Optimistic Voices
Vital voices in the fields of global health, global child welfare reform and family separation, and those intent on conducting ethical missions in low resource communities and developing nations. Join our hosts as they engage in conversations with diverse guests from across the globe, sharing optimistic views, experiences, and suggestions for better and best practices as they discuss these difficult topics.
Optimistic Voices
From Village to Nursing: Monjama's Journey of Resilience
Discover the remarkable journey of Monjama, a young woman from rural Sierra Leone whose life trajectory shifted dramatically through education, family reconnection, and dedicated support. Left fatherless in a remote village without schools or healthcare facilities, Monjama's future seemed predetermined by generational poverty—until intervention changed everything.
At just seven years old, Monjama entered the Child Reintegration Center (CRC), encountering formal education for the first time. Despite having no prior schooling, her natural abilities flourished as she was double-promoted through her studies. When the CRC transitioned from residential care to family-based support in 2016, Monjama faced new challenges: reconnecting with her mother while continuing her education.
The podcast welcomes two special guests who bring this story to life. Rosa Saffa, a social worker at the CRC who was herself raised in residential care, shares unique insights into the emotional complexities Monjama navigated. Then surprisingly, Monjama herself joins the conversation, describing her journey from disconnection to rebuilding relationships with her mother and siblings. We hear firsthand about the obstacles she overcame—language barriers, cultural differences, and the emotional work of reestablishing family bonds after years of separation.
Most powerfully, Monjama reveals how she completed nursing school and treated her own mother as her first patient—a profound full-circle moment that exemplifies how supporting one child can transform entire families and communities. As Rosa eloquently states, "If you educate a girl child, you educate a nation."
This episode challenges listeners to reconsider what creates true resilience in vulnerable children. Beyond academic opportunities, Monjama's story demonstrates how family connections provide the emotional foundation and sense of belonging essential for lasting success. Through her journey, we witness the transformative power of holistic support that addresses both educational needs and family relationships.
Ready to be part of someone's journey toward hope? Visit helpingchildrenworldwide.org to learn how you can support more success stories like Monjama's. You can donate to the work of the Child Reintegration Centre and support young people lifting themselves from poverty through this link: donate.helpingchildrenworldwide.org
Subscribe, share, and join us in bringing more optimistic voices to light.
___________________________
Maternal Health impacts child and family wellbeing, and is an indicator of societal wellbeing as well. Please listen to our podcast episodes on safe childbirth and maternal health to learn more about how health of a mother is basic survival for a child.
If you want to support this work, please give to the HCW Maternal Health Mission
Helpingchildrenworldwide.org
Welcome back to another episode of Optimistic Voices, a Child's View sharing stories of harsh challenges faced by young people living in extreme poverty, and their resilience and hope. I'm Natalie Turner and this is my co-host, dr Melody Curtis.
Speaker 2:I'm Natalie Turner, and this is my co-host, dr Melody Curtis. Together, natalie and I will talk about real kids who face tough challenges and the amazing people who help them find a brighter future. It's called A Child's View not only because the story is of a child or children who overcame their adversity, but also because Natalie brings a youthful perspective to the lessons we gain in hearing these stories.
Speaker 1:Each episode features a special guest who will take us on a journey, one filled with adversity, compassion and hope. I think today's story will be especially interesting to young people like me, as it is about someone who was about my age when the changes came in her life. And I'm about to start my own journey on my own, and all the work I must do in preparation for my career begins now.
Speaker 2:I imagine that is true, but the young person at the heart of today's episode faced challenges that you and your friends are not likely to experience.
Speaker 1:Yes, today's story is about Manjama, a young woman in Sierra Leone, West Africa, who faced life on her own and would not have the bright future ahead of her if it were not for people like our guest, Rosa Safa.
Speaker 2:So let's welcome today's guest, rosa Safa, a social worker and licensed counselor working for the Child Reintegration Center in Sierra Leone. Thank you for joining us, rosa. Hello, tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and I work at the Child Reintegration Center in Sierra Leone.
Speaker 3:I was actually one of the children who grew up there when the CLC was just a residential center. Later I went to college. After university, I became a social worker and a counselor, and now I work with young people who are going to higher education, as well as counseling those who have trauma in their lives. Although CLC and my office are in Boe, but I have been transferred to Freetown in 2023. I was transferred to Freetown, so I now work in Freetown, the Sierra Leone's capital city. I've been working in Freetown for the past two years and I serve families who live there. I also travel quite often to visit other families and students in higher education who reside in Bo.
Speaker 2:So let's begin with Manjama's story. What was happening when you first met her?
Speaker 3:I met Manjama. I was also in the residential care, so she was my sister. She just completed her one year in kindergarten and then she was in primary school. She just started class one, going to class two when I left for university in Freetown.
Speaker 2:How did she come to be at the CRC?
Speaker 3:She was living in the village with her family. She's from a family of five. Mwondama is here with me. She's from a family of five because they lost their dad. She's the oldest child in her family. She has two younger brothers and a younger sister. They are all living in a village. We are her parents. We are peasants farmers.
Speaker 3:Monjama and her siblings didn't go to school because there was no school in their village, so they helped their parents in the farm. They helped with the farm work. Sadly, their father died and their mother alone struggled to raise the children by herself. She and their mother and her three siblings were staying in the village and life was very hard for them. They were farmers, the parents were farmers.
Speaker 3:They only farmed what they could eat, what the family could eat for the day, and so there was no school in their village. There was no health center, and so a good Samaritan who traveled from Bo to their village came to know about them and their way of living, and the dad passed away, and so the good Samaritan tried to share their story with CLC, and later the Monjama's family were invited to the CRC, maybe for confirmation or to see how vulnerable they are at the moment. We were informed that we'll be having a family of three joining us One girl and two boys from the same family joining us at the residence. Later during the day, monjama and her two brothers joined us at the CLC.
Speaker 1:That sounds very difficult. How old was Monjama at the time and how did she cope with everything?
Speaker 3:Monjama was just seven years old and it was hard. Their first meal was dinner. They came in the evening hours so they just met us having dinner and they joined us for dinner. But she also got to go to school for the first time. She was told to begin a Nazi school, but because she had never been to school before, she had to stop there to get foundation. She did so well. She was double promoted into a primary school. She completed primary school with very high marks. Her monjama and her siblings stayed in the orphanage until the transition in 2016. And then she went to live with her auntie, auntie Lucy, who lives in Bo, so that she could continue to go to school. This is very common in Sierra Leone. Kids often live with other relatives or friends of the family in the city so that they can continue school when the village doesn't have school.
Speaker 1:I imagine that it was very hard living apart from family at such a young age and for such a long time First the orphanage and then with Auntie Lucy, but she was continuing her education, so I imagine that that motivated her and gave her hope, but I also imagine that there were times, probably, when she was a little sad.
Speaker 2:I think this is where some of the changes started to happen for Manjima, so that she didn't feel separated from her family. Rosa, can you tell us what happened next? Did Majima get reconnected to her mom? Yes, she did.
Speaker 3:When the orphanage transitioned in 2016, the CLC team worked hard to make sure that Majima had the best family placement so that she could continue to do well in school and have a bright future. Monjama did well at Auntie Lucy's place, but Lucy and the social workers at TLC knew that she needed to reconnect with her family to have true resilience and a secured identity, and so they make sure that she got plenty of time to feel that she belongs to a family. Auntie Lucy she was from the same village. She worked hard to reconnect Monjama and her family in the village. She used to invite them over to her house on the weekends and when Manjama got old enough to travel on her own, she visited them on her own.
Speaker 1:That's incredible to hear that she was able to continue the family connection, as that is so important. Can you share what you witnessed as the situation changed? How did it make you and Manjama feel to be able to have both access to a good education and a close connection to family, not having to sacrifice one for the other?
Speaker 3:Monjama is here with me. Welcome, Monjama.
Speaker 2:Hello. Oh, that's so exciting that she's there with you. Monjama, we're wondering if you had any fears about reconnecting with your family after being apart from them for so long with your family after being apart from them for so long.
Speaker 4:Yeah, at first it was difficult really for me to connect with my family because I was little by then and the way to the village was difficult for me to know. So when I grew up and I finished college before reconnecting to them back, so I tried the first time to go to the village so that I can know where they are living.
Speaker 2:And do you feel that you're reconnected with them now?
Speaker 4:Yeah, sometimes I go to the village.
Speaker 3:I get to see my mom. So before the reunification in 2016, the CRC team we were having several meetings with the children trying to get them prepared for the outside world life out of CLC, and they were all panicked about adjusting to living with their families. Panicked about using the pitch dwellers, having to eat as a family in the ports, because at the CLC they used to eat at the dining table. They have different, different times for their eating meals each day and even the language barrier was also a problem for them. For children like Monjama who are from the village, their parents can only understand Mende and now at the CLC they have been used to speaking English and also Krio. So language barrier was also a problem for them communicating with their families.
Speaker 3:But we started sending them on weekends to bridge the gap between them and their families, so that the families can accept them as their children and they can know their culture, their way of life, they can remember their language again, especially the Mende, and also for them to know that this is where I am going to sleep, out of CLC. This is the food I'll be eating. I'll no more be eating bread and egg in the morning, but I'll be eating rice or maybe fufu. The CLC team did a very good job during the reunification process for Monjama and all the other children in the residence. We made sure we prepared them enough for life out of CRC and so later it was very easy for them to adjust. So we connect with their families.
Speaker 2:Was there anything in working with Manjima and helping her that made you reflect on your own experience as a care leaver?
Speaker 3:Yes, there are some things that are similar with us. When I went to Puyatong to attend university, I was struggling with peer pressure. I was struggling with peer pressure how to fit in with my friends to go socializing, because I have spent all my childhood days in the orphanage, the residential care, and it was very strange for me socializing. And so when I started working at the CLC as a counselor, and later when Monjama was reunified with her family, each time doing home visits, I would ask her have you started going out? Have you started making new friends, meeting with your classmates outside school? And she would say no, then she would say she finds it difficult to adjust to the outside world. So then I reflect on my own days in the university that I was also struggling to mingle with friends because of how we have been groomed in the residence that we.
Speaker 3:Our whole life was just spent in a fence. I only get to connect with my. Our whole life was just spent in a fence. I only get to connect with my mother after college. Yes, because after CLC I went to Freetown to stay with Mr Lamboy's family, the former director of CLC. So just after CLC I went to Freetown, I started living with a different family and I connected with them more there was that attachment between me and them than my own mother. It was after university in 2016, that I get to spend more time with my mother, and now I am happy that she's my best friend and I have learned a lot from her. And then I have to miss her again because I got married and then I have to leave her again. So that's the sad part of it. I just started enjoying my mother's love and then I have to get married and leave her behind.
Speaker 2:Manjuma, how do you feel about being reconnected with your mother?
Speaker 4:Well, I was very happy to reconnect with her.
Speaker 2:And is it still difficult at times, or is it comfortable now with your family?
Speaker 4:Well, with her it's not really easy. It's not easy. She's still farming, she's on the farming process, still on it, Because that is what she does to gain her living, and can you describe what it is about being reconnected with your mother that makes you happy?
Speaker 4:So reconnect with my mother, that makes me happy. Well, she guides me, she tells me what to do. She also advised me about good and bad, what I should do, what I should not do, and sometimes, if I do wrong, maybe the way other relative, we, we react to the situation. She will not react like that. She will understand, because she's the one that gave back to me and she will know that what I did is wrong and she will know the way that she will face me to tell me that what she did is not right.
Speaker 2:And how does that make you feel?
Speaker 4:Well, I feel happy. I feel happy, good, joyous, because staying with a mother. It's only a mother that can understand a child, her daughter or her children. So right now I can say my mother is really proud of me because she has heard that I finished my college and I have done great in school. I did very well, I focused then I've passed with good grades. So that makes her happy to be a mother.
Speaker 1:So I think you just touched on this, but where are you now? How has life changed since getting that support?
Speaker 4:Where am I living now?
Speaker 3:Let me answer this please. So my mother is doing very well now. She got very high scores on her exams and went to university to study nursing. She's a nurse now, and guess who was her very first patient?
Speaker 2:Her mother, her own, mother, and how did it make you feel to be able to help your mother as the first patient that you saw?
Speaker 4:It makes me feel good, happy. Well treating my family is like being proud of myself, like being a nurse and what I went through the college that makes me to be a nurse have been already succeeded, so that makes me very proud and happy, and also my parents. They are also happy and proud of me.
Speaker 2:I am so proud to be associated with an organization that ensures young people have the education and support to bring themselves out of poverty. But I think I'm proudest of the CRC's efforts to ensure that Manjima has that sense of belonging that is so important for lifelong well-being. As she describes it, it's that sense that only a mother can understand who you are and why you do what you do, and support you and correct you in a way that makes you feel seen and heard. It's amazing what can happen when institutions recognize that mental health and well-being is as necessary for a plan of success as a good education. Thank you, rosa, for all that you and the CRC staff have done for young people like Manjima.
Speaker 1:I bet Manjima feels proud too, not just of the people who helped her, but of herself Becoming a nurse, one of a very important, important job, and we need more of them. Can you share the big dreams for where the future will take you, rosa, as a care leaver who works with other young care leavers? And how about Monjma?
Speaker 3:My hope is to continue working with more youths and young adults like Monjama to transform their lives, to work with them and see them complete university, see them become somebody in the future. And I'm just happy to be part of their lives, to be their counselor, to be a big sister to them. And someday I wish some other youths their stories can be shared, their successes, just like Monjama. That is my wish.
Speaker 4:What are my plans after the university? I want to get a fighter job.
Speaker 3:Her plan is to be enrolled in a hospital where she will start working as a nurse and to answer life and start her own life, her own family and be independent.
Speaker 2:Before we wrap up, Rosa, what's one note of optimism you'd like our listeners to take away from this story? What do you think they should learn from this lesson?
Speaker 3:this lesson. There is an adage in Sierra Leone that says, if you educate a girl child, you educate a nation, and Mojama is just an example that the CLC has educated a nation. The CLC has transformed not only the lives of Mojama and her family, but the nation. She's going to be working as a nurse and she's going to be treating an entire country, a nation, and so I have learned that transforming someone's life, it's not just the individual, but the entire world. What CLC and HCW have done for Monjama, the whole world is going to benefit from it. So I want my listeners to help a child, help a needy family, to give them hopes and give them a future.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. My note of optimism from Manjama's story is that it reminds me to continue value staying connected to my family and be grateful for the sense of belonging and support they provide. I want to have the courage that Monjama has to make my dreams a reality. I want to go into the medical field as well, so your story is inspiring to me and I'm sure many others, I'm sure many others. I want to grow up in a world filled with people who understand that love and a sense of belonging is just as important as anything else we give to children.
Speaker 2:We hope today's story has inspired our listeners to look around and see how they can be a part of someone's journey. I hope that you all heard Rose's note of optimism about if you educate A girl, you educate a nation. When you help a woman, you lift up the world. Whether it's through kindness, volunteering or simply listening, small actions can make a big difference. Helping young people to stay connected to their community is a role that almost any person can fill.
Speaker 1:Thank you, rosa and Manjama, for sharing this incredible story, and thank you, listeners, for joining us today on Optimistic Voices A Child's View.
Speaker 2:If you enjoyed the episode, don't forget to subscribe, share it with your friends and leave a review. Together, we can bring more stories of hope to light. We can bring more light to the world.
Speaker 1:Until next time, remember there's always hope and every voice matters. Bye for now.
Speaker 2:And now a short commercial message from our friends at the Child Reintegration Center.
Speaker 3:So my family. We don't hear much about him and his family and how the CLC doesn't transform their life and in family and how the CRC don't transform their life. We got small families. We got similar stories, like Monjama. So if you want for help or transform any other family in life, you go reach out. So we now ww2 helping children worldwide dog helpingchildrenworldwideorg. Thank you for listening to us and for helping us. So you've heard the story of how the CRC transformed the life of Monjama and her family. We have more families who are still struggling with life, just like Monjama and her family. We have more families who are still struggling with life, just like Monjama. So if you want to help a family, you can reach us at wwwhelpingchildrenworldwideorg. Wwwhelpingchildrenworldwideorg. Thank you very much for listening to our stories and thank you for your support. Wwwhelpingchildrenworldwideorg wwwhelpingchildrenworldwideorg.
Speaker 2:Thank you again for tuning in to Optimistic Voices. A Child's View.
