She was eleven years old, selling charcoal with her mother. In January 2026, she graduated from cosmetology school. |
In 2010, a Develop Africa coordinator named Janet was at her compound in Freetown when a woman arrived to sell charcoal.
She had an eleven-year-old daughter with her. The girl had never been to school. Her mother couldn’t afford the fees.
Janet enrolled her in Develop Africa’s sponsorship program that same day.
Her name was Isata Kamara.
By 2018, Isata was in her third year of junior secondary school at the Freetown Secondary School for Girls. By 2021, she was preparing for her West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations.
Then life intervened. She became pregnant. She dropped out.
Develop Africa didn’t stop.
In April 2024, our team made a welfare visit to her home in the Gray Bush community. Isata had resumed her education this time in cosmetology at a local vocational institute.
In January 2026, Isata Kamara officially graduated.
She is now positioned to pursue employment or entrepreneurship in the beauty sector. Over the years, she has also participated in girls’ mentoring sessions covering goal setting, financial literacy, self-esteem, and public speaking.
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Isata’s story is not a success story in the simple sense. It is a long-term story, one that includes setbacks, redirections, and hard choices. What made the difference was not a single intervention. It was sixteen years of sustained, patient support from an organization that didn’t disappear when circumstances became complicated.
That is what institutions do that movements cannot.
They stay.
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Janet, who found Isata that day, passed away some years ago. She held a master’s degree in development and had worked with organizations including UNICEF and ActionAid. She served on the Develop Africa board for many years and was deeply committed to the mission.
Her contribution to the children she served deserves to be named. Isata’s story begins with Janet. So does this organization.