By KABS KANU :
Sierra Leone’s Goodwill Ambassador and Honorary Consul in California, Mrs. Isata Isha Timbo- Nwokedi, has said that all she wants to do is to continue to be of help to mankind and to serve her country and people.
Mrs. Timbo , who is one of Sierra Leone’s best noted philanthropists , told COCORIOKO over the weekend that the reason she took the jobs was to continue her life’s dream of providing help to humanity .
The newspaper interviewed Mrs. Timbo over the weekend about how she was doing in her dual roles as Goodwill Ambassador to America and Honorary Consul to California.
Mrs. Timbo said she was doing fine and she appreciates the opportunity given to her to serve her country in the capacities of Goodwill Ambassador and Consul, though she had been helping the people before she was appointed by President Koroma.
Mrs. Timbo stated that one of her goals now is to help find business magnates, businesses and institutions to go and invest in Sierra Leone.
Mrs. Timbo believes that one of the greatest machines to stimulate the Sierra Leone economy is foreign investments, which will not only generate foreign exchange and boost the flow of money but will provide jobs for the many unemployed people in the country. In this regard, she has hit the ground running.
Mrs. TIMBO IS also working towards encouraging tourists to visit Sierra Leone. She believes that Sierra Leone is a very beautiful country with many tourist attractions and if tourism is given the much-needed boost it deserves, it will become a tremendous money-generating source for the country. A big boost in tourism will also change the negative image of the country and help to rebrand Sierra Leone, she explained gleefully
” I love my country and my people and I just want to serve them. ” she enthused. “I am doing my best to justify the confidence reposed in me by President Ernest Koroma.”
Mrs. Timbo came to prominence through humanitarian enterprises through which she provided medicine, supplies and equipment for various hospitals and clinics in Sierra Leone at a time when the need for them was more dire than presently.
At the time, everything had broken down in many of the country’s health centers and hospitals. Patients were dying not only from their ailments but from the inadequacy of medical supplies and equipment to provide them life-saving treatment.
It was during this critical moment that Mrs. Timbo appeared on the scene . Identifying what her country needed, Mrs. Timbo used her own resources to repeatedly procure 40 foot containers of medical supplies and equipment which she started sending to Sierra Leone. Her philanthropic endeavours which blessed thousands of patients were highly appreciated even by the Powers – That- Be.
IT is not only hospitals and medical centers that Mrs. Timbo blesses.
She had assisted Muslims to do the traditional pilgrimage to Mecca . Additionally, she had supplied truckloads of rice and food supplies to famished Sierra Leoneans.
When Ebola struck Sierra Leone in 2013, Mrs. Timbo sent a 40 foot container of medical supplies and medicines to Sierra Leone to help fight the plague. Her generous act prompted the First Lady of Sierra Leone , Mrs. Sia Nyama Koroma, to send a special letter of thanks to Mrs. Timbo, commending her for her patriotic act.
When the killer landslide struck in Sierra Leone three months ago , leading to the deaths of over one thousand people , injured hundreds and left thousands more homeless, Mrs. Timbo went into action again . She worked strenuously to help canvass help for the mudslide victims and was invited by an international organization , Direct Relief , which had been very active in emergency and flood related responses to Sierra Leone, to do a two hour ride from her base in Hawthorne to Goleta, California , to see the air shipment of medical supplies worth one million dollars they were about to send to Sierra Leone to help the mudslide victims.
It is because of all of these humanitarian assistance Mrs. Timbo has rendered that many Sierra Leoneans say that her appointment first as Goodwill Ambassador and then as Honorary Counsel , were among the best appointments made by President Ernest Koroma.
Mrs. Timbo does not only love her country and people ; she loves her job because through it she is able to serve humanity, which has always been her overriding passion since she was born.
