Sierra Leone Faith Act Fellows
Aatif Baskanderi
Aatif Baskanderi is a 27 year old Muslim hailing from Newfoundland, Canada. He graduated in Electrical Engineering from Memorial University in 2008.
After graduation he moved to Ottawa to make smart phones and pursue social development movements with Engineers Without Borders Canada. He pursued multiple roles, including public outreach, member learning, and chapter co-presidency. He also developed many social initiatives to raise awareness around safe-water access in Pakistan and global connectedness, which resulted in him shaving a football into his head!
After two years, he returned to University to complete an MSc in Social Policy & Development at LSE. His passion is to pursue a critical and holistic approach to his faith, propelled by learning about and from others and their unique (non-)faith pursuits and empower others for critical thought to promote both human and social development.
Annette Aguila
Annette Aguila, is a Roman Catholic, from the Philippines. Her first degree was from the University of the Philippines in Political Science. From 1997 to 2006 she was a Team Leader for Citibank.
She left Citibank to complete a degree in nursing at the University of Makati. After completing her nursing degree, Annette moved to Makeni, Sierra Leone as a Nurse Tutor for the Northern Polytechnic Department of Nursing in association with VSO.
Her experience in Sierra Leone was one of the most challenging and satisfying in her life. Based on this experience, she noticed that most people trusted their imams, pastors or priests nearly as much as they trusted their leaders. She hopes their support and guidance will greatly benefit the “Campaign against Malaria”.
Banke Adetayo
Banke Adetayo is a 25 year old Christian from London. She has a Masters in the History of Science and Technology from Imperial College London. Her Masters thesis was on the history of the eradication and control of malaria.
After graduating, Banke worked in NGOs such as Leonard Cheshire Disability and the Sickle Cell Support Scheme, engaging young people and the public in health related dialogue. She also gained facilitation and skills development experience from working with the Centre of Advanced Learning and Teaching at UCL.
Banke most recently worked with Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) in Sierra Leone as the Advocacy and Fundraising Representative at the National Nurses Association, where she used participatory tools and public engagement strategies to raise awareness and improve their image amongst nursing professionals.
Raised in a Christian family, the teachings and the life of Jesus has been central to how Banke sees the world and has shaped her desire to build cohesive relationships between faith communities; contributing to better understanding of each other and working together to promote health and prevent diseases.
Josephine Muhairwe
Josephine Muhairwe, is a medical doctor, with over seven years experience working in developing countries, four of which have been spent planning, implementing and monitoring community based health projects.
Previously, Josephine was the senior medical officer and later Clinical Director at Hospice Africa Uganda (an NGO that provides home based care to patients living with HIV/AIDS and Cancer). A lot of her work involved engaging the community in the prevention, care, treatment and management of patients in their homes/communities to ensure a continuum of care.
She also has skills and experience in training different professionals (including political and religious leaders) in a wide variety of health issues including the prevention of malaria. Josephine’s most recent role had been as a consultant with Engender health, USA, which involved collecting data, conducting interviews, data analysis, report writing and technical presentations.
