Abeni Jackson-Johnson
Co-Founder
Abeni Jackson-Johnson was born in Waukegan, Illinois. She was raised all over the United States because her mother was an officer in the US Navy. She resided in Flint, Michigan for the majority of her school career. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Joint Social Sciences at the University of Michigan and Master’s in education with Special Education and International Special Education certification at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.
About Abeni
She has worked at the International Community School of Abidjan (ICSA) in Cote d’Ivoire West Africa for 3 years as a pre-kindergarten lead teacher and served as department head for the Early Childhood Development Department. She was nominated by her colleagues to represent the teachers on the Director’s Counsel at ICSA. She was the coordinator of Outreach Ministry at International Fellowship of Christians (IFC) in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. She is one of the founding board members at Luke International School (LIS) in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. She is a board member and business developer of House of Avana African Artisan Crafts. This project focuses on war-affected children orphaned during the civil war in Cote d’Ivoire seeking direction for livelihood. House of Avana has chosen to implement teaching artisan skills through local, and legendary artisan crafters to share their expertise and teach the orphans.
She is also a member and mission leader to Sierra Leone with Airline Ambassadors International. They have partnered to assist vulnerable women and provide nourishing food and education to orphaned children due to the Ebola epidemic in 2014-2016. Her passion to serve the vulnerable to empower and educate them to self-sufficiency is her goal. Her love for Africa started at the tender age of 6 years old while watching a movie called The gods must be Crazy. This piqued her curiosity of the continent.
Desiring to explore the continent, 11 years later during her senior year summer, she traveled to Cote d’Ivoire with her younger brother to visit her Ivorian godfather. Her love for the people, food and culture drew her closer to her destiny to live there 20 years later with her own family. Volunteering in the community and organizing outreach programs to empower and educate the locals, she found her true calling to serve those who were victimized and neglected by society. Her destiny found her in Sierra Leone in January 2020, visiting her prayer partner. There, another love affair for this country ignited.
She realized that she was 6 degrees of separation to Ibrahim, who was Airline Ambassador's International's newest partner. During the global shutdown due to COVID-19, Ibrahim worked closely with Abeni to organize a virtual mission to Makeni, to promote a sponsorship program to help feed, cloth, and educate 60 orphans. This mission raised money to rent Sierra Cares Foundation in Sierra Leone a home to establish head quarters there in Makeni. With generous donors and partners, the house will provide a place of safety, virtual learning to the orphans and recreational place where the children can gather to have monthly virtual Zoom calls with their sponsors in the US and Italy.