1910 - Sinkor Village near Monrovia.
Sin-Kor.
Probable Etymology.
Sene = farm. + Kor/kohr = rice.
(1) Rice Farm??____ Sene-kor.
Sanja = Town. + Kor/kooh = rice.
(2) Rice Town??____ Sanja-Kor.
( S. Weah: based on the Vai vocabulary.)
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Get an insight of this place.
The Sinkor Area.
By the 1850's most of the northwestern tribes were represented here [in Monrovia], the Vai from the Cape Mount region, the Gola from the northwestern part of the country, the Kissi from the Guinea border, the Loma from the Guinea border, the Manding from the Cape Mount region and an interesting group called the Belle, members of the Krahn, in the northwest.
I was trying to learn Belle because the Belle language has six roots, Krahn, Gola, Bandi (my wife is Bandi), Loma, Mende, and another group-I can't remember. I was doing some recording of their music, and I found some expressions from these different languages. This had been the real melting pot in Liberia and many people didn't know. This is a small area, and the people had to learn from each other fast.
The Sande-Poro group accepted Belle and exchanged a lot of ideas. And so I found many Poro-Sande groves in this small area near Monrovia. In fact, where the American Aid Mission is located, they had a Sande Grove and my girl friend, Old Lady Golo—and from what she told me she must be 112-113 years— said that she saw President Arthur Barclay, when he was a young man with goatee and handsome and tall, walking over the cliff coming down to see a Sande grove where the American Aid Mission is located.
And I said, "Did you ever talk with him?"
The Sande-Poro group accepted Belle and exchanged a lot of ideas. And so I found many Poro-Sande groves in this small area near Monrovia. In fact, where the American Aid Mission is located, they had a Sande Grove and my girl friend, Old Lady Golo—and from what she told me she must be 112-113 years— said that she saw President Arthur Barclay, when he was a young man with goatee and handsome and tall, walking over the cliff coming down to see a Sande grove where the American Aid Mission is located.
And I said, "Did you ever talk with him?"
"No," she said. "But I saw him."
And, then, before she came out of the Sande bush, she saw a young boy who used to follow Arthur Barclay, Daniel Howard, who also became president of Liberia. This was one of the reasons why, when President Arthur Barclay was in the mansion, he had great regard for the cultural institutions of this area-and also President Daniel Howard. And they passed this liking for cultural institutions to other presidents.
President Tubman used to send for me and say, "Bai, don't let the people break up all these other people who have Sande groves in Sinkor; that is part of our roots, and we've got to preserve them."
That was very, very important. Across the street from me is the Sande school, and there is a Sande initiation session going on right now; and it is the oldest Sande grove in the Monrovia area.
And to set up this grove they had to go through the Bassa rites and rituals, and you will see some of the paraphernalia that I have been able to recall dating from 1835-38. So much for the history of where I live.
(By: Bai T. Moore)
