A 26 year old Texas scholar from Sierra Leone, West Africa, Aisha Koroma migrated to the United States at age 14 at a time of civil war in her native land. After witnessing the war, Aisha vowed to always remember where she came from by going back to help in any way possible. She recalls the hardships of Sierra
Leone-- one of the poorest countries in the world, not to mention being the country with the highest child mortality rate.“ The country has definitely come a long way with the war ending but for many citizens the scars remain. The literacy rate is below the international mean, employment is still a dream for many hopeless students and the chances of earning a higher education are minimal”.
Once a pre-medical school student majoring in biology, Aisha decided to change her major in her third year of college. She searched deep within herself to find a career path to merge her drive for success and her passion to help the human race. Aisha soon learned that psychology was her calling. In May 2011, Aisha graduated with a bachelor’ s degree in psychology from the University of Houston-Downtown in Houston, Texas. She plans to further her education by obtaining a master’ s degree in psychotherapy / counseling and pursue her ultimate dream of being an ambassador to the United Nations.
“ One of the best gifts you can give to others can be as simple as your sense of understanding.”
While in search of a graduate school to further her education, Aisha decided to dedicate her time solely to doing charity work. As the founder of LIFT a Village( Lead, Ignite, Feed, Teach), a non-profit organization whose essential focus is to empower, motivate and educate youth, she plans to continue her service to humanity by being a voice for women, children and the next generation leaders in Africa.
LIFT a Village was founded in October 2012 and campaigns to raise funds and awareness to educate and create better living conditions for individuals in Sierra Leone villages. Aisha believes that leading the way to a brighter future is what we stand for. Informing village residents about the importance of healthy living such as safe sex practices and proper sanitation minimizes their risks to both STDs and other viral infections. Aisha extended her charity work to form the We Are Women( WAW) program. WAW focuses on empowering, uplifting and encouraging young women around the globe to acknowledge their true potential. The program encourages women to use their voices to impact their lives and that of others.
From a very young age, Aisha learned that society stamps labels on women that can lead to a phenomenon called self-helplessness. Through mentoring, Aisha observed that many young women with great potential allow the ' labels ' of society to negatively impact their lives. During one of her visits to Sierra Leone in 2009, she shared her“ disappointment to see beautiful and intelligent young women waste away without an education thus limiting their access to a wide range of possibilities.” Many of these women were young teen mothers without
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