By: Josephine Nyeweah in Kenema district
Over 600 students who went through various courses of study on Friday, 28th January 2025, went through the last convocation at the Eastern Technical University Sierra Leone campus in Kenema.
Aminata Baby Sia Lavalie is one of the graduates for 2025, and she is one of the physically challenged persons in Sierra Leone who is fighting hard to live above poverty despite the numerous challenges she went through in her four years of the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) course in Guidance and Counseling.
After the graduation ceremony, she spoke to journalists who graced the convocation ceremony at the university campus.
Madam Lavalie, in her joyful mood, called on the President, Dr. Julius Maada Bio, Madam Fatima Maada Bio, Madam Melrose Kamity, Minister of Social Welfare, Civil Society Organizations, humanitarian organizations, and the rest of mankind to immediately come to her aid by giving her employment with her qualification.
She described herself as a disabled and single parent with two female daughters.
She got married in Teyama town in Mori chiefdom, and life started changing positively for her in her matrimonial home.
The husband with good standing in life, who started getting a salary, decided to divorce her because she is disabled and she is not his match, labeling her with all sorts of names. Several relatives and other stakeholders tried to intervene but to no avail.
My husband drove me together with the children from the home, saying that if I did not leave his place, she would be late, Aminata narrated.
This situation would urge her to relocate to Kenema City to improve herself by going through the course under the tuition waiver by the government for physically challenged persons in the nation.
She further explained that she was a pupil teacher volunteer since 2006 at the Moyamba District Council MDeC primary school at Teyama town, Korie chiefdom, Moyamba District, Southern Region.
The teaching profession was not convenient for her, she narrated, because of her disability status; she could not stand for long in class to teach, she pointed out.
My course area, Guidance and Counseling, is possible to give me employment at the Social Welfare Ministry, civil society organizations, humanitarian organizations that seek the welfare of children and women, and the police.
She said she is confident and assured that the president of the nation, the ministry, and other organizations can provide her with immediate employment.
Life is not easy with me at the moment in the Disability KINGDOM, where marginalization, abandonment, discrimination, and all sorts of labeling are part of my Kingdom, she pointed out.
Madam Lavalie prayed to the Almighty God not to bring those who are not in the Kingdom to join them because newcomers in the disability Kingdom will never be comfortable in life.
Madam Aminata Baby Sia Lavalie is calling on all to reach her at 079721612 for assistance to save her life.
