Jalikatu Mustapha is one of just four eye doctors in the whole of Sierra Leone. Her work was recently recognised by Queen Elizabeth II. Jalikatu shared an online chat with the British monarch in which she described how simple operations are changing lives in her country. But Jalikatu’s life almost took a very different course. She was a child during the Sierra Leone civil war, her family nearly lost their lives in a gun battle in a hotel. Her father, a leading economist of the time, had been asked to become the Minister of Finance in the new military government. He didn’t want the job so instead the family were trying to escape. Jalikatu now works with the charity Sightsavers.

 

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Producer: Deiniol Buxton

Picture: Jalikatu Mustapha

Credit: Moseray Koroma