Lamzo with EcoGuinea kids!
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Brief Bio of LamzoI am a Guinean. My mother is from Sierra Leone. I went back there at the age of six, after my father’s death and later returned to Guinea to escape the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone. In spite of many upheavals, I was able to complete my 12th year of education in Sierra Leone.
I was forced to leave school before the war, as I had no support to pay my school fees and when the rebels came to Freetown, they captured me for three weeks with some of my friends. We were treated like slaves and given no food or water. Many of my friends were killed right before my eyes. I was deeply horrified when my close friend and classmate —who sat at the same desk with me from grade 6 to 11—was killed right in front of me. Our captors threatened to also kill me unless I sang and danced during his cruel murder. I did what they asked to save my life—but was sick at heart. My friend was called Ibrahim Hassan Conteh and I will never forget him. Our band of starving hostages were forced to travel around at the whim of our captors and at some point we found ourselves in Kambia where I had gone to primary school. I knew Kambia very well. There were Guinean soldiers there. I told them I was a Guinean and they helped me to escape. I walked for nine hours through the bush with no food and water, nearly dead, until I came to the village of Farmoria. For many years, with difficult ups and downs, I struggled to rebuild my life. |
A New-Found OpportunityToday my plan and my dream is to do something that will really make a difference for the children and my country. As the director of EcoGuinea, I dream of how can we change the lives of children who have lost their parents, how to take care of the environment and how to get health care for the people of Guinea.
The importance of education has always stayed with me, and I am now delighted that, through EcoGuinea, I am able to provide school support for many Ebola orphans and also have a chance to teach several young children directly. I always thank the initial founder of EcoGuinea, Mardi Kendall, who has helped me and my family since 2000. Today, we are realizing our dreams step by step. I am ready for EcoGuinea to become a real force for creating healthy sustainable communities in Guinea and being a model to inspire others struggling in conditions of extreme poverty. |
My personal commitment is to provide nurturing and practical help for abandoned children. I know the difficulties of children who have lost their parents. I was one of them.
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