Meet the THE DJIGENI CRAFT Team

As a teenager. I came home from school hungry. I made a stop at my mother’s house and asked her if she had any food for me to eat. She replied that there was no food.

My mother was handicapped and things were really difficult for her. I then went to my aunt where I was living. She gave me food. After eating, I began to worry about my mother, especially knowing that she is going without food. The next day, I kept thinking about what to do to help her.

 I came up with a plan that when school closes for the year, I would find a vacation job. I got a job with the Liberian Forestry Development Authority. When I received my first pay check, I came up with a business plan. The money was small and decided to be more creative. By going from bakery to bakery in Liberia, I created the opportunity to buy 300 empty flour bags. I took these bags to Sierra Leone, a neighboring country; in the town of Kuandu where I had them tie-dyed. I returned to Liberia and gave them to my mother to sell. 

I worked very hard while attending AGM Elementary and Junior High School in Monrovia, Liberia. I participated in Track and Field, running 100 meters. I was awarded a scholarship to complete my high school education at Wells Hairston High School in Monrovia. 

When the Liberian bloody civil war started, we had to leave the country for neighboring Guinea. While in Guinea, I was fortunate to get a job with the Regional Women Group, earning $ 100 monthly. My mother, my younger sister and her daughter lived with me in a one bed room apartment. I was working at the Refugee Camp. My monthly rent payment was $25 and the balance $ 75 covered the rest of the expenses.

Another war started in Guinea and we had to return to Liberia. Not too long after we returned to Liberia, I got the opportunity to come to the United States. Throughout my stay in the USA, I always remembered what I went through in Liberia prior to coming here (USA).  Considering how many young women could be having similar problem, the idea of DJIGENI CRAFT was born with my husband on my side. We are blessed to have come across Deb Dierking, who is a true humanitarian. I work with her and we have known each other for over six years. She serves as my professor and has been so wonderful in the founding of DJIGENI CRAFT. The whole idea of DJIGENI CRAFT is to take economic empowerment to marginalized women and disabled persons in a developing country that will be receptive to our objectives and goals.