Mary Koroma, Director of the All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project in Sierra Leone (AAPDEP SL), has exemplified what it means to be an organizer.
Nurse Mary, a grassroots midwife, first met with the movement through the work she was doing to tackle the infant and maternal health disparities in Sierra Leone.
Her first real engagement with movement forces was when she came to the U.S. for the Infant and Maternal Health tour in 2011.
After being introduced to the movement through AAPDEP, Nurse Mary went back to Sierra Leone and set about changing the course of the work in the country.
Upon her arrival, Nurse Mary began introducing the message of “One Africa, One Nation!” to everyone who would listen.
She started by transitioning her existing organization, Women in National Development, to that of AAPDEP SL.
This was not simply a name change. It was about winning members of her executive committee to the goals of AAPDEP and having a vote.
The change in name represents a struggle that was made and a struggle that was won. From here she began to change the trajectory of the work that was initially centered around the infant and maternal project by broadening its scope to include multi-acre farms that will be used as income generators and also provide sustenance for the communities through the Gbangatoke Fishing Project.
She has been able to win communities, and in so doing was given buildings to carry out community education programs such as the vocational institute and primary school.
She has been able to win the support of business owners and educators.
She won the director of PAWEL, a nursing institute, to our position. She also negotiated a transition of the school over to AAPDEP.
The school, now known as the AAPDEP School of Nursing, has a student base that will be taught about their important role for the survival of African people through African Internationalism.
In villages across the interior, AAPDEP is known by the people. Uhuru is known as a call to freedom, and the people have been exposed to the theory of African Internationalism through AAPDEP’s work.
In the year since she has returned to Sierra Leone, AAPDEP has grown to include seven projects, three offices and more than 400 members.
Nurse Mary has certainly done so much to further the work of the Uhuru Movement in a country where we had previously experienced contradictions.
It’s because of her tireless dedication that the Uhuru Movement has a firm footing in various communities, and we are now poised to grow and challenge the neocolonial structure in the country.
Nurse Mary is truly deserving of this award as a leader, an organizer and a revolutionary.
Nurse Mary will receive:
A $50 gift card
The Biko Lumumba Comrade of the Quarter Plaque
An article in the Burning Spear Newspaper
Recognition on Uhuru News and Radio, and
Recognition at an Uhuru Event
