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Biography: ABCDEF GHIJKL MNOPQR STUVWXYZ

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Alfred Vandy Gborie holds a Master of Statistics degree (1997), Postgraduate Diploma in Statistics (1996) from Makerere University, Kampala Uganda; and B. Sc. Education (Major in Mathematics), Njala University College, University of Sierra Leone, 1989. Primary and Secondary education in Taiama. He has ten years of experience in rural development project, research and teaching in International NGO, Research Institutions and Njala University respectively. He has six years of work experience in humanitarian work programmes with the United Nations World Food Programme in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Mozambique. Currently he is in Kabul, Afghanistan, working for IOM Afghanistan as Program Support Officer. He is married with two children. [Mar. 2010]

Samuel Grant was born in Freetown. He lived in New EnglandVille briefly, but he spend most of his childhood life up country, in Yamadu, where he attended Roman Catholic Primary School. Mr Grant was accepted at CKC-Secondary School-Bo, but he was unable to attend because he emigrated to California, U.S.A. He attended Silver Creek High School in San Jose, California, and completed his Bachelor of Arts from San Diego State University with an emphasis in Economics & Finance. Mr. Grant is now residing in Dallas, Texas, and works for a commercial real estate firm as a broker. Mr. Grant is very much an active participant in Dallas, where he is a member of the Tegloma Chapter and a member of Calvary Fellowship International Church. Mr. Grant enjoys reading, playing chess and racquetball on his spare time. [Jul. 2009]

John B. Gray lived in Freetown as a PCV from 1963 to 1965 (Group IV). He worked for the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service in radio and television. He was a video producer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A. for 21 years, doing cross cultural documentaries, with special interests in the Americas. He left video in June 2000 to sail , swim, tend his wild garden, and continue to marvel as each moment unfolds. He lives in Fox Point, Wisconsin USA and San Isidro de Heredia, Costa Rica. [Jul. 2009]

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Jeff Hall was a Peace Corps Volunteer (Agriculture) from 1987 to 1989 in Jokibu, near Bunumbu, in Kailahun District. He now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. Jeff is currently partnering closely with his village as they rebuild after the war. Over the past two years, funds raised in the U.S. have purchased 400 new metal roofs, 6 new clean water wells, various medical and educational supplies, a new school addition, and over 300 educational scholarships each year. Jeff is also taking 15 - 20 Americans to the village each year, as they build a strong relationship that enriches both countries. The partnership has committees in the U.S. and in the village for food, water, health, education and income. What began as an informal project has grown into a formal non-profit organization named OneVillage Project.   The goal of OneVillage is to work in partnership with those in extreme poverty to 1) invest in community development (education, health, water, etc.), and 2) increase income so villages are middle income for their country, and can live independently with free cash flow to invest, save and use as a buffer in case of an emergency.  OneVillage intends to develop this work into a model that is measurable, replicable and open and available to all on the internet. [Mar. 2010]

Oliver Harding holds a Bachelor of Arts (with honours) degree in modern history (1991), a postgraduate diploma (1994) and a Master of Arts degree in librarianship (2000) from Fourah Bay College (FBC), University of Sierra Leone. Furthermore, he obtained a Master of Arts degree in Biblical Studies from West Africa Theological Seminary (WATS), Lagos, affiliate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he obtained the prize for academic excellence as the Best Graduating Student in 2005. He worked as Reference and Deputy Librarian during his studies at WATS. He is currently Senior and Acting Librarian of Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone; President of the Sierra Leone Association of Librarians, Archivists and Information Professionals (SLAALIP); member of the American Theological Library Association (ATLA); affiliate of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP); member of the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society (SLRCS), and a part time lecturer at Institute of Library, Information and Communication Studies (NSLICS), Fourah Bay College and The Evangelical College of Theology (TECT). Oliver, a Biblical scholar, ordained minister, teacher, musician, counselor, etc. is married (to Francess) with two children (Olivia and Francis). [Mar. 2010]

Jim Higbie was a Peace Corps Volunteer from 1969 to 1973 in Daru and Kenema, working on a primary school teacher training project. He previously worked in Laos on English language projects. He has written three books on the Thai language and one book on the Lao language. He is currently working in Kono, Sierra Leone. [Mar. 2010]

Dave Holland was a CUSO volunteer from 1971 to 1974 at Sumbuya Secondary School in Sumbuya, Southern Province, where he was head of the Geography Department. In December 1973, Dave met Terry Beattie and two days later, they became engaged - they celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on 31 August 2009. Dave returned to university to get a degree in computer mapping and returned to Sierra Leone in 1975 with Terry to work on a mapping project as part of a UNDP/FAO project. Dave and Terry are now retired and currently live in Kingsville, Ontario. They have two children, Matthew and Sarah. Matthew, who is a graduate of the University of New Brunswick, is currently operating a computer software company. Sarah is also a graduate of the University of New Brunswick where she earned her Bachelor of Arts and her Bachelor of Education. She is currently teaching in Birmingham, England and will be returning to Canada in July of 2010. [Mar. 2010]

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Bashir Ibrahim Jalloh is from Fanima Wunde in Bo District and currently lives in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. He attended the Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School in Bo and Jimmy Boys' Secondary School. He later studied at the College of Medicine in Freetown and the University of Toronto. He is the former President of NUSS. He is currently working in the Nuclear Medicine Department at the Regina Paqua Hospital, Regina. He is a member of the CAMRT, NMTCB and ARRT. [Mar. 2010]

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Dr. Alpha Yaya Kamara was born in Benduma, Bagbwe Chiefdom, Bo District. He attended St. Andrew's Secondary School in Bo, and graduated from Njala University College in 1986 with a Bachelors degree in Agriculture General. He holds a Masters degree in Agronomy from the University of Kiel, Germany and a doctorate degree in Agronomy and Crop Science from the University of Kassel, Germany. Dr. Kamara was a teacher at the Bo Commercial Secondary School from 1986 to 1988 and a research officer at the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR), Njala in Sierra Leone from 1994 to1995. He is currently a Systems Agronomist/crop physiologist at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria. His research interests include sustainable land use systems in the tropics, crop physiology, plant nutrition, and general agronomy. Dr. Kamara enjoys playing golf and tennis. He is married to Sia Mary Kamara (nee Bandabla) and they have two sons and a daughter.  [Aug. 2009]

Mudiama Joe Kammoh was born in July, 1962 at Baoma Kpenge, Nongoba-Bullom Chiefdom, Bonthe District. His father Kammoh (Sokoiyasa) Konneh died in 1969, shortly after being freed from political detention at Bonthe. Mudiama's mother, Madam Kona Ngadi Jabbie still survives. Mudiama first went to St. Joseph's Catholic Primary, Baoma Kpenge. As a result of his dad's passing, he was given away to be looked after (trained) by various family members. So he briefly attended the following schools; St. Patrick's at Bonthe Sherbro, St. Martin's at Mattru Jong and Ahmadiyya Muslim Primary and Secondary at Freetown. Mudiama was in Ahmadiyya Secondary School between 1971 and 1975 and 1979 till 1981 doing sixth form. All his time while being passed around, without much effort always excelled at his school work. His teachers loved and admired him greatly, thus he never had to pay for books or school fees and a lot of times had, double promotions while in primary school. He worked at the Sierra Leone Daily Mail, Rawdon Street as a freelance serial cartoonist, churning out the family characters MOPEH and MUSU under the editorship of Arika Awuta Coker. Mudiama also wrote and illustrated three comic titles named THE KRAWO. The first edition of The Krawo was radio-played on BBC's Focus on Africa in August, 1985. A certain edition of The Krawo is under wraps in the Special Comics Collections at the Michigan State University Library. Mudiama gained a scholarship to study cartography in Moscow in 1985, yet he changed it to study Industrial Design. He didn't pursue course to completion as his and other students bursaries were never paid out by the Sierra Leone Embassy or somewhere along the line. Him and other poor students only managed to survive on the 90 roubles monthly stipend that was paid out by the Soviet Union. Mudiama witnessed many poor and vulnerable students being coerced into smuggling in mercandise for so-called rich students in Russia at that time. He finally and sadly left Moscow in 1988. Mudiama lives and works in London as a bus driver with a clean licence. He is married to Messie Ngegbai and they have children. He visits Sierra Leone every time he has a holiday and wonders all the time why he left such a beautiful country in the first place.The only blessing was to have missed the brutal civil war! Mudiama still finds time to draw and paint (not commercially). He takes masses of photographs while on his wanderlust in Sierra Leone. [Aug. 2011]

Nadim N. Kantara, of Freetown, was managing director of Tradex S.L. Ltd., and formerly worked for Sierra Leone Bricks Factory, the International Bank for Trade and Industry, Agro Commercial Trading Company, and Palm Beach Casino Club. He currently is President and Managing Editor of the A Folha De Teresopolis Journal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. [Mar. 2010]

Ali Badara Kargbo was born in Bauya, (intersection (junction) of the then existing Sierra Leone Railway). He attended the University of Wroclaw in Poland and the Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow. He is an A+ certified computer technician. He presently resides in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.A. [Mar. 2010]

Kim Kargbo lived in Tambiama, Sierra Leone with her missionary parents from 1976 to 1983. She returned to work in Kamakwie as a nurse from 1990 to 1993, founding the Community Health Evangelism programme in the northern Bombali District. While there, she met and married her husband, Tim Kargbo. Kim worked for 5 years during the war with World Hope International, establishing their Sierra Leone office and implementing a rehab program for amputees. While she and her family (husband and 3 children) make their permanent home in Mississippi, just outside Memphis, Tennessee, where Tim works as the General Manager for CrossCom National, she is currently living in Sierra Leone launching a new program for disabled women in the Makeni area, called Women of Hope International. [Mar. 2010]

Dr. Cleaver Keenan served in the Sierra Leone Medical Service from 1956 to 1960. He was M.O. Police & Prisons for a few weeks before being posted to Bonthe. In his second tour, he was posted to the Connaught Hospital, where he worked with Dr. Davidson Nicol as Assistant Pathologist, and in the Emergency Department. When in Bonthe he and Dorothy adopted a little girl, Sally Conteh, who had had one arm amputated by Dr. Haj Conteh because of a snake bite. Sally was later murdered by the rebels. He revisited Sierra Leone in 1979 to open a school in Lunsar which was built by Espanola United church. He currently lives in New Liskeard, Ontario, Canada. [Mar. 2010]

Peter Kenah was born in Sengema, Malen Chiefdom, in the Pujehun District. He had his primary education at the District Council School in Gandorhun Fakunya and RC School Sahn Malen and his secondary education at the St Paul's Secondary School in Pujehun. In 1979, Peter entered the then Milton Margai Teachers College (now Milton Margai College of Education and Technology) where he read Geography and Biology. On graduation in 1982, he was awarded the Ibrahim N'jai prize for the best student of Geography. Having taught for a couple of years, he entered Fourah Bay College in 1988 and graduated with a Second Class Upper Honours degree in Geography in June 1993. Peter holds a Master of Arts degree (M.A. Population Studies) from the United Nations Regional Institute for Population Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon. He has worked in various places – UNDP Projects, Anti-Corruption Commission, University of Sierra Leone etc. He is currently the Head of Customer Service at the National Social Security and Insurance Trust (NASSIT) in Sierra Leone. He lives with his wife and four children - three boys and a daughter - in Freetown. [Jul. 2009]

Thomas Sheku Kenah was born at Sengema Malen in Pujehun District to Pa Vandi Kenah and Madam Mariama Kenah. He attended St. Dominic Primary School at Sengema, later St. Patrick’s RC Primary School in Bonthe, St. Anthony’s R C Primary School, Brookfields, Freetown, where he was baptised as a Roman Catholic. He also attended the District Council Primary School in Gandorhun Fakunya, Moyamba District and St. Paul’s Primary School, Sahn Malen in Pujehun District. Thomas did his secondary education at the St. Paul’s Secondary School in Pujehun. (1970-1976). He taught for a year at the United Muslim Association Secondary School in Freetown (known as Sohcahtoa) (1977). He proceeded to train as an Environmental Health Officer at the National School of Hygiene (MOH), Government Wharf where he obtained a Diploma in Public Health (West Africa).(1978-1980). Thomas worked as Language and Cross Cultural Instructor/Coordinator for American Peace Corps Volunteers (1980(Mbudorbu) -1985(Songo). Thomas worked in Water and Sanitation Project- MEP/CARE- Moyamba District as the Project’s Health Education Coordinator (1985-1987. He studied at the Yaba Institute of Technology, Nigeria (1987). He was later appointed Assistant National Coordinator (Water and Sanitation Secretariat- Youyi Building- Freetown (!987-1988) Thomas obtained a UN Water and Sanitation Decade scholarship through the British Council to study at the University of Dundee in Scotland,UK where he obtained MSc degree in Environmental/Public Health (1988-1990). He returned to CARE (WASH Project as Health Coordinator) (1990-1994) as the Project’s Health Coordinator. Thomas briefly worked as Primary Health Coordinator at PLAN International (Western Area Freetown). (1994). He was incorporated into the National Health and Emergency Team of Ministry of Health Freetown/Environmental health Dept (1994-1996). Thomas proceeded to the UK in 1996 where he studied nursing at University of Surrey-Guildford (European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences).Thomas later attended the Leeds Metropolitan University where he obtained a BSc (Hons) 2nd class. Thomas has worked at Springfield University Hospital in London, Leeds Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and now lives in London currently working for Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust as a nurse. He is the University of Middlesex Link Mentor for Recovery and Rehabilitation Services (2009). Thomas is married to Jeneh McCarthy with four children. [Dec. 2009]

Joseph Tamba Koroma attended Bo Government Secondary School (Head Prefect) and Njala University in Sierra Leone. He received his higher education in the United States where he earned undergraduate degrees in Environmental Studies Policy and Accounting from Manchester College in Indiana. And he has also completed a Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PHD) in Geography from Indiana State University. His doctoral research, focused on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Africa. He currently works as Associate Dean of Student Financial Services at Olympic College in the state of Washington. [Mar. 2010]

Ngadi W. Kponou is Public Services Assistant, Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A. [Mar. 2010]

Dr. Lans Ahmed Kumalah was educated at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone; the University of Montpellier, France; and the University of Bordeaux, France. Dr. Kumalah was a Foreign Service Officer for several years and served as a Diplomat to the Kingdom of Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Austria and Luxembourg. On his return home he was appointed National Authorizing Officer (NAO) for the European Development Fund in Sierra Leone. While serving as NAO he also served as Regional Authorizing Officer for a regional fisheries program that covered 16 countries in West Africa including Mauritania. Dr. Kumalah was also a part-time Lecturer at Fourah Bay College and Milton Margai College of Education for several years. He has served as a Consultant to the World Bank Institute since 2000 and currently Senior Manager at The Mitchell Group Inc., an international development/USAID contracting firm based in Washington, DC, U.S.A. with contracts in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. He is married to Fausta (née D’Almeida). They have three girls, Sayon, Jerrie and Jasmine. [Mar. 2010]

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Francis Pelson Lahai was born on the 8th January 1958. He is a native of the Nyenie village in the Nongoballum Chiefdom in Bonthe District. He hails from the Lahai family of Mr. and Mrs. Vandy Lahai. He attended the Roman Catholic School at Dandabu in the Pujehun district from Class 1 – 7. He entered Bonthe Secondary School in 1969 and sat the GCE O’ Levels in 1974. He entered the Bo Teachers College in Bo in 1975 and completed the teachers certificate course in 1978. He worked at SLMB in Bonthe. He was appointed as senior teacher and a paymaster of teacher’s salary in 1983. Due to his honesty, obedience and innovation, he was appointed acting headteacher in 1990 and the school name was changed to Islamic Call Society in 1984 under a new mission. He entered Njala University College in 2001 and completed his course in 2004 with a Bachelor of Education degree in June with a Division 2 in Social Studies, English Language and Education. He established the ICS Secondary School commonly, known as Duramany Sesay Secondary School, in Bonthe with a junior secondary school sector JSS 1 with an enrolment of 80 students. Presently, the school has attained a JSS 3 sector and will be having its 2nd BECE this year with 280 students and 14 teachers. Mr. Francis Pelson Lahai is a member of the Bonthe Technical Training College Board, a board member of the Minnie Mull Secondary School, a Secretary General of the Development Management Committee of the Sherbro Island area Development Programme under World Vision – Sierra Leone, and other important responsibilities. He is currently in Bonthe as an Acing Principal of the Duramany Sesay Memorial IC Secondary School in Bonthe. He is married with 5 children. [Mar. 2010]

Scott Lamont was a Peace Corps Volunteer (fisheries) at Bonthe, Sherbro Island from 1983 to 1986. He is now a technical writer in Massachusetts, U.S.A. [Mar. 2010]

Miki Lang taught at St. Joseph's Secondary School for Girls in Moyamba from 1972 to 1973, and then worked in Freetown, at the PC craft shop, as well as at the Cape Sierra, for the Ministry of Tourism. She volunteered with CARE on family planning and was hired full-time, working first on road construction and then its feeding programs. She stayed in Africa -- Mali, Chad and Cameroon -- until 1988 and now lives in Sausalito, California, U.S.A., selling real estate. She is the proud mother of the World Cup Champion in paintballing, Oliver Lang. [Mar. 2010]

Sam A. Leigh is Managing Director of Edward Davies and Associates, Ltd., Consulting Engineers. Sam Leigh serves as the Managing Director of Edward Davies and Associates Ltd. (EDA) providing engineering consultancy services to clients in West Africa. Among the projects for which EDA is providing services, singly or in collaboration with other firms, are 22km Tokeh-Lumley Road Project, 86km Kenema - Pendembu Road Project, and Surveying and Geotechnical Investigation Investigations for the Water Tank Project for the US Embassy. [Jul. 2009]

Tanniemola Bunting Liverpool lived in the 70's at Mount Aureol in Freetown. He is a theoretical physicist and previously worked at the Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung (Polymer Research) in Mainz, Germany and the Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielle in Paris, France and at the Imperial College in London. He was alecturer at the University of Leeds, U.K. Currently hs is a Reader in Applied Mathematics at Bristol University [Mar. 2010]

John Abu-Kpawoh was born in Gbama, Jaiama Bongor Chiefdom, Bo District. He was in China for nine years, where he did his Masters degree and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree. He returned home in September 2002. Since then, he has been attached to Njala University, in the Institute of Home Sciences. [Nov. 2007]

Farid Raymond Anthony is a Barrister (England and Wales - non-practicing), Barrister and Solicitor, Commissioner for Oaths, Notary Public, Republic of Sierra Leone; Barrister and Solicitor of the Appellate Courts, Republic of The Gambia; and Member of the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association (England). He was called to the Bar in England in 1963. He was an immigration consultant in Gillingham, Kent, U.K., but is now retired.  He is the author of "Questions and Answers on Immigration to Britain" and "Sawpit Boy," and his third book, "Stories From Sierra Leone," which was published in the U.K. in December 2003.  [Nov. 2008]

Osman Barrie was born in Kamakwie, Bombali District in 1972 . He attended St. Francis Secondary School in Makeni. He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering from Fourah Bay College in 1996. He received a Master of Science degree in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in 1998 and a Master of Science degree in Transportation Engineering from the City College of New York (City University of New York) in 2000. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and a licensed Professional Traffic Operations Engineer in the States of New York and New Jersey. He worked as a Transit Systems Analyst with the New York City Transit Authority from May 1999 to June 2000 and as a Senior Transportation Engineer with Schoor Depalma Engineers and Design Professionals Inc. in Manalapan, New Jersey from June 2000 to November 2005. He is currently working as a Project Manager with Nelson & Pope Engineers and Surveyors in Melville, Long Island, New York. He is aslo a part-time professor of Mathematics at Monroe College in New York City. [Dec. 2008]

Tamara Cummings-John was born in London and went to Freetown as a child. She remained there for nine years, and attended the Akibo Betts School . She lived in London for most of her life, and studied French at Manchester University and law at the College of Law Store Street. She lived in East Africa for 6 years working in advertising and subsequently for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She recently completed an 18 month stint in Sierra Leone working for the Office of the Prosecutor at the Special Court. She currently lives in London, but spends time in Freetown where she runs a business, Diaspora Bookshop & Cafe. [Nov. 2008]

Kiran Cunningham is currently a professor of anthropology at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.A. She attended Njala University College from 1981 to 1982, and returned to Sierra Leone for a year in 1988 to 1989 to conduct her dissertation research on women, marriage and power. While there, she also did some research, informally, for the Inland Valley Swamp Development Project coordinated by the FAO, UNDP, and MANR&F. [Nov. 2008]

Mohamed S. Dauda, MD was born in Jaiama Nimikoro, Kono District. He attended the UMC primary school, Jaiama, and eventually Koidu Secondary School (1980 to 1982), Christ the King College, Bo (1982-85), and Prince of Wales, Freetown (1988 to 1990). He then studied medicine at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, USL (1990 to 1997). He was Secretary-General of the students union (1991 to 1992). He pursued further training at the Brooklyn Hospital Center Family Medicine program (2004 to 2007). He was Chief Resident of the program (2006 to 2007). He is now working as a board certified family physician with Eastern North Carolina Medical Group in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, U.S.A. [Nov. 2008]

Bernie Dodge served as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching math at Bonthe Secondary School from 1970 to 1972. He is now a professor of Educational Technology at San Diego State University in San Diego, California. [Nov. 2008]

Dr. Alex C. Dunn attended Prince of Wales School from 1966 to 1973 and Fourah Bay College from 1973 to 1976. Alex was an Electrical /Instrument Engineer at the Sierra Leone Petroleum Refinery from 1978 to 1981, when he left to pursue a master's degree at the University of Aston in Birmingham, U.K. Alex has lived in the United States since 1983, with career as Control Systems Engineer / Sr. Project Manager at Shell, Honeywell, Setpoint, Inc., W. K. Kellogg and Ciba-Geigy. Alex obtained his doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Houston, Texas, and currently lives in Cypress, Texas, U.S.A. Alex is now the manager of the Advanced Solutions Group at Yokogawa corporation of America, where he is charged with leading a $25MM business aimed at changing Yokogawa’s image in North America from a products supplier to Solutions provider in the ‘plan & execute’, ‘direct & operate’, and track, analyze & inform’ space. Alex has also launched ‘AfriTek, Inc., www.afritek.biz ’ in Freetown with the goal of providing energy optimization focused and other engineering solutions to businesses in West Africa. [Nov. 2008]

Janice England was a Lay Mission Helper in Makeni from 1989 to 1993. She currently is the Executive Director of the Lay Mission-Helpers Association in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. [Nov. 2008]

Kweku Hugh Fraser attended Sierra Leone Grammar School from 1967 to 1973 and Fourah Bay College from 1973 to 1978. He worked for Standard Chartered Bank (SL) from 1978 to 1985 and Barclays Bank (SL) from 1988 to 1990. He moved to Kenya in 1990 and worked there until June 1998 when he moved to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where he currently heads the management consultancy practice of Ernst & Young Tanzania. [Nov. 2008]