Meeting a New Member - Dr. Seisay

Dr. Alieu Hamid Seisay (prounouced "seh-say") was born in a poor village in Sierra Leone, a country in western Africa. Most of the people in the village were illiterate. He attended schools sponsored by the Mehodist Church. English classes were part of the required curriculum. During his teen years Muslims came to many communities and enticed many to join their religion. They said that Christianity was for those who could read and that Islam was the preferred religion for everyone else. Many families, including Alieu's, converted to Islam.

At age 19 Alieu's life abruptly changed. He was selected to receive an education in Moscow. The Soviet Union had good relationships with Sierra Leone and they selected exceptionally bright students for state-sponsored education in Moscow. For the next 16 years Alieu lived and studied in Moscow. This was a period of no religion for Alieu. He earned a PhD in developmental economics with a focus on the issues of poverty in west Africa. He then returned to Sierra Leone and worked in the microcredit lending field, mobilizing poor women with small loans. He met Muhammed Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank (and 2007 Nobel Peace Prize recipient). Based on this meeting he sent 12 young men to Dhaka, Bangladesh to be trained by the Grameen Bank in state of the art microcredit lending practices. His teamed helped women become economically self-sufficient. In addition to extending micro=credit loans, they taught the women how to make laundry soap, how to sew clothing, and how to bake bread.

In 1991 civil war broke out in Sierra Leone and everything changed. The war would last until 2003. Dr. Seisay felt his life was in danger and he moved (or escaped) back to Moscow in 1996. But much had changed in Russia since the last time he was there. He struggled to find a job and after 18 months he moved to London. He then applied for a U.S. diversity lottery visa. The Congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually, drawn from random selection among all entries to persons who meet strict eligibility requirements from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Dr. Seisay was awarded a Diversity Visa and entered the U.S. in 2000.

He now lives in Philadelphia and works as the Director of Programs for the African Cultural Alliance of North America (www.acanus.org). This organization helps African immigrants resettle and assimilate in the U.S. It was while working with some African immigrants that he learned about our church. He met with our missionaries, carefully studied the doctrine and principles regarding the restoration of Christ's church and chose to be baptized a couple months ago. What an amazing life journey Dr. Seisay has had -- and the best is yet to come! This warm, engaging and intelligent man has so much to give to so many.

Meeting Dr. Seisay was especially important to me because many west African immigrants in Philadelphia have become members of our church in the past three years. Their lives are very difficult: poverty, language barriers, cultural barriers, health issues, unemployment, etc. It is our desire to help all of these new members develop the skills and abilities to move forward in their lives. Dr. Seisay will be a valuable bridge between the lives of west African immigrant new members and the more established members of our inner-city wards.