Veteran Sierra Leonean journalist, Umaru Fofana, has taken time to thank God for everything and inspire others with snippet of his life journey, as he marks another year of existence in the world.

Fofana took to Social Media a message of gratitude, telling a short story of his life in a bid to remind others that everything is possible with hard work and perseverance.

Fofana showed through his story, how he transformed from being a poor child to becoming very successful through hard work. He wrote:

“Dear Allah,

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I want to thank you, again, for enabling me to witness another birthday in sound mind and sound body.

When I was born in Bumpeh in Kono , I struggled a lot – right from birth, I’d later be told.

Like many other Sierra Leoneans up to this day, my upbringing was challenging due to poverty in the family. So much so that I dropped out of high school, twice!

After the first, a friend – Brima Kamara – took me back to school by travelling with me to Makeni. That was the first time I’d leave my birthplace to my ancestral district of Bombali.

After my secondary school-leaving exams at the Benevolent Islamic Secondary School, I dropped out again.

I went to Tongo Fields to mine for diamonds, with the sole aim of being able to further my education.

There, I got a piece of stone which my colleagues and I sold. I gave my share of the proceeds to my maternal aunt to keep. She added it to her capital but her business later collapsed.

I joined her and her Ghanaian husband to a hamlet called Sulahun – somewhere near Panguma – to saw for board. The chainsaw broke down. 

We started selling cookery on the road at a time when Tongo was booming and the Largor road to there was very bad – almost impassable.

Our business flourished and I was able to get my diamond money back from my aunt to enter university. The rest, as they say, is history.

It’s not all been gloomy. I’ve travelled the world – been to nearly seventy countries. I’ve met the high and mighty – more than 20 heads of state and royalties.

Allah you have been good to me. I can’t think you enough. You’ve opened every shut door before me. You’ve kept me healthy and likeable.

You gave me a head to think that begging and stealing wouldn’t be the way to achieve. So I worked hard and genuinely – and I still do. I pray you inculcate that in the heads of many of today’s generation who buckle under the slightest pressure, and give up.

I thank you for my family, my very diverse family from the north and east, south and west. And I pray that informs the way all Sierra Leoneans think – diversity in love and respect.

My wife and children have been a key pillar of my life. I’m eternally grateful to them. For without them I’d not be sane and organised.

I also thank you for my friends – they’ve been amazingly supportive. I meet people almost everyday who end up becoming very good friends.  I’ve been truly lucky, Allah, for which I cannot thank you enough.

Happy birthday to me.”