When one of our citizenry excels, especially a woman, I believe we should all join in the celebration and to congratulate her. Fatmata Binta Bah-Pokawa should be a role model to young Sierra Leonean women.

Mrs. Fatmata Binta Bah-Pokawa

In central London a ceremony was held to celebrate the diversity Strategy and ‘working together, celebrating diversity’ couple of days ago. Binta was one of those honoured for her immaculate contributions to the Home Office three year Diversity Strategies. She received an award for her hard work and dedication to Equality and Diversity. But who is this Binta? After hearing the news, I managed to contact her through a Sierra Leonean friend currently studying at the prestigious London School of Journalism (LSJ), Mohamed Alpha Cham. Cham got me Binta’s number and we had a 22 minute telephone conversation. This is what she told me "Although I actually studied Law, I joined the Civil Service starting in Private Office, Communications, Immigration and Diversity. I am also a Regional Diversity Manager in the Home Office and was a member of the Social Policy working group responsible for mapping out a variety of Equality & Diversity Strategies."

The soft-spoken Binta continues narrating her noteworthy success: "As the Diversity and Equality Manager I have the responsibility for ensuring that no one is discriminated against, and everyone is tolerant and treats each other with dignity and respect - irrespective of race, colour, creed, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability. It is not an easy task, but I seem to have managed to excel in what is regarded as one of the most difficult areas in terms of service delivery."

Binta believes her work was made easy by her nurtured diverse background. Born of Fullah parents from and effectively raised from birth by a Temne mother in a small Mende town in Kenema district known as Baama-Konta, it was obvious from that early stage that she had a great ability and vision that enabled her to learn how to mingle and deal with people from a diverse range.  Binta speaks Fullah, Madingo, Temne and Mende fluently.

Although she had a strict Fullah upbringing, Binta said, she benefited from the multi-tribal make-up of Baama-Konta.  This is a little cosmopolitan town in the north of Kenema District, about 52 miles from the district headquarter, Kenema.   Baama-Konta consists of nearly all the tribes of Sierra Leone and beyond.  Because of the Diamond mining activities, this town has become so broad-based that most of the tribes in Sierra Leone are spoken in this diamondiferous town.

In addition to her vibrant development in Baama-Konta, Binta also recounts her frequent trips to her mom’s birthplace on 88 Bo Road, Magburaka, Tonkolili District, where she said she had some of her fondest memories. According to Binta, these exposures to cultural variety have contributed to the strong, sensible woman she is today.

Binta recalled her strict father’s shocked reaction, and then saying that "I’m not surprised" when Binta opted out of long traditions of marrying a Fullah brother instead decided to marry a Mende person from Baama-Konta.

As a parent herself, Binta has managed to bed in her diverse background in her children. She says fondly that her elder son actually describes himself as Funde, a combination of (fulla-mende).

Binta continued her crusade to help and advise young women especially young Fullah women about the virtues of education, she also continued to hold quiet meetings with Fullah fathers in her community, to have confidence in their daughters and ensure that they are educated- as education is a source of oxygen to self-fulfillment and great help to family and community alike. She felt that educating young women was paramount to women’s progress. If you are familiar with the Fullah community, you should know that the fathers were ever so ready to remove intelligent daughters from school to be married off.  Unknown to her at the time, even at that young age, Binta had become equality worker in her community, especially Gender Equality.

When Justice Umu Jalloh was recently appointed to the position of Acting Chief Justice of the Republic of Sierra Leone, most Sierra Leoneans especially women, rejoiced in the fact that we have the first woman to be appointed to what is in fact the highest legal position in the country. To Binta however, this appointment means more than that of ‘the first woman’ but for the fact that she is also a Fullah woman surpasses the latter.  Binta is quick to point out that all young women irrespective of tribe should now be prepared to grasp these opportunities as ever before. ‘Women like Umu Jalloh are only laying the foundation for us to follow," she said.

A friend who had witness the occasion when this young woman was receiving her award told me that, when you meet Binta, the first thing that you will notice about her, is her unfazed professionalism, with her quick and quiet assumption of responsibility.  But above all, what impress people that day most about this young woman is, her selflessness without conceit.

In my 22 minutes phone conversation with Binta, I observed that she is fiercely family-tradition orientated. She believes we must always keep and maintain our traditions, particularly those that do not trample on our basic human rights.  

When I asked her to explain what she attributes her immense success to as black woman in a male dominated white world, she replied: "I will only say that it is all due to hard work, professionalism and dedication. I strongly believe that if you are given equality of opportunity to shine you will make great strides."  As they say, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ but Binta believes it only takes a woman to empower a whole community.

Binta further told me that, she actually completed reading the Holy Quran while she was a little girl. When asked again what inspires her; she said to be devoted, focused and hard work.