Born many years ago in the land of diamonds, which is Kono District, Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Koidu Town. Motema is the second most populous city in the district. Her desire to be educated was her priority and she attended the University of Sierra Leone, Institute of Public Administration and Management, and graduated with a background in journalism. She didn’t relent of giving herself the best education, she went back and added public administration. She included computer studies to acquire knowledge of advanced technology.
Her focus was to change a lot of mindsets, which can only be achieved by adding more certificates, She decided to continue the education journey by attending the Haggai Institute of South Africa, Nairobi Peace Initiatives, where she completed the Conflict Resolution and Peace Mediation course. She also acquired more diplomas from the Liberian Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, The Ghana Human Rights Commission.
Advocacy and Activism
After acquiring more knowledge through education, she joined activism and was a civil activist and actively participated in human rights activities, and women’s empowerment, and she became a civil society coordinator for the campaign for good governance. She was able to work with one of the best attorneys in Sierra Leone, Betts, and Berewa law Firm, for 12 years. While the lawyer Berewa later became the Attorney General of Sierra Leone as well as a presidential candidate.
Working with the firm built her confidence and developed the inspiration to fight for the disadvantaged and the voiceless. It also assisted her leadership skills and she became the founder and President of the Sierra Leone Legal Secretaries Association, and the Secretary-general of the National Organisation for Women (NOW) for over 5 years.
The struggle for survivor
While in Sierra Leone, there was a rebel war, and she escaped to Guinea, Conakry, where she was temporarily employed by the UNHCR to manage the refugee program, while serving as a refugee, she was approached to participate as one of the voices behind the Pirate radio and Radio Democracy 981.FM with a mandate to organize programs that will facilitate the return of democracy to Serra Leone. She was nicknamed “Sia Domingo” because of the sensitive role she played then. She was also promoted to become the first Personal Assistant to the then President Alhaj Tejan Kabbah, on a short term and later invited to the United States by the USAID to participate in the Democratic Enhancement for Women programme in Washington DC. USA
After the course, she could not go back because there was another war in Sierra Leone. It was during that international visitor’s program that she was given honorary citizenship by the Mayo of Nebraska.
LIFE IN USA
In 2015, she was invited to participate in the Barak Obama Organizing for Action Expedited course for community activists and the Fellow program. She attended and graduated as a Fellow in 2016. She had attended other programs in institutions in Chicago. After the fellowship program, she also became a fellow manager and was appointed as the Head of the Chapter for climate change and leadership in my county, Montgomery County, Maryland, from 2016-2018. She proceeded by attending the Omega Christian University in Louisiana, United States, and completed a doctoral degree at Southern Wesleyan University.
After all her educational achievements, she decided to continue her passionate struggle and she started an organization called the Diaspora International Platform, which is a tax-exempt organization registered in the State of Maryland in the United States of America. The mission was to bring together other African countries, and advocate for change and democracy stability, so as to lend voices to each other and support when needed. There are currently about 15 countries in the organization.
Dr. Seah Matilda Banga is the Founder of This Time Africa Media- a platform to hear the minds and achievements, contributions of Africans in the Diaspora and globally. The General Overseer of GAP Ministries- Destiny House in the United States, with partners in India, South Africa, and Sierra Leone.
