's remarkable journey from Sierra Leone to MLS
There were times, quite frankly, when Kei Kamara didn't know if he'd ever see another day. It's easy to see Kamara, a forward on the Houston Dynamo, on the field these days, smiling and carefree. Life wasn't always that way for one of the league's fastest-rising young stars.
Sierra Leone is still a dangerous place, a country made infamous in the movie "Blood Diamond" as a land where rebels rule the countryside and where the good guys and bad guys are frequently one and the same. Kamara, born and raised in the country, saw the nation's civil war unfold since the first shots were fired in 1991. The conflict would kill as many as an estimated two million, and lasted 11 bloody years.
During that time, Kamara would spend nights wondering if he would see the sun rise the next day. Born in the eastern part of the country in a town called Kenema, the war came swiftly to his town of 100,000. Though Kamara said his family wasn't wealthy or considered as such, it was well known that they had relatives in the United States. When the rebels moved into the area, the family kept a very low profile.
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There were times, quite frankly, when Kei Kamara didn't know if he'd ever see another day. It's easy to see Kamara, a forward on the Houston Dynamo, on the field these days, smiling and carefree. Life wasn't always that way for one of the league's fastest-rising young stars.
Sierra Leone is still a dangerous place, a country made infamous in the movie "Blood Diamond" as a land where rebels rule the countryside and where the good guys and bad guys are frequently one and the same. Kamara, born and raised in the country, saw the nation's civil war unfold since the first shots were fired in 1991. The conflict would kill as many as an estimated two million, and lasted 11 bloody years.
During that time, Kamara would spend nights wondering if he would see the sun rise the next day. Born in the eastern part of the country in a town called Kenema, the war came swiftly to his town of 100,000. Though Kamara said his family wasn't wealthy or considered as such, it was well known that they had relatives in the United States. When the rebels moved into the area, the family kept a very low profile.
(continue)
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