Next Gen Krios

06/03/2026

🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿 Celebrating Dr Constance Cummings-John

As we have two more days to celebrate International Women’s Day, Swit Salone is honouring and celebrating Sierra Leonean women who had and have contributed positively and immensely to the growth of our sweet Salone, and make Sierra Leone famous for the right reasons.

Today’s honorable mention is a woman who, in 2024, made history not just for herself but for Sierra Leone as a whole.

She is a woman who set the pace for women in healthcare in Sierra Leone.

She works at the Connaught Hospital, Sierra Leone’s largest referral hospital, as a general surgeon.

Her name is Dr Constance Cummings-John, Sierra Leone’s first female general surgeon.

Cummings-John became a surgeon during an induction ceremony for fellows of the West African College of Surgeons (WACS) at the 64th annual general meeting in Freetown in March 2024.

She came from a family of history makers and a go-getter spirit. Her grandmother, who she was named after, is featured on the Bank of Sierra Leone’s 20 Leone note.

Her grandmother, Constance Cummings-Johns, was the first Sierra Leonean and African woman to become Mayor of a major African city - the city of Freetown.

Given her family background, she knew there was an upheaval task ahead of her to keep the family name proud - and she did it!

Cummings-John’s journey serves as an inspiration to Sierra Leone’s new generation of young doctors, especially women in health-related fields.

Sierra Leone’s lack of surgeons, with 0.0625 general surgeons per 100,000 people, fired up her intuition to become a general surgeon.

She believed, worked hard and became the first female general surgeon in Sierra Leone - a feat worthy of emulating.

04/03/2026

Remembering an exceptional krio woman 🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿

As we have a few more days to celebrate International Women’s Day, Swit Salone is honouring and celebrating Sierra Leonean women who have contributed positively and immensely to the growth of our sweet Salone and to making Sierra Leone famous for the right reasons.

Today, we begin by honouring a woman who set the pace for women in law in Sierra Leone and around the world.

A woman, who became the face of West Africa to an extent, was given the moniker “West Africa’s Portia” for her beautiful face and brilliance - her name, Frances Claudia Wright, the first Sierra Leonean woman to be named to the Bar in Great Britain and the first woman to practice Law in Sierra Leone.

They called her “West Africa’s Portia” as a tribute to the brilliant lawyer in Shakespeare’s popular play The Merchant of Venice. And rightly so, Wright lived up to the name and represented intellect, grace, and courage in an era that offered women very little space.

She was born on March 5 1919, to prominent legal Creole parents Claude and Eva Wright in Freetown. Her father and grandfather were lawyers in Freetown. She grew up and was educated in England.

In 1943, in search of her father, Wright returned to Freetown - a journey that left her with the pain of losing her father, whom she later found out had died when she came home to Freetown.

In 1948, Wright was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in Great Britain, becoming the first Sierra Leonean woman and one of the first African and Black women to achieve that milestone.

In Freetown, at her father’s chamber in Gloucester, Wright took over her father’s chamber and became the head of a set of chambers of women lawyers in Sierra Leone.

Wright went on to become the first female to practise Law in Sierra Leone, establishing herself as a distinguished and courageous legal practitioner.

After taking over her father’s legal chamber, Wright represented many of the large international companies in Sierra Leone and was appointed Legal Adviser to the British High Commission IN Sierra Leone.

She took on cases that directly involved women’s rights and became President of the Sierra Leone Bar.

Wright was awarded an OBE by the Queen of the United Kingdom for her work in the legal sector.

She was the epitome of “beauty with brains,’’ proving that the girlchild has an equal chance to achieve her dreams and change our society if she is equipped with the right education and access to opportunities.

Wright returned to England when the civil war broke out in Sierra Leone in 1991. She died in 2010 at the age of 91 in England.

Because of women like Frances Claudia Wright, generations of Sierra Leonean women now stand confidently in courtrooms, boardrooms, classrooms, and beyond.

15/02/2026

Hear ye, hear ye. Vickie nor lie wan.