May-Marie Duwai-Sowa became Sierra Leone's special envoy in 2023.
Hamilton woman is Sierra Leone's only special envoy in Canada, 25 years after fleeing its civil war | CBC News LoadedCanada and Sierra Leone have important historical connections, and May-Marie Duwai-Sowa is looking to help them bond even further. The 46-year-old, who escaped the war in Sierra Leone in 1999 and is now Canada’s special envoy to the West African country. says the role serves as “an opportunity to give back.
Canada is a great country that Sierra Leoneans need to know a lot more about. Likewise, Canadians need to know more about Sierra Leone.Now a Canadian citizen, Duwai-Sowa's mission is to help find ways to better connect the two countries. "Likewise, Canadians need to know more about Sierra Leone, and know about the history of Sierra Leone, and the potential and prospects that Sierra Leone has."
Mark Stewart, an adviser to the SEIRTI office in Hamilton, says people in West Africa 'have a lot of aspiration to build their countries.' "Obviously being Sierra Leonean and Canadian, she has a great appreciation and affinity for both of these countries," Stewart said. "There is something notable in having someone doing this role who actually authentically knows, and is connected to and is literally a citizen of both countries."She can recall the first time rebel forces infiltrated her family's home in Sierra Leone.
"They couldn't find us, but they came into my bedroom and shot it," she said. "For the longest time, I kept the mirror with a gunshot in it." She enrolled at a local university in New Jersey, graduated in 2000 and was granted asylum by the U.S.He relocated to Canada for work, then asked her to come visit Toronto. They went to Niagara Falls, the Caribana festival, the CN Tower and on horse-drawn carriage rides — "all the touristy stuff," she said. In the process, she fell "in love" with Canada.
A chance encounter led to an interview and she was hired for the role of community developer with the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion. "It was starting to be the place I had lived the longest and I was starting to build community," she said. "I can still contribute to Sierra Leone and other parts of the world without having to leave.She has now brought her parents to Canada to live permanently, a process that took eight years, in part because of the Ebola outbreak.There are scars that are still healing, both for Duwai-Sowa and her birth country.
Duwai-Sowa believes Sierra Leone has turned the corner on its tumultuous past and is ready to prosper. Her goal with the SEIRTI office is to help foster partnerships with Canadian agencies, academic institutions and businesses.
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