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I want to start off by stating that for reasons of confidentiality, I will deliberately withhold some names of people who influenced my life in one way or another. I was born in the month of May in the year 1961, at the Mandu Clinic in Mobai, Mandu Chiefdom, Kailahun District in eastern Sierra Leone. The date and time of my birth were included in my birth certificate that my mother's elder brother (Momoh Bui Ansumana, RIP) gave me when I was going to secondary school. He was the custodian of all documents related to me. I grew up knowing only my mother, Mamie Ngasoh Ansumana (RIP). I will deliberately leave out any story about my father, especially because he was not in my life for any significant amount of time. At a more oppotune time, I may write about my biological father. My mother told me she had a son when I was born but that this son (my elder brother) died the year I was born. She never had another child after me. In the 1967/68 academic year (at age 6), I was given to a guardian (actually an aunt) whose husband was a Doctor's Assistant ("dresser", as they were known by then) at the Nixon Memorial Hospital in Segbwema. Eastern Sierra Leone. We stayed just across the road from the hospital campus. I started school at the Methodist Primary School. I would get up early (5:00 to 5:30) in the morning, warm water for the family, sweep in and around the house, wash the dishes and go to school. After school, I would go to sell kerosene (paraffin) in the neighbourhood, returning home when it has begun getting dark. I would come back home to do some more house work. There was hardly any time to study at home. I could remember my class teacher's name was Mr. Lansana. This was Class I, my first year in school. There were some problems with the family in Segbwema (my aunt was apparently not very kind to me) and my mother had to take me away from them.

Thus by 1968/69 school year, I was now staying in my mother's village, Tawey, a village of about 15-20 mud and thatch houses just about 1-2 miles away from Mobai, the headquarter town of the Mandu Chiefdom. I stayed with my mother and her elder brother, Pa Momoh Bui Ansumana. At this time my mother was married to Pa Samba Johnny. In less than a year, a Head Teacher who had just been newly sent to take over the Roman Catholic (R.C) Primary School in Mobai, became interested in me. His name was Mr. James J. Abu, but he was simply called Teacher Abu. He asked my uncle (who was my guardian) for permission that I stay in his house. My uncle and mother agreed and I moved to Mobai. I stayed in his house with another boy, Sallu Vandi, who was my cousin. We stayed in Mobai until the 1970/71 school year when Teacher Abu was again transferred to another school, the R.C. Primary School in Yamandu, Southern Province.

In Yamandu I was in Class IV. I can now surely remember only one of my classmates, Edward Banya. In Yamandu, I can remember that I used to go

to the "Kamara Havana Club (I just loved the name, actually). I was baptized (accepted in the Roman Catholic Church) by Rev. Fr. Conway.

After a year in Yamandu, we moved to the R.C. Primary School in Koribondo, also in the Southern Province. This was in the 1971/72 school year, and I was in Class V. Yankuba Ansumana was one of my classmates in Koribondo. It was also in Koribondo that we were staying when the first consignment of the long Mercedes buses were sent upcountry. On the day the buses first arrived in Koribondo, something special happened. I was returning home from selling some doughnuts that Madam Margaret (Teacher Abu's wife) had made when, around the Koribondo "Turn Table" (or "round-about", a major intersection for vehicles/traffic), I found a twenty cents coin (at the time, the exchange rate between the Leone and the US Dollar was 1:1). This was big money for a small boy. But I showed no one, because I had to use it to pay for any losses I incur while selling the doughnuts. If I do not put back any money lost, I risked beating.

Having being away 1970-1972, my mother became worried. She urged my uncle to ask Teacher Abu to bring me back. Teacher Abu obeyed. Teacher Abu's family consisted of his wife (Margaret) and two daughters (Baby and Theresa). While with them, I also had to do a lot of house work as well as sell cakes after school. There was also very little or no time to study at home. When I came home, I did not even recognize my mother's village. Thus in 1972/73, I was doing the sixth grade (Class VI) again at the R.C Primary School in Mobai. This time I stayed in Tawey, walking to school every morning and walking home every evening. There were about 5-8 children that always went to school from Tawey. We would talk as we walk the 1-2-mile journey. But it was not always walking. Many times were taken to school on board a vehicle belonging to one of the residents of Tawey (Mr. Gbessay Mustapha Gbundehma, or G.M.G as we used to shout each time his vehicle showed up to carry us to or from school). He died in 1973 (or 1974?), after a very brief illness. (May His Soul Rest in Peace.) I stayed in tawey with my mother and uncle for two years. Some time later, especially when it was time to prepare for the examination that qualified us for entrance to secondary school, I transferred to another aunt, Hawa Bondae Sherriff. She was in Mobai. I stayed in her house. My grandmother (Mama Suna) was alive by then and lived in the same

house. Mama Suna would always keep some food for me so I had food every time I returned from school. She died before I went to secondary school. She

was in hospital for treatment for an illness. One afternoon, I returned home and met everyone at home crying. They told me my grandmother was dead. I did not believe at first (probably because I loved her too much and by the time I went to school in the morning, there was no report of any seriousness in her illness. Later, I believed.

Under the R.C. School in Mobai, I sat to the Selective Entracne Examination in Pendembu, one of the examination's center at the time. I passed. I can not remember very well, but I think my grade was something like 180 out of 300 (not too bad for a boy who had had little time to study). I was now to prepare for secondary school.

I entered secondary school in 1974/75. The school was Holy Ghost Secondary School in Segbwema. The name of the school principal was D.A. Ngombu. My Maths, English, and French teachers' names were Pual Muldown (a Peace Corps Volunteer), Ms. Johan Coleman (from Indiana, I can't remember whether or not she was a Peace Corps Volunteer) and Jackie Olsen (from Canada). Of course, many of my other teachers were Sierra Leoneans (Sam Alie, Bockarie Alpha, Foday Sawi, S.S Lansana, etc. etc.). At the Holy Ghost School, the priest who could have known me well was Rev. Fr. Sean O'Conor, who died in 1975/76 (I think) and we travelled to bury him at the Christ the King College (CKC) grounds in Bo. I sat to the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level in 1979. I sat together with friends like: Nyaibor Ngombu, Solomon Lansana, Peter Monya. These were the closest friends.

In 1979/80, I went to attend the Saint Francis' Secondary School in Makeni in Northern Sierra Leone. I stayed with one of my half brothers, Prince Kawa. who was managing some business in Makeni at the time. At St. Francis, Fr. Victor Mosele baptized me again, because I wanted to be confirmed but I could not produce my baptismal certificate. I was baptized on June 1 and confirmed June 8 1980. I was in St. Francis' for only a year. In 1980/81, I took up a teaching post at the Sierra Leone Wesleyan Church (SLWC) Primary School in Masuba. This took me also to Kamabai, where I stayed only briefly and went to college (Njala University College, University of Sierra Leone). From college, I taught and later got employment with the Seed Multiplication Project (SMP). This gave me opportunity to travel country-wide.

While with the SMP, I travelled to the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria. I stayed in Ibadan for a month, participating in a seed technology training program organized by the IITA. I returned to Sierra Leone in March of 1988. In September 1994, I traveled to China; to the Republic of South Africa n 1998 and, lastly to the U.S. in February 2001.

The circumstances surrounding my mother's death remain a mystery to this date. She was missing in the decade-long war in our country. No one has up to this day given me any clear information or detail about when, where, and how (and/or why) she died, or perhaps what (or who) killed her. I have only been told by a cousin that my mother died about 2-3 days to Christmas. (Year? She, my cousin, was unable to tell). But I will always love her, because she made me what I am today.

May her soul, and the souls of all those who have left this world in God's love REST IN PERFECT PEACE. Amen.

My mother loved children, and it is her passion of helping children that I also want to live. Hence my founding of the Friends of Africa Relief and Development Agency, a human service agency and non-profit committed to creating awareness about and raising funds for children in difficult circumstances. This is why children are important to me. I grew up the hard way, and I know what this means. If I had the power, I would allow no child to labor. I believe that under normal circumstances, no child would like to grow to become a bad person, or a criminal. I would like every child to grow and develop, knowing that he/she is important and unique, and that he/she can grow to be the kind of person he/she dreams to be. I therefore pray that all those who work hard to ensure safety, protection, and love for children be given all possible resources to accomplish their objectives. Finally, I also believ in the power of women. My mother proved it: she brought me up with only little help from a husband, even my step father. (Of course I know that my uncle was very essential in my life, but my mother initiated everything.