Given the opportunity to choose a career, Hannah Combay opted to be a driver. The 21-year-old embarked on a five-week training through our Youth Empowerment programme in Sierra Leone to learn how to drive and contribute to society with her new skillset.
Hannah Combay lost both her parents by the time she was six months old. Life was cruel for Hannah and her siblings, growing up without their biological parents, in Bo city in Sierra Leone. She suffered painful abuse and injustice from her foster parents and indifferent relatives.
Hannah was forced to drop out of school when her foster father retired from work and there was no money for her schooling. She later became pregnant and has had to support her child as a single parent for the last eight years. With her siblings also depending on her, Hannah sold wares for others and got only the take home the businesses gave her at the end of the day.
“I never imagined that any good thing would happen in my life at that time,” Hannah recalls.
After being introduced to BRAC Sierra Leone’s Empowerment and Livelihoods for Adolescents (ELA) project under the Youth Empowerment programme through a mentor in her community, Hannah became interested and enrolled. “I developed self-reliance, boldness, and a determination to change my life,” she said.
Given the opportunity to choose a career, she opted to be a driver. 21-year-old Hannah embarked on a five-week training and is now waiting for her license. Once she has a license, she will be able to drive light vehicles and is looking forward to gaining employment and contributing to society with her new skillset.
Bo district is believed to bear the highest rate of adolescent dropouts, sexual reproductive health challenges, and teenage pregnancy. BRAC Sierra Leone’s ELA operations are implemented in Bo district, two chiefdoms, and 10 communities, reaching out 300 Adolescent girls and Young Women between the ages 10-24 years through 10 mentors.
“The programme helped me to realise that all was not lost as I thought initially,” says Hannah.
