Hello, my name is Fatu Harmon, Founder and CEO of Conneh Foundation. I was born and partly raised in Ivory Coast to Liberian parents who fled to Ivory Coast due to the Liberian Civil War of the 90s. To escape what some have classified as the most "uncivil war" of the 20th Century (the Liberian Civil War), my family braved horrid conditions including hunger, dehydration, artillery fire, and carnage to find safety in the Ivory Coast.

On September 19, 2002, a military coup in Ivory Coast precipitated a devastating civil war in my new home, leaving in its wake untold damages including, the loss of thousands of innocent lives. My family eventually found safety with the United Nations Human Rights Council, which secured our refuge for a short stint in Liberia and eventually Guinea. We lived in several refugee camps until my grandmother residing in the United States successfully filed for us to immigrate to the United States. Witnessing the sorrowful conditions under which youth were subjected in these camps ignited my passion to strive to improve conditions for youth living with resource scarcity throughout Africa.