Staff of the Ghana national office on Friday, February 23, 2018 celebrated Esther Lehmann-Sow’s (WAR Leader) contribution to World Vision’s work in West Africa as she transitions into her new role as Partnership Leader for Faith and Development.  

From 23 to 26 March, the Global Director of Field Operations, Dirk Booy, accompanied by Esther Lehmann-Sow, Regional Leader for the organization in western Africa, visited five ADPs in Mauritania  three of which are Aleg, Bababé and Dar El Barka.

SENIOR Technical Advisor, Health and Nutrition

16-year-old Esther walks 8 km each way to attend school in Tanzania, facing the risk of sexual violence and dangerous animals. Now, the ongoing drought, means she has to fetch water from further away, making her late for class and putting her at higher risk of violence when she walks home late at night.

A Manana family from the Sigcineni community, under the Mahlangatsha constituency, has witnessed their life turnaround after being blessed with a donation of 1 sow (female pig) and pig feed from World Vision in June last year.

“Am I in the valley of the shadow of death, Lord?” Leslie Scott, World Vision Sierra Leone’s National Director asked himself this question everyday at the height of the Ebola crisis in November 2014. Corpses lay in the streets. Every ambulance siren reminded him of another virus victim.

At the age of two, a train went over her little legs in a tragic accident. She lost both legs in an amputation to save her life, but this could not stop her destiny. As one of the children supported through a project to assure Equality for Girls’ Access to Learning (EGAL), a project funded by Global Affairs Canada (GAC), Esther (now 15) received a school kit that is helping her towards achieving her dreams.

Esther Lehmann-Sow, World Vision West Africa Regional Leader, stresses that World Vision is called to care for children in the most fragile and vulnerable places.