Shirley Gbujama

Gbujama was born in 1936 as Shirley Macaulay, in Kent,^[1] a coastal fishing village around the peninsular in the Western Area Rural District of British Sierra Leone.^[2] Her father was Fredrick Sherman Macaulay (ca. 1904–1986), a teacher, local politician, and later a justice of the peace.^[1] Her mother was Violet Keitel, a Methodist Mission School teacher from the Bonthe District.^[1] Her parents named her, their eldest daughter, after American actress Shirley Temple, a child star of the day.^[1]

Gbujama started her career as a school teacher in mathematics, in 1959.^{[3] [self-published source]} She then moved to New York City, in the United States, to pursue a Master of Arts degree in mathematics, graduating in 1964.^[3] She also worked as a Christian preacher.^[4]

Gbujama was appointed as Sierra Leone's ambassador to Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia, presenting her credentials to Haile Selassie in Addis Ababa,^[5] and serving in that position from 1972 to 1976.^[3] She then moved back to New York City, where she served as the country's ambassador to the United Nations until 1978.^[3]

In 1996, Gbujama had a short stint as Minister of Tourism, before moving to the prestigious post of Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's government, succeeding Maigore Kallon.^[4]