My name is Zainab Sheriff J. I was born in the Eastern part of Sierra Leone. I am Mende – Madingo by tribe. I am a female journalist.
After getting up in the morning I wake my kids for devotion, guide them to get dressed and eat, make sure their school materials are in order, and dispatch them to their various schools. As a bread winner, I make sure there are provisions in the house, and that people are at peace with one another (where there are conflicts I mediate to find resolutions). I check on my kids throughout the day to make sure they are OK. I live in the busy city center of Kenema where people of different origins and cultures interact with each other in the community, mostly with mutual respect and caring. In the morning people begin their days working with different businesses such as small-scale trading and shops, in transport with motor bikes, or as civil servants and NGO workers, Others are jobless. Kids gather in groups to walk or take transport to school. This diversity and lively activity are what I like best about my community.
My daily routine as an MMW journalist reflects the balance between my personal life, fieldwork, and professional responsibilities. I organize my daily schedule from home, making appointments with different contacts and sources for interviews either by phone or WhatsApp, reminding them about our appointments to meet. I then hire a motorbike rider to take me to my first meeting
A recent story I produced for MMW involved a land grabbing case with a community member, which illustrated the inequalities between women and men in land issues with serious violations of women’s rights. This community member had inherited land from her parents but her uncle took it from her and said that as a woman, she had no right to the property. I engaged with a community mediation partner, DMSP (District Multi-stakeholder Platforms), for a collaborative approach to discuss and resolve their land grab case. She was interviewed about her own part of the story and DMSP agreed to investigate the case.
I prepared a podcast to raise awareness about this community members story, including the location of the land and interviews with witnesses who could testify on her behalf. This included local chiefs and community elders who supported her. The results of my interviews clearly showed that in this male-dominated society, the inequality between men and women on land matters puts women at a severe disadvantage. This community member eventually won the case and her land was returned to her.
This is just one of several podcasts I have produced on various issues to advocate for women and girls and raise awareness of topics such as sexual & gender-based violence, health issues such as teen pregnancy and mpox, the Kush drug epidemic, and climate change,
Working as a journalist in a remote rural region is very challenging. Communications such as cell phone minutes are very expensive and unreliable, which makes it difficult to communicate with community partners and people in vulnerable communities. The electricity supply is very unreliable and we have days and even weeks with no power, so it’s hard to charge our computers and cellphones. This stressful situation can hinder the efficiency of our work. The erratic and massive rains cause severe flooding, cutting off local bridges and communication between communities, which adds to the challenges of our work.
As a young girl growing up, my dream was to become a military pilot, but things changed. After getting my education from primary, secondary school and tertiary institution I became a primary school teacher for some time and then I decided to practice media work. I worked at the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) and later left to work at Gola Agriculture Radio as a presenter and producer. I joined MMW in 2017 as a journalist and also became a regional coordinator. Working as an MMW journalist is both a challenging and rewarding profession, which requires dedication, awareness, and the ability to balance creativity with responsibility.
ZAINAB SHERIFF J
