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Former homeless Sierra Leonean woman now Radio Journalist and Advocate In Kabala

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Sallu Kamuskay
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Kadiatu Bankolay Sesay is Sierra Leonean Journalist, activist, and Humanitarian born in Kabala. She works for Radio Bintumani, 93. 7 FM as a volunteer radio presenter, DJ, and continuity announcer.

Kadiatu Bankolay Sesay attended the Holy Rosary primary school, Holy Rosary Secondary School Pujehun District, She later furthered her education at the Services, Juba in Freetown. She was class prefect and head girl at the primary school she attended, she was also the president of the Literally Debating Society at the Services school.

At a very tender age, due to the loss of her father, the relocation of her mother to an unknown location due to the unfortunate death of her husband, she was forced to experience difficulties with her younger brother, she and her younger brother slept at the car park, markets and did petty business like cassava for survival. She did farming at the Sebabuma lane, in Pujehun District. She walked seven miles every day to the market to sell Cassava just to be able to feed herself and her younger brother. She sometimes walks barefooted because she couldn’t afford much to buy sleepers. With all these trials and challenges she faced while growing up. She had always had the vision that she will someday be the first female president or president in the country. Knowing she lives in a community that doesn’t have access to quality education and opportunity, she had always questioned herself and prayed for an opportunity to travel out of the village to be able to achieve her dream. Fortune smiled on her when she got the opportunity to travel and live in Freetown through the support of a friend where she furthered her education and part of her journey. The sad experience of walking barefooted, sleeping at the markets, feeding on the leftover of some people at the market, and walking seven miles every day selling cassava just to be able to fend for herself and her younger brother. She felt she and that of many other children shouldn’t go through such a horrible experience for survival. She wanted to do something about that. She turned into using her voice through radio to advocate on social issues by going to the nearby villages, giving voice to the children and family voices and supporting them.

When she completed her education in Freetown and moved back to Koinadugu District where she volunteered as a radio journalist, an interest she got because she wanted to give a voice to vulnerable people in her community and raise awareness on how people can support the homeless in the communities.  She founded the Vulnerable Charity Foundation. A day before the country went on three days lockdown due to Government’s announcement in other to curtail the Coronavirus. Kadiatu Bankolay Sesay had a dream of people whose hands were lamed, disabled and mentally challenged people who came around her compound during the dream and told her that they wanted food, with no food at home, she divided the money she had with her and give it to them to go and buy food. Waking up in the morning, She used her money, prepared food, and went to the market and gave it to the homeless and mentally challenged people. She felt something needed to be done, she founded the organization to support homeless people through a feeding program she organized every day. She used her money to travel to the nearby villages looking for human interest stories that she will pitch to the station manager just to be able to uplift the voices of the vulnerable men and women. Traveling to these nearby villages exposed her to a lot of suffering, children going to school without sleepers, no food, sleeping on cardboard laid on the ground reminded her of her journey growing up. Kadiatu Bankoly Sesay felt so connected to the stories she told to the point that she used her money to buy used clothes and some cooking stuff that she brought along to the people whenever she went there to cover their stories.

Kadiatu Bankolay Sesay got support from a Sierra Leonean in the United States of America who got interested in her work and gave her support for three months to support the vulnerable people by preparing food for the homeless people.

The inspiring story of Kadiatu in Kabala and that of many other change-makers around our country is why we founded the Salone Messenger Platform to give limelight to their inspiring story. 

Kadiatu Bankolay Sesay is Sierra Leonean Journalist, activist, and Humanitarian born in Kabala. She works for Radio Bintumani, 93. 7 FM as a volunteer radio presenter, DJ, and continuity announcer.

Kadiatu Bankolay Sesay  attended the Holy Rosary primary school, Holy Rosary Secondary School Pujehun District, She later furthered her education at the Services, Juba in Freetown. She was class prefect and head girl at the primary school she attended, she was also the president of the Literally Debating Society at the Services school.

At a very tender age, due to the loss of her father, the relocation of her mother to an unknown location due to the unfortunate death of her husband, she was forced to experience difficulties with her younger brother, she and her younger brother slept at the car park, markets and did petty business like cassava for survival. She did farming at the Sebabuma lane, in Pujehun District. She walked  seven miles every day to the market to sell Cassava just to be able to feed herself and her younger brother. She sometimes walks barefooted because she couldn’t afford much to buy sleepers. With all these trials and challenges she faced while growing up. She had always had the vision that she will someday be the first female president or president in the country. Knowing she lives in a community that doesn’t have access to quality education and opportunity, she had always questioned herself and prayed for an opportunity to travel out of the village to be able to achieve her dream. Fortune smiled on her when she got the opportunity to travel and live in Freetown through the support of a friend where she furthered her education and part of her journey. The sad experience of walking barefooted, sleeping at the markets, feeding on the leftover of some people at the market, and walking seven miles every day selling cassava just to be able to fend for herself and her younger brother. She felt she and that of many other children shouldn’t go through such a horrible experience for survival. She wanted to do something about that. She turned into using her voice through radio to advacate on social issues by going to the nearby vilages, giving voice to the children and family voices and supporting them.

When she completed her education in Freetown and moved  back to Koinadugu District where she volunteered as a radio journalist, an interest she got because she wanted to give a voice to vulnerable people in her community and raise awareness on how people can support the homeless in the communities.  She founded the Vulnerable Charity Foundation. A day before the country went on three days lockdown due to Government’s announcement in other to curtail the Coronavirus. Kadiatu Bankolay Sesay  had a dream of people whose hands were lamed, disabled and mentally challenged people who came around her compound during the dream and told her that they wanted food, with no food at home, she divided the money she had with her and give it to them to go and buy food. Waking up in the morning, She used her money, prepared food, and went to the market and gave it to the homeless and mentally challenged people. She felt something needed to be done, she founded the organization to support homeless people through a feeding program she organized every day. She used her money to travel to the nearby villages looking for human interest stories that she will pitch to the station manager just to be able to uplift the voices of the vulnerable men and women. Traveling to these nearby villages exposed her to a lot of suffering, children going to school without sleepers, no food, sleeping on cardboard laid on the ground reminded her of her journey growing up. Kadiatu Bankoly Sesay felt so connected to the stories she told to the point that she used her money to buy used clothes and some cooking stuff that she brought along to the people whenever she went there to cover their stories.

Kadiatu Bankolay Sesay  got support from a Sierra Leonean in the United States of America who got interested over her work and gave her support for three months to support the vulenral people by preparing food for the homeless people.

The inspiring story of Kadiatu in Kabala, and that of many other change-makers around our country is why we founded the Salone Messenger Platform to give limelight to their inspiring story.

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Sallu Kamuskay is a Sierra Leonean communication strategist, fixer, blogger, youth organiser, event manager, spokesperson, and public relations expert. His work has been regularly referenced and published by national and international media and public policy institutions. Sallu Kamuskay was a child during the brutal war in Sierra Leone. Growing up in the midst of conflict, Sallu witnessed unimaginable abuse of children and gross violations of human rights. The horrors he witnessed during the Civil War had a terrible impact on him at a very tender age. But despite the shock of the war, Sallu never lost hope. He started on a journey of recovery, studying, and working for a better future. At age 15, Sallu entered into the world of activism and advocacy. Sallu Kamuskay was the Vice President of the Young Leaders Organisation, a member of the National Youth Council. The Young Leaders is one of the oldest youth-led organisations in West Africa. The organisation was formed by a group of young leaders, and launched by the then Head of State/President of Sierra Leone. Sallu was part of the group of young leaders who participated in and contributed to the establishment of the National Youth Council. The Commonwealth supported the training for trainers programme with line ministries and youth stakeholders in which key, representatives of youth council, student union and civil society/private sector youth platforms were engaged and empowered in the effective engagement and inclusion of youth. Sallu is co-founder and Executive Director of the Salone Messenger, a global multimedia and public relations firm based In Sierra Leone. Sallu has worked on various developmental and policy issues such as Poverty, Climate Change, Human rights, Child Rights, Education, Health, Gender Equality, Civic Engagement, Government policies, Information Communication Technology for Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, and has also been contributing to various global events and advocacy campaigns. Sallu Kamuskay is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Salone Messenger, a global Multimedia and Public Relations Firm based in Sierra Leone with the latest news and information, on top stories, business, politics, entertainment, and more. Sallu is working with a leading technology company in Africa, Techfrica, that has recently developed and launched a social media, messaging Supfrica with over 150,000 downloads on the Google play store in less than 4 days. He is the Adviser and Media coordinator for the App to give people the platform to connect and communicate to help shape their future with a very fast internet that allows users that live in deprived and hard-to-reach areas with poor internet facility to be able to communicate as it allows and stronger on 2 and 3 G network reception. Sallu has over 9 years of experience in youth engagement, inclusion, and coordination both at local and global levels, giving voice to young people and engaging young people to build a better world. He has served as coordinator for the Wave Alliance which brought together youth-led organisations who attended an international training in South Africa organized by the International Organization – Waves for Change. Sallu is working with the MLT, Waves For Change, and the Government to develop safe spaces for young people, with a view to contributing to the overall development goals of young people including health, as well as to community rebuilding. Sallu is currently the Programme Director for the Wave Alliance, which is a coalition of youth-led and community-based organisations that have successfully introduced evidence-based Surf Therapy programs to young people in communities, with a focus on mental health, peace building and sustainable development. Sallu is currently the focal point and face of Africa’s Faces Social media platform which is a global Social media platform that brings together people from across the world to share their moments, connect, share videos, and interact with friends giving more preference to excluded continents like Africa. Sallu Kamuskay has devoted his time to working for or contributing to a number of national and international organizations and companies, including the Techfrica Technology Company, United Nations, ECOWAS, European Union, Commonwealth Africa Initiatives. This work has led him to travel to a number of countries to contribute to global youth platforms. Sallu is the lead Coordinator for Peace Tour programme, an initiative supported by the European Union, Africa Union, ECOWAS focusing on uniting and empowering young people and local communities. Over the years, Sallu Kamuskay has been using his Techno phone to be able to tell stories, the phone he used to tell the story of Gbessay during Ebola who was admitted at one of the Ebola treatment centers after rumors that she had Ebola when the actual sickness was ulcer, she was almost abandoned at the treatment canter with no medication provided to her. She could have died. Sallu told the story via social media and was able to secure funding from the United Sierra Leone to buy her medication and advocated for her. She was later discharged and taken home, He did the same to a patient that died and was abandoned in the street, Sallu Kamuskay used his phone and shared the message across, the corps was later taken and buried. It could have been more disaster without his voice. The story of late America Stress 3-year-old daughter. The hero’s daughter was abandon after his father's death. He shared her sad story and was able to get a sister who has taken the child as her own and is currently providing her with educational support. The article of America Stress can be read on the link below http://ayvnewspaper.com/index.php/k2-categories/item/7350-america-stress-a-hero-to-recognize. Sallu Kamuskay feels the stories of Gbessay, America stress and that of many others need to be told. The media house we have cannot better tell these stories, they are better reporters than telling human interest stories. He created the Salone Messenger platform and brought together passionate storytellers to be able to tell these compelling stories.