Our Projects
Agricultural Projects
Sierra Leone, West Africa
May 2023 - Date
Doing whatever little I can to help develop my home country Sierra Leone, has been my lifelong dream. This dream is now slowly becoming a reality as as in May 2023, I was able to successfully launch my Rural Development Initiatives in Sierra Leone (SL), West Africa.
My organization is providing funding for the cultivation of local foods and this venture is one of the projects currently being implemented. For this project, I am utilizing my family land that has been passed down to over five generations, located in Bompehtoke (Sherbro land), a rural town in the Southern Province of SL.
The hard-working Bompehtoke community farmers I’m working with planted cassava, peanuts, corn, cashew, peppers, and mangoes in May 2023, and rice as well as peanuts in June 2024. Rice mills and rice threshers were provided for rural farmers in March 2024 so they can begin to produce and sell stone free bagged rice. Rather than let the land remain uncultivated as it was over the years, this initiative is now generating income for the community farmers working on the farm; and they’re using this income to care for their families and send their kids to school, thereby by reducing poverty directly and improving livelihoods in Bompehtoke. In addition, this project is now helping with increasing food supplies in the local community markets.
Women Empowerment
Using agriculture to foster women’s economic empowerment
May 2023 - Date
I am using agriculture to foster women’s economic empowerment and at the same time address food insecurity in Bompehtoke (Sherbro Land).
Since May 2023, I have been intentionally seeking and hiring women to work on my agriculture farms in Bompehtoke to help end poverty among women in rural SL. I am also providing rice and peanut seeds free of charge for women farmers in Bompehtoke and in 6 more villages surrounding Bompehtoke that want to have their own farms as they too want to grow more food to feed their families and improve their livelihoods but cannot afford to buy seeds since they are too expensive for purchase in SL. Providing seeds for them in the past 2 years has enabled them to either start or expand their agricultural businesses.
All the women that work on my agriculture farms have received little to no education because Bompehtoke only has a primary school. This has limited their abilities to pursue numerous career paths which is the main reason for the persistent poverty that exists in the Bpmpehtoke community. My company is currently poviding agriculture job opportunities for these women to help address this problem. I am also currently building the 1st secondary school in Bompehtoke town to help provide access to high school education for the kids growing up now in Bompehtoke.
I am also providing micro entrepreneur assistant grants as well as rice and peanut seeds free of charge for the Bompehtoke women farmers I am working with and also for women farmers in the 6 surrounding villages around Bompehtoke. This venture has helped them to start or expand their own agriculture businesses which was very much needed to grow more food for their families in order to put an end to the hunger their households were experiencing and improve their livelihoods to help break the chain of persistent poverty.
The Bompehtoke women do not only play a key role in cultivating Sierra Leone’s staple food (rice), they have also learnt how to operate the rice mills and rice threshers I provided to improve the post-harvest rice value chain. Working with these strong women is my own small way of saying NO to hunger and poverty in Sierra Leone. And together we are taking up this monumental challenge to help address the food shortage in SL, improve livelihoods and at the same time, foster sustainable economic development.
“There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” – Michelle Obama
End Hunger Rice Project
Sierra Leone, West Africa
March 2024 - Date
I am doing what I can to help address the food shortage in Sierra Leone (SL) by purchasing rice processing machines (rice mills and rice threshers) through my rural development initiatives. Now for the very first time Bompehtoke town (Sherbro Land) in SL, is supplying stone free bagged rice named “SaLone Rice” to help end the food shortage in the SL. Rice is the staple food in SL however, most Sierra Leoneans cannot afford to buy a bag (50 kg) of rice monthly because the price of a bag of rice is very expensive, and in some cases, it costs more than the monthly income of low-income earners. So, most people living in SL can only afford to buy just a few cups a day. SL is such a small country with plenty of fertile lands to grow more than enough rice to feed the entire population of SL which is approximately 8.4 million people. But there is not much motivation to grow plenty of rice in SL mainly because SL farmers cannot afford to buy rice processing machines, thereby prolonging the processing time for cooking locally grown rice as it’s very tedious for households to separate the rice from the stones. So most Sierra Leoneans buy imported rice instead. Additionally, processing rice in SL with no processing machines after the harvest requires intense back-breaking manual labor which is also why there’s not much incentive for SL rural farmers to grow rice in abundance for commercial purposes.
The purchase of these rice processing machines has motivated the Bompehtoke farmers to to clear more land so they can plant plenty of rice in 2024. And rice seeds will also be given to them as most rural farmers cannot afford to buy rice seeds. To continue to motivate rural farmers to grow more rice, more of these rice processing machines will be bought to set up as many rice processing stations in rural SL as possible to process the harvested rice easily and at a faster rate after the harvest in order to encourage the rice farmers to grow rice in abundance each year to help address the food shortage problem in SL.
Starting in June 2024, the 50 Bompehtoke community rice farmers I am working with cultivated 15 bushels of rice seeds on 15 acres of my family land and this task was completed by the end of June 2024. The rice will be harvested by the end of 2024. In addition, my organization distributed 6 bushels of rice seeds to the Bompehtoke farmers I am working with that own lands so they can plant rice for themselves on their private lands. Ten bushels of rice seeds were also provided for farmers in Kegbema, a neighboring town to Bompehtoke so that these farmers can also plant rice for themselves on their private lands as well. This rice seed distribution project will enable farmers in rural Southern SL to feed their households and at the same time improve their livelihoods.
After each harvest, the farmers will return the same amount of rice seeds received from my project, so it can be given to other farmers on the waiting list in rural Southern SL. And this rice seed distribution process will continue after each harvest until every farmer who wants to plant rice in Southern rural SL for commercial purposes receives starter seeds.
Since the rural farmers cannot afford to buy rice mills and threshers, to improve the rice value chain post-harvest, my organization will buy the rice the farmers want to sell after each harvest at fair market value so my organization can thresh, mill, bag and sell their rice. My ultimate goals are to ensure that the quality of the rice being produced and processed in SL is at per with imported rice (clean and stone free). In addition, the goals of this rice seed distribution project are to improve the livelihoods of rice farmers in Southern SL, increase the supplies of SL’s staple food, which is rice in the market, and foster sustainable development in Southern SL.
Healthcare Projects
Sierra Leone, West Africa
December 2023 - Date
To ensure healthy lives and well-being in Bompehtoke, Sierra Leone, my rural development initiative has successfully completed the total renovation of the Bompehtoke community hospital. The community members as well as the healthcare workers are breathing a sigh of relief as healthcare services are now being provided in a hygienic, safe, and clean environment in Bompehtoke. This hospital serves all the 6 villages within Bompehtoke town.
This one and only Bompehtoke community hospital was the top priority for my development work as it was in much need of repairs because the roof had been leaking for the past 3 years. This resulted in adverse health outcomes as community members who needed healthcare for the past 3 years were receiving care in a facility with wet and slippery floors during the rainy season, and this caused water damages and mold build up everywhere, making it difficult for healthcare workers to provide care in an environment that was unsafe and unhealthy.
In addition, I have purchased much needed basic medical supplies and instruments for the Bompehtoke community hospital, and these include baby delivery instruments sets, dental instruments, stainless steel medical instrument cases, IV drip stands, bed screen dividers, window curtains, bulletin boards, bedsheets, bedcovers, pillow cases and table clothes as the hospital only had 2 baby delivery instruments sets, rusty IV drip stands and none of the other items I bought.
Educational Projects
Sierra Leone, West Africa
May 2024 - Date
To give the kids in Bompehtoke town (Sherbro Land), Sierra Leone, a shot at a brighter future, easy access to secondary school education is vital to prepare them to pursue numerous career paths. But unfortunately, Bompehtoke town has no high school. So, my rural development initiative has allocated land for the building of the very 1st high school in Bompehtoke and construction is underway! The completion of this school project will make it possible for all kids attending the 5 primary schools in Bompehtoke town, to have an opportunity for the very first time to receive education beyond the primary school level in Bompehtoke.
As these kids grow up, I want to ensure they have the same easy access to education just as I did and just as my daughter did who is now a college graduate, and now has a career because we both had easy access to education. This school will work hard to prepare young minds and equip them with what they need to take their place in society so they too can help to positively change the world.
