On International Literacy Day, Ama King on the power of community libraries.

For International Literacy Day, Poda-Poda Stories interviewed Ama King, the founder of Sierra Learners and Congo Town Community Library in Freetown. King spoke about the importance of early childhood literacy and how parents, teachers, and other community members can help children become good readers.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Ama King, founder of Congo Town Community Library in Freetown.

Poda-Poda Stories: What got you interested in childhood literacy in Sierra Leone?

 Ama King: I worked at Lismore Library in New South Wales, Australia for 16 years. And while I was there, I decided I would like to bring books to children in Sierra Leone. I am a living example of how education can transform a person. I came from a challenging background, and I was able to raise myself to a level where I can advocate for other people.

When I was a young girl, I didn't even know about the Sierra Leone Library Board when I was in primary school. I didn't know anything about libraries, but I loved reading. And I know how important it is for everyone to be able to read. And so, I thought that's the area I would like to help children in my country.

I started collecting books from people, and luckily my library in Australia helped me quite a lot. I also got a lot of resources and support from Lismore and the whole Northern Rivers community in New South Wales. In 2014, by the time I finished studying for a film and writing degree, I had collected a lot of books, and I started working on raising funds to ship these books to Sierra Leone.

I started an organisation called Sierra Learners and was able to ship a 20-foot container filled with books in 2014. I partnered with PEN Sierra Leone, as they were working on book clubs in schools at the time.

After the PEN Sierra Leone project, I worked with other schools to donate books. So far, we’ve distributed books to over twenty schools both in Freetown and in the provinces. We’ve also set up a classroom library at St. Anthony's Girls School and another at the FAWE Primary School in Kroo Bay.

Then we converted a container into a library at Grace Brethren School in Brookfields. And we also have another container library at Mokombay village near Russell in the Western Area Peninsula.

Poda-Poda Stories: And what has been your experience running that project?

King:  When I set up these school and container libraries, I employ teachers to assist the children in their reading and manage the library. Even when I was in Australia, we communicated via WhatsApp, and I would ask them to send me a monthly report about how the project is going.

They still send reports on how many children went to the library daily. For me, it's not about just going and giving the books to the school. "Oh, yes, I gave the school books, I gave the school books." No. It's about following up and making sure that all my efforts, the purpose for which I put all this effort and resources into this project, are actually effective.

Setting up these libraries is good, but it’s not just about having community libraries. I want to make sure that the children are actually reading the books. So, I follow up with the teachers, and I follow up with the kids. I still have a lot of books to donate, so schools can reach out to me if they want to set up classroom libraries.

A container library established by Ama King at Grace Brethen Primary School in Brookfields, Freetown.

Poda-Poda Stories:  How did you start the Congo Town Community Library, and how does it work? I was so excited when I learned about it because I don’t see spaces like this around Freetown.

King: I believe that every community should have a library. Every school should have a library. The kids in the community who come here are amazing! And they need attention and care when learning how to read.  I started putting books in this space when I registered my literacy project in Sierra Leone. It’s actually owned by my mum, and I’ve rented it from her. This space was officially created in 2020, and I’ve been running it full-time since 2024.

The children come here when they have free time, so that’s usually over the weekend and during the holidays when schools are closed. When they’re here, I usually ask them to choose a book that we’ll read together.

I teach them lots of phonics because it’s the magic tool. Once a kid can understand phonics, they can read anything. And when kids can read, they are able to articulate and express themselves better.

I remember a girl, Mariatu, who would get so frustrated because she had difficulty reading. And with time and patience, I was able to get her to read sentences easily, and when she finally got it, her face lit up as if to say, "Oh, I get it. Wow." You know? And moments like that bring me so much joy! We’ve had issues with funding and sponsorship, so right now it’s self-funded, with other support from a small group of friends here in Sierra Leone and in Australia .

Poda-Poda Stories: What challenges do you think children face in terms of literacy in Sierra Leone? And what do you think are some of the solutions to those challenges they face?

King: The statistics, not only in Sierra Leone but worldwide, show that many children cannot read. That is not only in Sierra Leone or in Africa, but worldwide.

I wonder how many children who have access to technology spend time reading, as opposed to how much time they spend on social media. So, there are a lot of forces or distractions that have pushed reading and literacy to the background.

I often go to our Sierra Learners container library at Mokombay village near Russell to monitor and help children with their reading. There, I found that even children in Class Six could not read the first few words of a paragraph.

So, on this World Literacy Day, I want to ask people, partners, organizations, and even individuals who are really interested in children's literacy to help organizations like us that are trying to get children to read and write. Support us so we can help fill the gap. The teachers cannot do it all in school.

Parents also have a huge part to play in their children's learning, so I want to encourage parents to also be a part of their children's reading journey. It goes a long way. Teachers can do their bit, but parents should also be invested in ensuring their children have a good foundation. Sometimes I’ve seen a lack of interest because the parents also cannot read, but that should push them to ensure their kids have a better chance. Let’s do it for the legacy that we want to leave behind and to see our children's faces light up when they know they can read.

Poda-Poda Stories: Thank you, Ms. King. A final question: How have books saved your life?

 Books have made me who I am- confident and articulate. I started reading at an early age. In secondary school, I used to read books with dictionaries. Even though it often interrupted the flow, the dictionaries helped me to actually understand what I was reading. For children, books can take them to a whole wide world, and they can just immerse themselves in whatever story that's been created.  So, books are beautiful.

Questions and interview by Ngozi Cole.

“We know we are relevant,” Dunstanette Bodkin on childhood reading and why libraries matter

Dunstanette Bodkin, the Deputy Chief Librarian of the Sierra Leone Library Board.

Dunstanette I.O. Bodkin is the Deputy Chief Librarian of the Sierra Leone Library Board. In this virtual interview with Poda-Poda Stories, Bodkin spoke to Ngozi Cole about the importance of childhood reading and why public libraries will always be relevant, even in the age of AI.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Poda-Poda Stories: Dunstanette Bodkin, welcome to the Poda-Poda. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Dunstanette Bodkin: I've been working for the Sierra Leone Library Board for the past seven years. I studied Library Information Studies at Fourah Bay College. I started with a diploma program, then moved on to a BA Honors degree, and finally earned my Master's in the same field. I started as the children's librarian and then became an administrative assistant. But I continued working with the children's department because it is my special calling. No matter where I find myself, I always ensure that I work with kids, encouraging them to read and teaching them how to read as well. Recently, I was promoted to the Deputy Chief Librarian of the Sierra Leone Library Board.

Poda-Poda Stories: Congratulations! What made you want to become a librarian in the first place?

Bodkin: It’s quite a story. I never really intended to become one. I loved books, and I loved reading, but there was nothing about librarianship because, growing up, you’re taught to aspire to become a lawyer, doctor, or engineer. But after my GCE O-Levels, I looked out for different programs at Fourah Bay College where I could start a diploma course, and then I got to know about the Library Studies department, and I was like, okay, this sounds nice. The moment I started the diploma program, I just knew there was no turning back because I fell in love with it. After that, I enrolled in the BA program and graduated as a top student. But back then, no one saw the value of librarianship. I had to promote and advocate for Library Studies students to be valued and appreciated on campus.

Poda-Poda Stories: I'm a huge fan of librarians and libraries. My dad worked briefly at the Sierra Leone Library Board, and I got a library card really early on. Thank you so much for your work! As a librarian, how do you see people, especially children, using libraries? What are people using the libraries for, and how is that translating into literacy and reading in Sierra Leone?

Bodkin: The Sierra Leone Library has 24 branches across the country, and our key patrons are children. We have a special department in our libraries called the children’s department or children’s corners. We have been able to partner with Book Aid International UK, and they have been very supportive of the children's corners and children's department. When you come into these libraries, you'll notice that the children's department is a special place, very well organized with books, toys, and games, designed for children. We always organize activities for them because having the children come in is one thing, but what would make them stay? It is activities across all our libraries, and we have several planned throughout the year. As long as you can get children reading when they’re young, it's best.

Getting adults to use the library is a bit trickier, but we do have them coming in, especially from colleges and universities, because we have those who understand the value. We have research materials and historical materials. Sometimes, people doing research struggle to find certain information, but when they come into the library, we have all these materials ready for them to use. That's the kind of service that we are providing for everyone.

Even though we are now competing with technology, we still know our place in society. We know that we are providers of relevant information. We know that we are curators of historical knowledge. In fact, we have a policy that all authors, both within and outside Sierra Leone, who write about Sierra Leone, should deposit three copies of their book with the Library Board for free. It's called a legal deposit, and all those who comply have their materials in the library.

Poda-Poda Stories: What are some of the challenges that the library is facing currently?

Bodkin: A big challenge is finances. Sometimes we have late allocations coming in or allocations being cut off, so we have to manage resources all the time.  An important thing about libraries is our programming; if we don't have the support we need, we lag and need to catch up with trends, but that’s difficult because of funding. For instance, for now, we really want to see how best we can go digital with our resources and how we can change our acquisitions department from traditional to digitized. But we can't do that. We still have to go through the hard labor of stamping them and punching cards, even though that's what makes us librarians. We also want to offer more programs for adults, like workshops on leadership and climate change, but we don’t have the funds. 

Another challenge we are facing is transportation. We have 24 libraries across the country, and it’s hard to monitor them. We also need to take books to rural areas all around Sierra Leone. That’s why we are still trying our best to get our job done and stay relevant in the midst of all the challenges.

Dunstanette Bodkin also runs a non-profit organisation advocating for early literacy development and children’s welfare, Dunamis Kids Organisation.

Poda-Poda Stories: Can you talk a bit more about the organization you started, Dunamis Kids Organization, why you started it, and some of the initiatives you guys are working on?

Bodkin: I used to have some family members sending me books because they just knew I was passionate about books and reading. So, they’ll look around to see what books they can collect and send to me, and I’ll make donations and distribute them to schools. So, with the knowledge from the Early Literacy course I took with the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA), I decided to team up with colleagues to see how we can put our limited resources, knowledge, and passion together to reach more children. Since we launched, we have been targeting schools and communities. So, for schools, we normally try to see how best we can help them set up the school library and support them in running it. And then, for the community, we normally organize pop-up libraries and reading activities with children. We’ve also been going as far as the children’s hospitals, where we launched a bibliotherapy initiative, emphasizing that even books can support healing. We’ve been to some hospitals, where we share stories with the children and also donate a certain number of books for the nurses to keep in the children’s wards, so the children can access and read them. We’ve also had community play-day activities where we merge play and reading, often during the Christmas break. In fact, we have a school where we set up both a computer room and a library, using computers donated to the organization from someone in the UK. We just blended that with some books we had, and we teamed up with the school authorities. They welcomed the idea, so now they have a library and computer room up and running, and that has helped to boost literacy in the school and engage the children in learning activities.

Poda-Poda Stories: Why are libraries so important, not just for kids, but adults as well?

Bodkin: We tell people to see the library as a hub and a space that can provide many opportunities. People are not aware of how rich our collection is, and the whole idea of saying “Oh, I can just go to ChatGPT and get all that I want”, for example, isn’t really true. People have to understand that these things are not human. They make mistakes. There are so many errors, and for people to even use this tool successfully, they have to learn how to use it properly. As librarians, we have the capacity to know how to arrange information and how to determine relevant information for use. Not everything available online is true. You have to know how to verify and analyze your information. These are all things people aren't aware of; they just feel they don't need the library, but we keep telling them to come to the library. In fact, not everything in the library is online. We have some historical records in the library that you cannot find on any digital database. We know we are relevant, but then even within the field, we have colleagues who no longer want to be librarians. Now we have many colleagues with first degrees in librarianship, but they are rushing to pursue other fields because they don't feel comfortable in their own skin. But we try to have conversations where we can tell ourselves how much we matter.

There’s a lot of talk about Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs. You cannot leave libraries behind in that because there is a way the library can help to reach those goals, whether it is education, climate change, or entrepreneurship. We are a space where people can think together and offer solutions. The moment we gather for events and workshops, there's going to be a spark of ideas and solutions.

Poda-Poda Stories: Thank you, Ms. Bodkin. A final question: How have books saved your life?

Bodkin: If I didn’t have access to books and stories growing up, I don't think I would've been able to get to where I am right now, because there is something about childhood reading that never leaves you. It helps you dream and imagine where you want to go and what you want in life. Sometimes people say, “Oh, you speak so well”. And I believe that didn't even happen in school or university. It's from my childhood, having access to good books and stories. I am where I am because of the books I read as a child.

Questions and interview by Ngozi Cole.

Yarri Kamara on the importance of African translators in literature

Yarri Kamara is a Sierra Leonean-Ugandan writer, translator and policy researcher who has lived and travelled extensively in the Sahel. She has been awarded several translation grants and was a finalist for the National Translation Award in the US for her translation of Monique Ilboudo’s So Distant From My Life. Her own essays and poems have appeared on numerous platforms including Africa is a Country, The Republic, Lolwe and Brittle Paper, and her work has been translated into French, German and Portuguese. She recently co-edited the anthology Sahara: A thousand paths into the future (Sternberg Press). In this interview, Kamara talks to Poda-Poda Stories about the importance of literary translation in Africa.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Poda-Poda Stories: You’re a writer, essayist, and researcher. How did you get into literary translation?

Yarri Kamara: I saw it as a necessity. I like playing around with languages, but I was happy for many years just doing technical translations.I lived in Burkina Faso for 17 years, so I was reading a lot of African literature written in French during that time. I'd come across great work and then I tried speaking to my family who don't read French about these books, but the books weren't available in English. That’s when I started paying attention to what gets translated and what doesn't get translated. 

Now, a lot of the Francophone African literature has been translated by non-African translators, which in and of itself is not a problem, but sometimes you come across some translations that are a little bit lacking in context. So you wonder how much of the local context of the way French is spoken and whether it is West African or central African, whatever the region is, how much that particularity did the translator understand and how much attention did they put into conveying that into the English form. When I came across a Burkinabe novel, So Distant from My Life—which was my first literary translation project— I read it and I loved it. And I thought, well I have many years experience translating, given not literary translation, but here I am thinking about why is it that there's so few African texts translated by Africans? This is my opportunity to change that. And so I jumped in and gave it a shot. 

Poda-Poda Stories: What was the translation process of So Distant from My Life?

Kamara: I came across the book at its book launch. I picked up a copy and I read it almost in one sitting. It's quite a short book, but I like the rhythm and humor in it. So then I went to meet Monique Ilboudo and I told her I was interested in translating the book and would she be fine with that? And she said, sure, go ahead. I started looking for grants and came across the Penn/Heim grant program. I sent off an application and continued translating, even though I had no funding secured yet. And the translation process in and of itself was just a lot of fun and easy, because I knew exactly where her characters were coming from. Ilboudo bases her characters on the youth that grew up at a certain time in Burkina Faso. I could see her characters and in my head I could understand their expressions,what the thought processes were underneath what they were saying. 

Poda-Poda Stories: What would be some of these gaps that you think are still holding us back in terms of literary translation, and what’s your mapping of the literary translation landscape in Africa?

Kamara: There are a not lot of African translators between European languages, for example English and French or English and Portuguese. And I think part of that is a reflection of how foreign languages are not taught particularly well in our school systems, because to be a good translator, you absolutely have to be able to comprehend everything in the source language. On the other hand, thankfully you do see a lot of literary translators working between African and European languages. In South Africa, there's a lot of support for working and translating with the local languages like IsiZulu, Xhosa etc. I think it was just a few months ago that a celebrated translation of George Orwell's The Animal Farm came out in Shona. So I think it's fantastic to see these African writers and translators who master the languages that a lot of them grew up speaking and that they're now bringing works written in English and sometimes written in English by African authors. There's also now an impetus for promoting literature in the Swahili language, and some of that also goes towards translating texts into Swahili. I think Abdulrazak Gurnah winning the Nobel Prize for Literature has given a boost to that because now you have international bestsellers that can be translated into Swahili. So I think there’s a lot of positive development.

If we come back to West Africa, my overall observation is that there's still a lot more texts written in English by West African authors being translated into French, though often that's passing directly through France because we have such big name writers writing in English and most French publishing houses are interested in them. A lot of English to French translators emerge from Cameroon just because of that unique situation that Cameroonians have where a lot of people who grow up bilingual within the European languages in addition to indigenous Cameroonian languages they may speak. 

Portuguese speakers are in Portugal, Brazil, and then the three or four countries in Africa. But I do know a lot of publishers based in Angola or Mozambique that are actively looking for things to translate into Portuguese for the Angolan or the Mozambican audiences because there's quite some differences between African Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. 

Because so much of the world functions in English and through English, you can already access quite a variety of literature within Africa. There are so many Nigerian writers and so many South African writers. So maybe it takes us English speakers some time to realize that we're missing out on parts of the world when it comes to literature. Both the publishers and readers are not that actively looking for works being translated into English by African writers writing in other languages. Whereas I think certainly the Portuguese-speaking Africans, and also the French-speaking Africans are much more curious about accessing what is being written by Africans in English.

Poda-Poda Stories: You’re right, English speakers do read in a bubble because so much is translated for us. I read Han Kang’s The Vegetarian and I really enjoyed it! And when she won the Nobel prize for literature, there was a debate on social media about the translation of The Vegetarian and that’s when I thought, oh, of course it was originally written in Korean! How do translators strive to stay true to the original version of the text?

Kamara: I think that's why translation is an art rather than a science. It’s great that you enjoyed Han Kang’s The Vegetarian–I know the translator who translated it into English—and it didn't occur to you initially to think this was not written in English. I think that's a sign of a good translation where it feels like it was written in the language you're reading it in. At the same time, you're also able to glean the unique cultural world of the original author. I think that's the balance that translators are always seeking.

Poda-Poda Stories: What have been some of the formative books or forms of literature that have shaped you both as a writer and a translator?

Kamara: I went to an international school and there was no African literature on the curriculum at the time, but I think that has changed now. As a young teenager, I did attempt to read some of the immediate post-colonial African writers. But I think I read them at the wrong time in my life. I found them very stuffy and that didn't appeal to me. I came back to African literature as an adult and fell in love . I read two remarkable memoirs by African writers: Equiano’s Travels, also known by its original title “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African” which chronicles the life of an enslaved Nigerian, who later buys his freedom, and his travels from Africa to the Americas and through Europe. And the other, more recent, “An African in Greenland” by Togolese writer Tété-Michel Kpomassie which recounts his long trip to Greenland in the 1960s. The observations that these two travellers coming from an-as-of-yet unglobalized Africa make of the foreign worlds they encounter are fascinating and a refreshing alternative to the prevailing Eurocentric narratives of those times. These books really opened my eyes to the importance of us Africans chronicling our times for future generations. A recent book that I come back to a lot is Ben Okri's A Way of Being Free, which are just beautiful reflections on the work of writers, or more broadly the work of artists in society, and how do we navigate the joys and also the heavy burdens of what storytellers are trying to do. In that book, Okri talks a lot about the responsibility that storytellers have and the kind of courage they need to have to do it well.

"Storytelling is resistance"-Hickmatu Leigh on the power of visual storytelling

Hickamatu Leigh is an artist, photographer, storyteller, and young feminist activist from Sierra Leone. Known for her impactful photography and filmmaking focused on the lives and experiences of Sierra Leonean girls and women, her award-winning work includes honours from the Women Deliver Arts and Film Festival 2023 and the SDG Vanguard Award in 2024 from the UN Foundation. 

Her film, Gboroka, which explores Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), has been selected for the African Film Festival in New York. Ahead of the screening, Leigh shares the inspiration behind the film and why African women’s stories are important.

Poda-Poda Stories: Let’s start with your journey with photography as your language. How did you choose photography as a medium, and what has that journey been like? 

Hickmatu Leigh: I don’t think I chose photography, photography chose me. 

For a long time, I lived in silence. Growing up, I began to realize how much our environment shapes who we become. In my community, we were taught that the things that happened to us especially as girls were normal. That to be quiet was to be respectful. That to question tradition or religion meant you were rebellious, ungrateful, or even sinful. But deep down, I kept asking: what about us? What about how we feel? What about our voices? 

I was angry. I wanted to stand out. I wanted more. 

After graduating with a degree in public health, I struggled to find work. I was home, idle, reflecting a lot and that’s when it hit me. I had always loved taking pictures. It brought me peace. It made me feel seen, like I was actually good at something. Friends and family would tell me, “You’re really good at this,” and for once, I decided to believe them. 

Photography became my language during a time I couldn’t speak. I was in a dark place, feeling invisible and not enough. But through the lens, I began to reclaim my worth. I started to see the power of visual storytelling especially in a country where so many stories about women like me go untold. 

Over time, photography transformed from a safe space into my purpose. It took me into rooms with UNICEF, WHO, Purposeful, winning awards and having international exhibitions. More importantly, it led me to myself. Through photography, I have healed. And now, as a new mother, it feels even more sacred. It’s how I speak to my child, my ancestors, and the world. It is how I remain visible, rooted, and free. 

Poda-Poda Stories: What is your creative process like as an artist working in visual storytelling?

Leigh: My creative process is deeply spiritual. It often begins with a feeling, sometimes from a story I’ve lived, or heard, or imagined. It could be sparked by a conversation, a sound, or even a single image. But once the spark comes, I sit with it. I reflect. I pray. I ask myself: What truth are we trying to honor here? 

I write. I dream. I talk to the people whose stories I want to tell. I let their energy guide me. 

For me, visual storytelling isn’t just about aesthetics. It is about emotion, legacy, and truth. I let intuition lead the way. Whether I’m documenting girls’ voices or exploring the sacredness of womanhood, I always aim to show the beauty in the struggle. My images are often black and white because I want people to focus on the emotion, the texture and the story.

My photography is a conversation that speaks without shouting, one that honors identity, culture, and resilience. Through veils, masks, and raw portraiture, I try to reveal what has been hidden. My work is my voice. It is my resistance and my offering.

Poda-Poda Stories: That’s a good segue into the next question, which is about your film, Gboroka. I love that your work focuses primarily on Sierra Leonean women, and this movie tackles a very sensitive and complex topic in Sierra Leone. How were you able to handle that sensitivity and drive the discussion forward about FGM in your film?

Leigh: Gboroka is deeply personal. It is my story—our story. 

In Sierra Leone, topics like FGM are often surrounded by silence and shame. But I know firsthand how powerful visual storytelling can be, and I knew this was a story that needed to be told. Not with blame, but with honesty. Not to condemn our culture, but to show all of it the beauty, the pain, the complexity. 

As a team through AWATS (African Women and Their Stories), we approached it with a lot of care. We didn’t want to sensationalize the topic, we wanted to humanize. We centered the voices of women and girls. We listened. We felt. We allowed their truths to guide the narrative. Gboroka is a conversation starter. It’s powerful, it’s triggering, but it’s necessary.

The goal was never just to make a film, it was to open space. Space to feel. Space to talk. Space to imagine a different future for our daughters. 

We have screened Gboroka in a few places so far and had two international film selections. Every time, it stirred something deep. We’ve now launched our impact campaign and are actively taking the film to schools and communities to continue the conversation and inspire change. That’s the power of art, it reaches where words can’t always go. 

A still from the film Gboroka, which explores FGM.

Poda-Poda Stories: What was the writing process like when you were working on the film, especially from the perspective of merging the visual with narrative?

Leigh: When I was writing Gboroka, there were moments I genuinely felt afraid. I remember sharing the idea with my mom and my aunt and their response was, “This na society secret, dem nor dey pull am na doe.” That moment hit me hard. It reminded me just how deep and sacred this silence is. But it also fueled the urgency. There was a strong will in me to tell this story from my own perspective from the stories the women before me whispered, the things I had seen, felt, carried. I wanted it to be raw. I wanted it to be honest. 

We wrote Gboroka from the heart. We didn’t sit down to create a script that explains everything. We sat in silence. We sat with the question of what it means when a girl can’t speak her truth, when she screams inwardly and is told to call it tradition. We didn’t want to preach. We wanted people to feel. 

Because I’m a photographer first, I approached every scene like a still image. I visualized pain, hope, and resistance in motionless frames. And that’s why Gboroka has no dialogue intentionally. We wanted viewers to interpret it on their own terms, to confront their emotions, their discomfort, their memories. Every frame was deliberate carrying weight, grief, silence, but also beauty. 

We wanted to show the richness of our culture, the rhythm, the colors, the rituals but also the parts we’re not allowed to talk about. The wounds hidden behind smiles. So Gboroka isn’t just a film. It’s a question. A mirror. And I’m proud we dared to make it.

Poda-Poda Stories: What are you hoping will be the outcome of Gboroka when people watch it?

Leigh: I hope Gboroka lingers. 

I hope it opens doors for conversations we’ve been too afraid to have. I hope it helps girls feel seen. I hope it challenges parents to reflect, and community leaders to protect. I hope decision-makers move from silence to action. 

But above all, I hope it births empathy. Real change happens when people feel something deeply. Data doesn’t always shift hearts, but stories do. If Gboroka helps even one person see things differently, it has done its job. 

Poda-Poda Stories: Choosing a creative career in Sierra Leone, as you may know, is not an easy path to forge, especially as a woman. What has helped you in your journey, and what advice would you give to budding filmmakers?

Leigh: It hasn’t been easy. Some days, it still feels like I’m fighting just to be heard. But what keeps me grounded is my why. 

I remind myself constantly of my purpose for the girl I once was who needed to see someone like me doing this work. I lean on my sisterhood, my partner, and my faith. And now, as a mother, I carry a new kind of fire. Everything I create now is also a message to my child. A reminder that their mother tried to shift something. 

To young filmmakers, especially women in Sierra Leone: your voice is enough. You don’t need permission to create. Start small. Start honest. Build your tribe. Protect your vision, and don’t be afraid to feel deeply. 

Storytelling is resistance. It is love. It is a way of remembering and a way of dreaming. The world needs your voice, don't be afraid to use it.

Gboroka will be screening at the New York African Film Festival in May.