Sierra Leonne
Country Profile
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Issa Mustapha was born in Sierra Leone, and worked in the dangerous diamond mines throughout his childhood to help support his family.  The danger came not only from difficult working conditions, but also from the rebel groups that often controlled the mines.  All found diamonds were supposed to be turned over to the rebel bosses, but on several occasions, Issa risked hiding a diamond in his mouth in order to have something more than the meager wages he earned for his labor.  At one point Issa had set aside six diamonds that he planned to sell to help himself get an education.

One of his most heart breaking moments was when he found that this small parcel of  diamonds had been stolen from his mother’s home.  It seemed like hope was gone.

As Issa grew to be a teenager, the violence around all around him was building.  When his home was attacked by rebels, Issa escaped into the bush to avoid being killed, but not before he witnessed the death of half of his family.  At that moment, Issa became a refugee.  He left Sierra Leone and made his way to a refugee camp in Nigeria.  It was there that he applied for resettlement in the United States.

After the initial paperwork for resettlement had been filed, Issa met Abibatu Sesay, who was herself a refugee from Sierra Leone and had known Issa’s mother.  The two become engaged and were married.  A year later Issa was approved for resettlement in the US, but since he was not married when the application process began, Abi could not go with him.

Rather than jeopardize his case, Issa came to the US in May 2003 without his wife.  As soon as he was settled, he applied for Abi to join him, but the process would take much longer than he ever imagined.  What Issa also did not realize was that Abi would not qualify for a refugee travel loan, which meant that he would have to come up with the full amount for her airplane ticket upfront if he wanted her to join him.  That was when Issa contacted TRAF.

Because of generous donations by TRAF contributors, Issa and Abi were finally reunited on March 24^th 2006; nearly three years since they had last seen each other.