Inspire Entertainment Magazine Spring 2014 - Vol. 4 | Page 50

building, which actually I just completed, and I’m pretty proud of. It can hold about 200 students. It has an amazing
roof, and it’s built with this new sandbag method, which is going to sustain the weather and the longevity of the other
buildings, far past the other buildings.
Q: Could you elaborate on your role within your organization?
Ebanks: Pretty much at this point, I think I’ve just become the rainmaker. Everywhere I go I just try to make people
aware of the staggering statistics in Sierra Leone. For instance, one in five children die before the age of 6, one in eight
to 10 women die at childbirth. There are seven hospitals in Sierra Leone, and there are more medical supplies in one
American ambulance center than it is in all seven hospitals.
It’s pretty sad that women have to bring their own supplies to the hospital, their own gauze for instance, their own
bandages, their own medication. Literally, if they don’t have it, then these women die. They die and their children as
well. So, my role now is just to make people aware, just to educate people, just
to encourage them to start their own organizations or even just to donate whatever it is to these children. It’s pretty much a part of my life now.

Not only a Victoria Secret’s Angel
but also
An Angel of Mercy
Q: What was your most memorable/touching moment you had while working with Shine on Sierra
Leone?
Ebanks: It was just my initial introduction to the charity. Being there and having Tiffany hold my hand and look me
in my eyes and cry … just to see how passionate she was and how serious this was. It was an awakening moment for
me to think past my New Jersey condo and my New York City skyline view. It really helped me remember.
Their culture in Sierra Leone is very much like my own in the Grand Cayman Islands growing up. It really helped me
remember my own culture, my own past and my own hardships, and it just made me realize that every child just
needs a chance to grow up and be a child.
Q: What do you hope this organization can accomplish in the short
and long term?
Ebanks: Right now we’re working with
the government, health-wise. Shine on
Sienna Leone does so many things for the
people of Sierra Leone. There’s microloans, they’re building an eco-friendly
village that is self-sustainable. There’s
parenting and there’s a sports facility.
Right now we’re working with the government to rehabilitate Sierra Leone
coming out of this long war they had.
Now they have a new government, and I
think their priorities are being straightened out. I believe health care is one of
the main issues, being that they have the