Stories from Sierra Leone: Mariama's Story

My name is Mariama, and I am the senior prefect at my school.

I have been working with AMNET for two years now. AMNET have equipped and facilitated us to have regular conversations, community engagement, school assemblies, and collaboration with other schools on the topic of gender and sexual-based violence.  

We need to talk about sexual and gender-based violence because these are the things that are actually affecting us in our community.

I see how prevalent these issues are for us in this girls’ school. A girl will come into school after a rumour that someone has been raped, and she will begin to feel isolated. She stops talking in class, and she stops participating because of what she is going through. Sometimes she stops coming altogether because of the provocation. If she doesn’t stop coming, but she does get pregnant, she also falls behind.  

Due to AMNET's intervention, things are changing.

Because of the work they have done with us in school and in our community, violence and teenage pregnancy have reduced. We also now have a female principal in the school that we can all look up to.  

AMNET has equipped us with the tools we need to spread information about advocating for ourselves and our rights. One of the ways we do this in our community is through a radio show that AMNET has facilitated for us. This helps us not be limited by distance and transportation. We can reach more girls because of it.

One girl was threatened with sexual violence from her father; he told her that if she told the police, he would stop her schooling. However, she listened to the radio discussion and heard a discussion about how AMNET would advocate for girls. She came to our school and reported him to social welfare.  

These radio discussions and workshops that AMNET provide for us allow us to know our rights. Know that everyone is equal, no matter their status in the community. Our mentor from AMNET also delivered a workshop for us on mental illness and how it relates to violence. Violence can give people mental issues and psychological problems.

When I graduate, I want to continue to use my voice to advocate for those around me. I want to keep having these important conversations.

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