Tough Love

The third of six children born to struggling parents in Sierra Leone in the 1940s, Femi Iris Hamilton did not set out to become a leader. She had no big dreams of conquering the world, amassing wealth and adulation along the way. Raised in a culture that taught young girls to serve the men and boys in their lives, she became well-versed on the business of servanthood. She utilized her servanthood instincts and leveraged the discipline and trading skills instilled in her by her parents, to successfully juggle the demands of being a wife, a mother and a successful business owner. Her supermarket, Pluris Stores, became a hub of business in Lumley long before Lumley became the bustling business centre that it is today. Over the years, she developed a compulsion to use that success to help as many people as she came in contact with. Her help comes with her special brand of tough love, the purpose of which is to discourage a sense of overdependence and entitlement. It is to generate the courage to look in the mirror and make the changes necessary for growth and success. Over the years her network of kindness and goodwill has evolved into a veritable community that continues to expand. Why read about the life of Femi Iris Hamilton? It is a chance to become part of that network, helping to solve nationwide problems of disillusionment, poverty, illiteracy and the like, with a little kindness and a smattering of 'Tough Love'.