Hello world!!!
I hope you and yours are doing well. I'm doing wonderful, thanks be to God. This past Wednesday, I attended Wellbody Alliance's event hosted by and at the residence of Action Africa's Executive Director Mrs. Susan Hoefling. Receiving an invitation from Ms. Hoefling for this event was an honor and this is for a great cause; one of the pillars of my
SHERO personal platform as Miss Sierra Leone USA is health. It was a good evening!
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson |
Before getting into details about my time at this event, let's recap a little bit. I first heard about
Wellbody Alliance during the 2012 Miss Sierra Leone USA pageant when I was competing as Miss Freetown USA; Wellbody Alliance was one of the sponsoring organizations. Dr. Dan Kelly, co-founder of Wellbody Alliance, was one of the judges at the pageant and I got to hear about the work of Wellbody Alliance and their clinic in Gbense Chiefdom, Dorma town in Kono District (eastern Sierra Leone). So while I was in Kono last year doing my mining internship at Koidu Limited - Octea Mining, I visited the Wellbody Clinic and saw the wonderful work they are doing for the community. I spoke briefly of my visit at the event and talked about the wonderful services to clinic is providing to the local community. Read my
blog post from the visit.
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson and Dr. Bailor Barrie (co-founder of Wellbody Alliance and humanitarian physician) |
One of the guests that graced the occasion was Dr. Bailor Mohamed Barrie, Co-Founder and Chief Strategic Officer of Wellbody Alliance, who traveled all the way from Massachusetts to Virginia for this event. Dr. Barrie was awarded a 2013-2015 Fulbright fellowship and currently studying global health delivery at Harvard University. At the event, Dr. Barrie shared stories about his
humble beginnings, encounter with Dr. Dan Kelly, the birth of Wellbody Alliance, and many more. Another awesome thing about this event was that it coincidentally fell on the birthday of Dr. Barrie. He received a cute cupcake!
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| Mrs. Susan Hoefling (Executive Director of Action Africa) and Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson |
Special thanks to Mrs. Susan Hoefling (Wellbody Alliance collaborator) and her family for opening the doors to her home for this event. Mrs. Hoefling shared her story and her intentions for healthcare in Kono district and surrounding districts in Sierra Leone. She also told me that back in the days she lived in Yengema. Mrs. Hoefling is currently the Executive Director of Action Africa, Inc. Action Africa, Inc. is a volunteer-run 501(c)3 organization based in the District of Columbia, USA; they help newly arrived immigrants from the continent of Africa, as well as in Sierra Leone and Nigeria. According to their
website, "The mission of Action Africa is to provide services in the vital areas of health, education, micro-enterprise development, and human rights for African children and families in the Washington, D.C. area and rural villages of sub-Saharan Africa." President of Action Africa Dr. Chris N. Egbulem, who is married to a Sierra Leonean woman, also shared his love for Sierra Leone and the contributions of the organization.
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| Mr. Raphael Frankfurter (Wellbody Alliance Executive Director), Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson, and Dr. Bailor Barrie (Wellbody Alliance Co-Founder) |
Raphael Frankfurter is the current Executive Director of Wellbody Alliance and graduate of Princeton University. Raphael first began working in Kono District during his undergraduate summer research internship, spending each day in the region's amputee camps; he witnessed first-hand the devastating poverty these post-war communities faced along with the hope they saw in Dr. Barrie and Dr. Kelly's small and young organization. It was a pleasure finally meeting Raphael in person, and lovely meeting his girlfriend and friends.
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| Mr. Tamba Mani, Mr. Saa Kaimachiande (Kono Union USA vice president), Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson, and Mr. Mohamed Toronka |
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| Mr. Tamba Mani, Mr. Saa Kaimachiande (Kono Union USA vice president), Mrs. Susan Hoefling, Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson, and Mr. Mohamed Toronka |
At the event, I got to meet really amazing new people, but was also great to see some familiar faces. In attendance were concerned Sierra Leoneans, friends of Sierra Leone, friends of Wellbody Alliance, members of Action Africa, member of Kono ethnic group, individuals in the health sector, and many more. It was nice seeing Ambassador Michael S. Owen (former United States Ambassador to Sierra Leone) again, whom I met last year during my Miss Sierra Leone USA Homecoming to Sierra Leone during my courtesy call visit to his office at the United States Embassy in Freetown. It was also great meeting his wife, and getting to chat with them about their love for Sierra Leone and personal contributions to some phenomenal individuals they have encountered in the country.
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| Mr. Mohamed Toronka, Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson, and Ambassador Michael S. Owen |
A lady I met at the event named Lark shared her personal story that really touched my heart. While mingling, I spoke about my choice of getting a degree in mining and minerals engineering and my advocacy for the recruitment and retention of girls and women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Ms. Lark told me that when she was in her first year in university, she signed up for an introduction to engineering course and when she discussed it with her girlfriends, they discouraged from taking the course because she is a girl. She told me that she's happy with the latter career path she chose, but she regrets dropping that course and not pursuing a career in engineering. She shared how proud she is of me and to keep persevering. I really appreciated her for sharing that with me. I told her that even though she didn't do it, we the girls and women of today are doing it for her. The things are our grandmothers, mothers, aunts, cousins, etc. didn't do (because they were told they couldn't because they're born woman), we are doing and living the dream. We must continue the legacy of greatness. We are women, and we can do anything! Another great lady I met at the event was Ms. Ioanna Miller, pictured below, who is an advocate for women's and children's health. We had a great conversation on a variety of topics.
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| Ms. Ioanna Miller of Tower Garden and Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson |
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| Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson |
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| Shelby Hoefling and Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson |
In the photo above, I am pictured with Mrs. Hoefling's daughter, Shelby. Very sweet and friendly, AND something even more awesome about Shelby is that she's a HOKIE!!! She graduated a year ago. We got to chat about anything and everything. I love running into my fellow Hokies in places I least expect. We love our Virginia Tech!!! #HokieLove #HokiesUnite
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| Girlfriend of Raphael Frankfurter, Raphael Frankfurter, Princeton Friends of Wellbody Alliance, Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson, and Dr. Bailor Barrie. |
An evening of food, drinks, and conversation on Wellbody's work providing health and care in Kono District, Sierra Leone. We also celebrated the coming launch of Wellbody's Birth Center. Overall, it was a great event and I was honored to be in great company.
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| Girlfriend of Raphael Frankfurter, Raphael Frankfurter, Princeton Friends of Wellbody Alliance, Miss Sierra Leone USA 2013-2014 Ruby B. Johnson, and Dr. Bailor Barrie. |
If I had not gone to school, I would not be where I am today. Education is the golden key not only to the empowerment of women, but for our whole culture. - Haja Dr. Zainab Hawa Bangura
Ruby B. Johnson,
Your Miss Sierra Leone USA.
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