Aminata Conteh-Biger 2021 Speaker

Aminata Conteh-Biger is the Founder and CEO of The Aminata Maternal Foundation whose vision is to improve conditions for women in Sierra Leone to birth and raise their children. The organisation was founded to lift the health and well-being of women and children and improve some of the worst maternal and infant mortality rates in the world. 

As a teenager in Freetown Sierra Leone, Aminata was abducted by rebels  during the civil war. She was brutally treated by her captors for a number of months until she was finally freed as part of a negotiated prisoner exchange where rebel-held child prisoners were released in return for food and medicine.

UNHCR recognised that one of Aminata’s captors still posed a serious threat to her safety, and with their support she became the first Sierra Leonean refugee woman in Australia.Over the past five years, Aminata’s story has been an intrinsic part of Ros Horin’s renowned theatre production The Baukham Hills African Ladies Troupe, which played at the Opera House and in the UK and has now been made into a documentary.

“I hope that you will share in my dream that through the Aminata Maternal Foundation more women in Sierra Leone experience safe births and the joy of motherhood. Together, we can make this happen. Thank you for your support.” – Aminata Conteh-Biger