Despite Our Obstacles We Got Here

Hi!

We're iN_iT.

Our story is one of togetherness, hard work, courage, and perseverance. We're a startup business that will be serving Sierra Leonean communities for many years. We want to share our story with you and our belief in how important it is to work together as a community. Despite many obstacles, we've come so far and are still going strong. We've made it through the hardest of just by having each other's back. And we have worked hard to get where we are today.

My Childhood

I am the second of three children born to my parents. When we were not doing house chores or going to school, Bobby (my older brother) and I would play soccer or hide and seek in the little bushes behind our house. We also enjoyed watching movies together at night after dinner with our family members around an old wooden table covered with a plastic cloth. We saw our parents struggle and sacrificed everything just so we could go to school. Dad was one of the humblest and most hard-working men I have ever met, not to mention the fact that he was a very intelligent man who also had a sense of humor that made me laugh every time he told me a story.

He was born and raised in Sierra Leone to poor farmers who could not afford to send him to school. To make ends meet, he worked as a laborer while attending university. He told us that he spent four years at the University and graduated without having a place to sleep. He couldn't afford the dormitory fee.

Dad was determined to provide for his family and succeed in whatever career he chose, so he spent many nights sleeping in the streets during his university years. When his commitments eventually led him to find a job, he found it easy to bring his younger siblings from the village with him and send them to school. Many years later when his siblings were almost completing high school, he got a scholarship to study at Antigua College in the United States.

Dad was so desperate to get to America that he went from one family member to another begging them to help him buy his flight ticket which cost 38 Leones at the time. But no one did. Even his uncle who was the minister of transport at the time refused to help him. Dad's annual salary did not even amount to 38 Leones....LOL.

Out of frustration, he relocated to Liberia where he met and married our mom.

Bobby and I were raised in the Republic of Guinea while our younger sister was raised in Sierra Leone. Mom and dad worked their hearts out to teach us the importance of loving each other and being there for one another even when things look hopeless. We have always had a strong foundation of morals, values, and ethics from our parents. Little did we know that the livelihood of the entire family will soon depend on those virtues.

I know you might be thinking - How?

Before jumping into that, let me tell you how we ended up in the Republic of Guinea.

Life As Refugees

When the Liberian civil war broke out in 1990, my parents sought refuge in Guinea. Life as a refugee has never been easy.

But if you want to hear the flip side of that story, I'd like to offer you another perspective: our days in Guinea living as refugees were the best. Dad found an average-paying job that provided a little more than what we needed. For most of our fellow refugees, life was tough: many people had lost everything they owned when their homes were destroyed by warring factions during the Liberian civil war. As a result, our house was always packed with people coming to seek assistance from dad.

When the Liberian war ended in 2002, The United Nations High Commission for refugees started repatriating all Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees back to their respective countries of origin. In 2006, a friend of my dad whom he had helped some years back asked if Bobby could join his family to travel to Australia as a gesture of appreciation for all that dad did for him in Guinea. That very year, Bobby traveled to Australia and we (the remaining family members) came back to Sierra Leone in 2008.

The Struggle

It's hard to discern how we felt when we returned home. We were excited and full of dreams, but the reality was far from what we had imagined. Dad couldn't find a job, and the country was still recovering from the havoc caused by the 10-years-long war. On top of all the stress, our family was barely surviving day by day. Many nights we went to bed not knowing what/if we will have food the next day. Imagine walking 6km to school and 6km back on an empty stomach! We worked hard to make a decent living together, but we still had our fair share of days when we struggled to afford food for all of us.

When I got back from school, my job was to pick up the grated local soap my mother made and sell it in order to help provide food at home. Sometimes this would take me all day long—and sometimes I wouldn't make any money at all! On low-sale days, the family agreed to leave the little available meal to our youngest member of the family—our kid sister—so that she could eat something instead of going hungry like the rest of us.

I am very grateful for the lesson of never forsaking one another that my parents taught us. Bobby - who was now staying in Australia was able to take over the reins of supporting the family.

Mom and dad taught us never to forsake one another. And Bobby has always been there for us whenever we needed him. Supported by his own money, he sent me overseas to Continue my studies and paid my tuition, while still supporting the family back home. Had he abandoned us, like many other young people in Sierra Leone, I might have ended up on the streets without an education or hope. Bobby is not just another philanthropist, but a man of vision who is determined to be free from financial obligations...LOL.

His financial independence has taken him to the seas and mountains of the world. And it is this independent spirit that guides him, not towards personal wealth, but a higher cause: He is determined to empower those that are financially dependent on him so they in turn will empower others. His passion and drive are infectious; it’s hard not to be inspired by his belief that by working together and empowering a lot of people back home, we wouldn't have to always send them money.

And that strong drive to empower others that Bobby possess is the very soil in which iN_iT’s core beliefs are rooted. Just like my dad took care of his siblings and sent them to school, and like my hero/mentor (Bobby) remembered the teachings of his parents and plunged himself into salvaging our deplorable situation, iN_iT was designed to alleviate the effects of the pains and strains our poor economy is having on the people of Sierra Leone.

Born from a desire to give back/extend what was received, iN_iT takes pride in being a community service organization that is focused on the well-being of people and their families. We will provide educational support and training opportunities to thousands of young and aspiring entrepreneurs in Sierra Leone. Our projects are designed to impact not just individuals but also their families and communities as a whole.

Are You iN_iT With Us?

We are a Cooperative Society - An organization that aims at improving the quality of life of Sierra Leoneans through economic empowerment programs such as Project Climbition, Project EatiN_iT or savings schemes that will help them build wealth for themselves through small business ventures.

In our view, true growth can only be obtained from a United Source. The opportunity to help others without any obligation and without fame or glory is truly amazing. It's very rewarding, motivating, and encouraging.

So, why not Join us on this mission and contribute to something meaningful?

We’re iN_iT, are you?

Follow this link to visit our website and learn how to become a part of this satisfying adventure...