Personal testimony - Mamawa Fawundu

Country: Sierra Leone Name: Mamawa Fawundu, Co-ordinator Organisation: Sorbeh Nyagah Women's Organisation Date of birth: 18th April 1981 Place of birth: Bo, Sierra Leone Tel: + 232 33 414945 Email:wecare.fioh@gmail.com Though my life experience up to this moment does not extend beyond the general secondary school education, which I completed in July 2005 at Harford School for Girls in Sierra Leone, yet I have eyes to see, ears to hear, heart to feel and hands to act. Our world has escalating problems that we can no longer ignore. One billion people struggle to survive on one dollar a day. 80% of the global population lives in substandard housing, 70% are unable to read, and 50% of everyone on the planet suffers from malnutrition. 35,000 children die of hunger daily. 50% lack safe drinking water and every major ecosystem is in measurable decline. It is possible to eradicate hunger and illiteracy as well as provide clean water, sanitation, education and health care for everyone. The UN Development Agency estimates it would require an additional $40 billion annually intelligently spent. We have the technological solutions. It's time for implementation. No one country or organization alone can solve these global issues. It's up to all of the global community. Sorbeh Nyagah Women's Organisation is a community-based organization in Bo that works to implement small-scale global problems. Through raising awareness of issues affecting our community and promoting the need for preventive action, we will seek to reduce the incidence of vulnerability. We leverage ideas to implement quality of life, save money, create jobs, increase productivity and protect the environment. These antidotes to poverty, social injustice and poor education also prevent the all-too-common cycle of violence. We believe that we have the right to make informed choices about our future. Those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to feel and hands to act internationally are invited to join us find the required resources to address these issues locally. I was born in Bo in Sierra Leone on the 18th April 1981. I started attending nursery and grade schools in Yekepa in Liberia where my parents had lived and worked. We returned to Bo in Sierra Leone when the Liberian civil war started and had lived there and I continued to attend school amidst another civil war. I moved to an all girls' boarding school in Moyamba some 60 miles away from home for my senior secondary school. At school I developed a passion for environmental issues and had actively participated in tree planting initiatives. I was also very active in other social school functions. We were taught to do every thing to protect our environments and that remains my abiding memory. Several years of my relationship with FIOH International and Plant A Tree In Africa have taught me more about the environment. I have just completed a Higher National Diploma in Accounting and I intend to start my own business in water packaging and sales in Bo. In addition to being an entrepreneur in this industry I intend to continue to coordinate the affairs of Sorbeh Nyagah Women's Organisation on a volunteering basis. I now want to continue to serve FIOH International in all her project as a volunteer.