Additionally, Fridays during the birthday week were dedicated to hosting a special children’s party for the staff ’s kids, creating a heartwarming family atmosphere. Key coordinators for these festivities were Tina Davies and SattuMusa. To add a touch of togetherness, staffmeetings were incorporated into the celebration day, followed by a shared lunch. After work, my office often turned into an impromptu dance floor, where some of the ladies from the team joined in, dancing the evening away. One particularly special birthday featured staff wearing orange t-shirts with my name printed on them, creating a sense of unity and camaraderie during the celebration. I n 2016, I was transferred to Sierra Leone after four years in the USA, and it was nice to be back in Africa. It felt like coming back home, yet it marked a new phase in my life. It was one of the most challenging times in my career as Sierra Leone is a complex country. Coupled with having the highest maternal mortality rate in the world at the time, it was a demanding environment. I had to work with coaches for a couple of years. I had two excellent coaches, Wilben Smith andModupe TaylorPearce, who supported me through challenging times. Joining their Breakfast Club Africa connected me with peers in leadership positions, providing mutual support. Modupe’s wife, Renee, became a dear sister, and our children, including my daughter Kimberley, spent time together during the holidays. I also had great mentees in Freetown: Fiona Kaikai, Betty Alpha, Sonia Gilroy, Pearl Nanka-Bruce, Musu Kawusu-Kebbey, Ashmao Tarawalli, Nafisa Jones, John Bemba Sesay, and Fatmata. We also had a UN psychologist, Dr. Gladys Palmer, who was brought in during the COVID-19 times to support staff in their mental wellbeing. It seems I benefited the most from her service because every Thursday in the year 2020, she would come into my office and just talk, which was really good for me, especially as it was the lockdown period, and I was feeling kind of isolated. Another fun thing I established in Sierra Leone was jollof rice competitions. I always thought jollof rice was a Ghanaian and Nigerian thing until I got to Sierra Leone. I mean, they just kept talking about jollof until I decided one day that we should have a contest between Sierra Leonean, Nigerian, Ghanaian, Senegalese, and Liberian jollof. There were over sixty people at that contest, and, of course, we cooked other meals as well. We laid out the tables, and were all dressed in ‘Kim’s signature white’. I had a Ghanaian scarf, which I waved over and over as I danced all around. The competition was intense. In fact, there was so 33 The Birthday Journal
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