A gift of pride, beauty in Sierra Leone

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2007 | by Ryan Holeywell

A gift of pride, beauty in Sierra Leone

Salon owner leads group to teach skills to women ravaged by war, poverty

Diane Stevens could feel only compassion when she heard about the plight of people in Sierra Leone.

A friend who had visited the West African country showed her photos of a camp filled with amputees who were victims of the decade-long civil war that ravaged the country in the 1990s. Rebels gained infamy for their brutal tactic of hacking off civilians' limbs.

Stevens, owner of Cole Stevens Salon & Day Spa in Greenbelt, Md., then learned about a hairdresser in Sierra Leone who worked all day standing on one leg. The other had been amputated.

"I told the stylists, 'We complain about little things, but she's trying to...