I’m Proud of How Far We’ve Come!!! Few months ago, I had expressed my faith in community based approaches as the path to ending Ebola – I had a vision, influenced by a few key factors and individuals. I had attempted to briefly elaborate on my “community-based integrity leadership” approach here on Facebook, but it occurred to me that it’s better to do than to tell. “Example”, they say, is the best school of mankind, for we can learn better at no other school. I knew where to start from; even though I lacked a few skills and ideas, I was confident for I have the luxury of a handful of likeminded, passionate, trustworthy, patriotic and brave wo/men to call upon. Among others, this movement needed the babysitting and nurturing golden touch from its inception of someone like Amara Kallon who has countlessly demonstrated his dedication to serve his people with profound leadership and integrity. In July, the initial months of the Ebola outbreak in my country, I had just completed my policy lab training on Leadership and Management with Integrity at the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest. I had my eyes, mind and heart set on one goal – to come back home and help alleviate the sufferings of my people, those inflicted by the Ebola epidemic and beyond. When I was selected for the annual end of course video, my final message was simple, “I want working with integrity to become the new norm in my country”: youtu.be/6qlVvkA9-XA With this vision, the invaluable skills and knowledge of patriotic sons and daughters of Koinadugu, that IUC “Commons” background, our collective passion and dedication to give back to our people and help cater for their welfare, we started something new. A new norm! A proactive-integrity based approach that builds trust and demonstrates trustworthiness. A collective, participatory and collaborative system that seeks to close the loop on unethical management and leadership, and ensure transparency and accountability. A movement that could change the face of sustainable human development in Koinadugu, Sierra Leone and beyond. And so STEP-K was born! We started off as Koinadugans United against Ebola (KAE) with the initial aim to help forestall, and later contain and eradicate Ebola in our beloved district, Koinadugu. But we knew in our hearts that this vision spans far beyond Ebola containment and Koinadugu, and extends to post Ebola response and rehabilitation, and the tackling of our multifaceted development issues in Koinadugu and beyond. Formalization is therefore eminent and we are incorporating as “Sustainable Empowerment for the People of Koinadugu (STEP-K)”. Few months down the road, we’ve done our bits – good and selfless services that we are all proud of. We’ve mobilized resources from across the globe (thanks to all awesome sons and daughters of Koinadugu for you generous contributions), we’ve facilitated delivery of essential goods and services, we’ve conceptualized, plan, finance and implemented our own projects, and all of these we’ve done with a unique transparency, accountability, and an open platform that guarantees an efficient feedback mechanism. From support to Ebola survivors, quarantined homes, youth and community mobilization strictures, awareness raising and media campaign, to response strategy recommendations and advocacy, we’ve explored and grabbed all possible opportunities to help. We consider this our obligation and our God-giving responsibility to our people, and we won’t rest until we fully maximize the welfare of every one of our people – be it today, tomorrow or into the future. When we ever look back, this is how we want to count our successes. Remember the name “STEP-K” for we are only getting started; but most importantly, history would remember the names of the patriotic folks, who made this a possibility: our coordinating giants for the diaspora chapter and all diaspora members, our brave front line team on the ground, our doctors, able youths in Koinadugu, our partners...every one of you, you epitomise the phrase beautiful soul and Im humbled to be standing by you all. # Let the records start showing, for we will make history, together...
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 20:01:13 +0000
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