A Call For Change- Been So Long

A Call for Change is a dream of being an advocate and motivational speaker for Orphans and vulnerable Women in Liberia and around the world.

Why is it important: After all the years I lived in an orphanage home, I realized that orphans need more than just a place to lay their heads and something to eat, and even to go to school. I realized that the longing of being with a family and having a sense of belonging was way more important than all that I've achieved while there. And the trauma you get from it tends to live with you forever.

So to help other orphans not end up being completely damaged in the mind, my end goal is to see orphans being placed into a loving and caring family than ending up at orphanages.

I would also love to support single moms, as I am one myself, by helping them discover and feel their worth, and for them to be independent despite it all. How to help single moms to be a product of their circumstances and not allow their circumstances to label them.

What am I doing: I have attended online training sessions to equip myself to be able to better understand how I can help others in the same situation as I was (and still am). My goal is to share my stories and experiences on platforms that are fighting for the rights and security of children and giving them a chance to experience a normal life growing into a full loving family. I also attended a conference in Sierra Leone representing Liberia care leavers (aging out of an orphanage home) which was about the reintegration of children living in orphanages into their families.

I am on this platform World Pulse to raise my voice and join with other Sisters, to stand together in sisterhood for a change.

The Challenges: It is difficult to get the directors or heads of orphanages to accept this change because they see it as a threat to their jobs if the orphanages are closed. They think that it's the best way of helping children and so they tend to go against anyone who wants to stand for a change.

Another challenge is locating the families of the children living at the various orphanages since most of them were very inexperienced at a young age when taken there (same as me).

Also supporting the families so that they could be able to take care of the children that would be given to them. Strengthening families of each child.

A very personal struggle I face is embracing my own vulnerability to be able to give others help. I'm still working on overcoming my own trauma of becoming an orphan at a very young age and having lived most of my life in an orphanage, thus, sharing my story is still painful, and I would like to find the right balance between using my life experiences and stories to help others going through similar life experiences, while also taking care of myself as I work on my own issues at the same time.

Where is it taking place: I live in Liberia so I would be glad to have a chance here to be able to help orphans and vulnerable women, and perhaps outside my country as well, wherever the need will be and the opportunity for me to make an impact.

I'll be impacting orphans and Vulnerable Women

How many people I'll be impacting: There are lots of orphans and vulnerable women out there and I would like to impact all of them, but for now, my goal is to at least be able to get 30 children back into their families and 30 single moms find their worth and helping them to be productive to generate incomes for a long sustainable development

How can the World Pulse community support me: I would love to access more platforms and spaces for me to be able to raise my voice by sharing my stories and experiences to help orphans and vulnerable women. To help my stories go viral. Global opportunities to attend events to learn more about how I can help make this dream a reality, and lastly raising funds to ensure that children will be helped while living with families and not missed or wished to be at an orphanage home due to all the support they might get from living there and which they won't get while living with their families