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Reading: Sierra Leone’s Isha Johansen Joins FIFA President To Witness The Opening Of The African Nations Championships In Cameroon.
Reading: Sierra Leone’s Isha Johansen Joins FIFA President To Witness The Opening Of The African Nations Championships In Cameroon.

Sierra Leone’s Isha Johansen Joins FIFA President To Witness The Opening Of The African Nations Championships In Cameroon.

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Sallu Kamuskay
By Sallu Kamuskay 323 Views 6 Min Read
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CAMEROON 15 January, 2021 — Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) President and Confederation of African Football (CAF) Executive Committee Member who also chairs the CAF women’s Committee, Isha Johansen has joined FIFA President, Gianni Infantino and other African Member Football Association (FA) Presidents, and global entrepreneurs and dignitaries in Yaounde, Cameroon to witness the opening of the 2020 African Nations Championships (CHAN TOTAL) in Cameroon.

(Photo: Isha Johansen and FIFA President)

(Photo: Isha Johansen and FIFA President)

Initially scheduled to have taken place in April 2020, the tournament was postponed to January 2021 due to the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic. The Confederation of African Football gave the green light for the African Nations Football Championship in Cameroon to take place with spectators with COVID-19 measures implemented.

 

FIFA President Gianni Infantino arrived in Yaounde on Friday morning ahead of start of the Championship, Cameroon 2020. The SLFA President met Infantino at a meeting ahead of Saturday’s start of the tournament for home-based players in Africa and are expected to discuss African football development and SLFA’s efforts to continue to implement its football development projects despite the covid-19 challenges.

 

Johansen is also meeting with a number of global football stakeholders including the pride of the African Continent and global icon, Cameroonian Samuel Eto who is also a CAF Ambassador and from the host country.

 

(Photo: Isha Johansen and Samuel Eto)

(Photo: Isha Johansen and Samuel Eto)

Johansen attended Friday’s CAF Executive Committee meeting before witnessing the event to crown Issa Hayatou as the honorary President of CAF. The SLFA President alongside FIFA President and other football leaders will be present at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde for the opening CHAN match between Cameroon and Zimbabwe.

 

Speaking from Cameroon, Isha Johansen shared her experience of rebuilding and rebranding football in Sierra Leone amid COVID 19 and how football is still both a challenge and opportunity. She praised the government and people of Sierra Leone for the progress made, commending FIFA and CAF for the unflinching support to the development of football in Sierra Leone and Africa at large.

 

“It’s a new dawn. Africa deserves better, Sierra Leone deserves better, and I am committed and determined to change the game for the better and to being able to become football leaders of today and tomorrow. We are working with the real game changers, in promoting football for peace and maintaining integrity. We are changing the narratives for good”, said Johansen.

 

Johansen called on football stakeholders to raise the game and promote peace and integrity in football. She said football breaks the vicious cycle of poverty and promote peace. It is the most powerful tool that communities and young people have to change their future.

 

In a remarkable story of resilience, hope and women leadership in football, Johansen who is also the owner of FC Johansen and CAF Executive Committee member is pursuing her vision of taking Sierra Leone football to the world.

 

Isha Johansen currently serves as President of the Sierra Leonean Football Association.  She is the only female president of a football association in Africa, and one of only three female FA presidents in the world.  She credits her father’s passion for the sport as her inspiration and the start of her lifelong involvement in football.  In 2004 she founded the internationally successful youth team – FC Johansen, using football to provide structure, training, education and opportunities for children displaced by Sierra Leone’s civil war.

 

She is a vocal advocate for good governance in the sport and is the first woman to have served on FIFA’s Security and Integrity Committee and as well as FIFA’s Women’s committee.

 

Johansen is the first Sierra Leonean to Match Commission or officiate a Fifa World Cup tournament (Women’s World Cup 2015 -CANADA).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Photo: Isha Johansen and Issa Hayatou, CAF President)

 

(Photo: Isha Johansen and   Issa Hayatou, CAF President)

(Photo: Isha Johansen and Anthony Baffoe, Ghanaian born Bundesliga international footballer star, currently CAF Deputy General Secretary

 

(Photo: Isha Johansen and Anthony Baffoe, Ghanaian born Bundesliga international footballer star, currently CAF Deputy General Secretary

 

(Photo: Isha Johansen and Daniel Alexander “Danny” Jordaan South African FA President)

(Photo: Isha Johansen and Daniel Alexander “Danny” Jordaan South African FA President)

(Photo: FIFA President, Gianni Infantino and Issa Hayatou, CAF President)

(Photo:  FIFA President, Gianni Infantino and   Issa Hayatou, CAF President)

(Photo: Isha Johansen and Augustin Senghor, Senegal FA President)

 

(Photo: Isha Johansen and Augustin Senghor, Senegal FA President)

 

 

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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.