By: Musue Haddad
Also published in The News Newspaper and The Heritage Newspaper
The late Ambassador Jallah KK Kamara, a cultural icon who died yesterday, will be buried today, Thursday, July 12, 2012 in his small home town – Bolonkoidu, in Lofa County.
As the city mourns his death, many are also holding tight to the late Ambassador’s creativity and farsightedness in the history and enlightenment of Liberian Culture and artists at home and abroad.
The late Kamara, a Folklorist whose career, spanned several decades, encompassed an astonishingly wide range of cultural activities, from stage director to Director General of the National Bureau of Culture and Tourism, from cultural performances and to tapestry of storytelling through the arts, all undertaken with creativity, flair and remarkable understanding and love of the arts.
One mourner at the family’s GSA Home said, “Yes, he was truly an icon and in many ways.” Many of his students, including Mr. Victor spoke of the late Kamara’s dedication to Kendeja, the Cultural Ambassadors, and the National Cultural troupe with tears in their eyes. Many family members, and Government officials, including Ambassador Alhaji Kromah, Commissioner Abdullai Kamara, among others were present at the family’s home on GSA to discuss burial arrangement. The late Kamara’s brothers, Kekura Kamara, the widow, Mrs. Kamara, Mr. Amara among others were visibly shaken by the death. .
Reflecting on a few one-on-one discussions with Mr. Kamara, he illustrated a few strategists in developing some of the “hit” performances by translating folktales into ballads, and devising moves that would unify and enrich the emotions, messages, the sounds of musical instruments and rhythms. “Musue, we are not talking about one day or two days, but sometimes weeks to find the right blend, but at the end of the day, we got it perfect,” the late Kamara would describe his strategies, sometimes with a joke, or the wave of one hand in the air.
The late Kamara was evidently knowledgeable in all aspect of cultural performances. He taught dance moves that rhyme with traditional songs; he interlaced traditional folktales into songs, and created performances that blended with the beat of drums and playing of other musical instruments. He also ensured that dance rhyme resonated with expressions of performers.
According to many beneficiaries of the late Kamara’s cultural ingenuity, he encouraged the nurturing of creativity and promoted the social advancement of artists. One local artist said, “Papa was like a father to me. Thought he was strict on practices, he had zero tolerance for poor academic performances.”
The late Jallah KK Kamara life illustrates devotion and growth in the cultural industry. In the early 1970’s he became Stage Director of the National Culture Troupe. In the 1980’s he became Director of the National Culture Bureau of Tourism, and also founder of the Liberian Cultural Ambassadors. During that period, his passion for the arts, and enthusiasm to promote Liberian cultural led him to personally sponsor 40 members of the culture group on a cultural Exchange Program in the United States.
In his life time, Jallah KK Kamara chose to make a career that was largely based on promoting Liberian Culture through cultural dances between and folktales. While he won immense acclaim within Liberia and outside of the country, until his death, the legendary cultural icon was still creating his own, essentially figurative, work that soon started to attract the interest of lovers of arts, including President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. According to family members of the late Ambassador Kamara, publication of the [late kamara’s] manuscript on the History of Liberian Culture was to be sponsored by President Sirleaf.
Jallah KK Kamara was born in Bolonkoidu, a small town in Lofa County on March 26 1941. As a child, according to elders, Jallah KK demonstrated a high interest in creative dance, storytelling and jokes. Until his death yesterday afternoon, family members, and community members said the late Jallah KK Kamara chatted and joked with everyone before leaving home for the vicinity of the Capitol Building, where the cold hands of death snatched him.
One elder of Bolonkoidu said, while Jallah KK may be gone, his stories, jokes, and lessons from his “Wisdom of the Elders” column published in The Democrat Newspaper and online will remain with us forever.
Some beneficiaries of the late Cultural Ambassadors Princess Fatu Gayflor, Nimba Burr, Zaye Tete, Sangai, among many others in Liberia and the Diaspora.
A middle height, handsome man of considerable charm, in old age Jallah KK became a familiar figure on the streets of Monrovia and at cultural events and programs that he had helped established and supported so often when he worked within the cultural bureau.
At the time of his death, the late Kamara was a member of Vision 2030 Committee. Dr. Togba Nah Tipoteh, head of VISION 2030 committee described the late Kamara’s contribution to the future of Liberia as “exceptional.”‘ The late Ambassador was a visionary and his comments during deliberations were stimulating. It made us to think critically about issues, that affected us today, and also tomorrow.”
Jallah KK is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren and an array of family members.
Also published in The News Newspaper and The Heritage Newspaper
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Leave Your Own Trails in Life - Dauson Kamara
Speech by Dauson V. Kamara at GW Gibson Commencement Ceremony
The Minister of Education,
The honorable superintendent of the Monrovia Consolidated School System,
Government officials here present,
Principal,
Members of the National Teachers Association,
Members of the 4th estate,
Distinguished graduates, Ladies and Gentlemen
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the G.W. Gibson family for inviting me to speak today. I am totally thrilled to be here to join you in celebrating this wonderful day which marks a milestone in your lives. Firstly, let me say to this honorable 2012 graduating class, please accept my warmest congratulations.
I must say to you today, “YOU HAVE FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT AND YOU HAVE RUN A GOOD RACE”. Your crown is the Diploma you are about to receive.
You must feel proud of yourselves and be proud to be products of this noble institution.This institution has given you adequate academic, moral, and spiritual knowledge to work with when you get into the world.
I know you must be excited to get your hands on your diplomas and run into the world to attend you festivities you have planned for this special day. But as cartoonist Garry Trudeau said and I quote:
“Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing or graduating students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated or advised.
That’s where I come in as keynote speaker and it is within this light that I have decided to speak to you on the topic:” Who Am I upon Graduation”.
Graduation is one of those steps in life that defines a coming of age-the ending of one era of life, as a student or the one being shown the ropes, and moving onto a new stage in which you are a leader, a doer and an achiever in the wider world. I’m sure many of you have firm plans and have a good idea of what you may want to do next, dreaming and having lots of hope to get you there and some of you are just amazed that you got to this graduation point. Well, the coming times will be exciting, or they will be difficult, but it will depend on you and your determination to determine who you are and who you want to be after you have left this graduation hall today.
There is a famous Chinese quote that says:” A Million mile journey begins with a single step”.
Your matriculation from high school today indicates that you have the taken first step of your million mile journey, and I say hats-off to you for a task well accomplished.
If you look in the audience today, you see you parents, family members, friends and other important people in your lives who have taken up their busy schedules to come and give you your flowers for a successful completion of what I will refer to as phase one. This is not the end of your academic pursuit; rather, it is the decision you have made to determine who you are to become in the larger society. As I look at your faces today, I see doctors, ministers, scientists, politicians, technocrats, business men and women as well as visionaries. But as you walk out of these walls today, have this question at the back of your minds: who am I upon graduation?
Today is an indication that yours and your parents’ efforts have not gone in vain; but what you do with your lives after this graduation ceremony will define these efforts.
Are you going to be like a person whose first step is the end of his journey? Or are you going to be like a person whose first step is the furtherance of his journey which will lead him to a better life, a life that will be a benefit to his family, his country and the world at large. To achieve this life, you must strongly consider the furtherance of your academic life. The choice of who you want to become in life is up to you. Remember there are two separate roads in life. The easy but bad road which leads to destruction and the good but difficult road rich lead to an honorable life. I say to you today, take the latter. Do not be like a driver who has embarked on a journey but fails to complete it because of a breakdown, a breakdown which could have been avoided if he had inspected his car earlier. Remember always, do not follow where the road may lead you, instead, go where there is no road and leave a trail that others may follow.
As you go from here, I want you to contemplate on positive ways to further your education in order to become better citizens. A developed nation derives from an educated people, so know that your country needs you. Your graduation today doesn’t mean you have acquired all you need academically, it is just the beginning. As our beloved country progresses, there is a need for more educated citizens. This, in turn will improve Liberia. Be serious and steadfast in life. Further your education and be an asset to your country. It is indeed very sad to see that for several long years, foreigners have occupied prominent positions in our country, while indigenous Liberians are striving. This must stop, and to do that we must adequately prepare ourselves. You are the future nation builders. The heights which desirous and honest men have reached today were not obtained overnight. It took them diligence, persistence and determination. These are the virtues that will define who you are upon graduation.
Life doesn’t usually follow the plans you lay out for yourself. You will experience the highs and lows of life, the difficult and the easy and unfortunately, there may sometimes be times of too many difficulties and just not enough smooth sailing. Your true success will be defined by how you handle both of these times.
You have taken a key step towards your successful future and also the betterment of your family and your communities. You have worked hard, spending months learning new things. Our complex and technical world today requires education and skills that were not needed in the past. Ultimately, your well educated generation will benefit all of us in the future.
You are now armed with one of the most important tool needed to forge your path ahead. It’s not the diploma itself that counts; it’s about what you’ve learned along the way and what you do with the education you’ve acquired in your journey to graduation today. Your future and what you are to become upon graduation is in your hands and no one else. Seize the opportunity. The important thing is you have already taken the initial step needed to build a more promising future. Every class u have attended, every test, every quiz, every assignment and every grade mark you have earned, they have all been preparing you to adapt to change and challenges you are going to meet. I know that sometimes it was tough, but bear in mind that it will get tougher when you get into the world out there. Nothing is going to be handed to you, you have to earn it and know that it will mean a lot to you because u earned it.
To the parents, family members, and friends of those graduating and earning certifications, I say to you congratulations, and you should know that your support through this process made an enormous impact on the lives of these young and energetic graduates. I’m sure you are very proud of them as they close this portion of their lives and prepare for the next step into a new world.
What you do with what you have acquired over the years will now determine and define who you want and ought to be in the future that lays ahead of you.
Before I take my seat, let me make this very clear to you; do not sit, look for opportunities that will help you further your academic pursuit. When path becomes very difficult for you, be focused, be determined and don’t be carried away. Be cognizant of the fact that the decisions you make after you leave here will fulfill what you are to become upon this graduation.
Once again to the graduating class, please accept my congratulations. I wish you well in your future endeavors and the best of luck. May Jehovah bless us all.
I thank you.
The Minister of Education,
The honorable superintendent of the Monrovia Consolidated School System,
Government officials here present,
Principal,
Members of the National Teachers Association,
Members of the 4th estate,
Distinguished graduates, Ladies and Gentlemen
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the G.W. Gibson family for inviting me to speak today. I am totally thrilled to be here to join you in celebrating this wonderful day which marks a milestone in your lives. Firstly, let me say to this honorable 2012 graduating class, please accept my warmest congratulations.
I must say to you today, “YOU HAVE FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT AND YOU HAVE RUN A GOOD RACE”. Your crown is the Diploma you are about to receive.
You must feel proud of yourselves and be proud to be products of this noble institution.This institution has given you adequate academic, moral, and spiritual knowledge to work with when you get into the world.
I know you must be excited to get your hands on your diplomas and run into the world to attend you festivities you have planned for this special day. But as cartoonist Garry Trudeau said and I quote:
“Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing or graduating students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated or advised.
That’s where I come in as keynote speaker and it is within this light that I have decided to speak to you on the topic:” Who Am I upon Graduation”.
Graduation is one of those steps in life that defines a coming of age-the ending of one era of life, as a student or the one being shown the ropes, and moving onto a new stage in which you are a leader, a doer and an achiever in the wider world. I’m sure many of you have firm plans and have a good idea of what you may want to do next, dreaming and having lots of hope to get you there and some of you are just amazed that you got to this graduation point. Well, the coming times will be exciting, or they will be difficult, but it will depend on you and your determination to determine who you are and who you want to be after you have left this graduation hall today.
There is a famous Chinese quote that says:” A Million mile journey begins with a single step”.
Your matriculation from high school today indicates that you have the taken first step of your million mile journey, and I say hats-off to you for a task well accomplished.
If you look in the audience today, you see you parents, family members, friends and other important people in your lives who have taken up their busy schedules to come and give you your flowers for a successful completion of what I will refer to as phase one. This is not the end of your academic pursuit; rather, it is the decision you have made to determine who you are to become in the larger society. As I look at your faces today, I see doctors, ministers, scientists, politicians, technocrats, business men and women as well as visionaries. But as you walk out of these walls today, have this question at the back of your minds: who am I upon graduation?
Today is an indication that yours and your parents’ efforts have not gone in vain; but what you do with your lives after this graduation ceremony will define these efforts.
Are you going to be like a person whose first step is the end of his journey? Or are you going to be like a person whose first step is the furtherance of his journey which will lead him to a better life, a life that will be a benefit to his family, his country and the world at large. To achieve this life, you must strongly consider the furtherance of your academic life. The choice of who you want to become in life is up to you. Remember there are two separate roads in life. The easy but bad road which leads to destruction and the good but difficult road rich lead to an honorable life. I say to you today, take the latter. Do not be like a driver who has embarked on a journey but fails to complete it because of a breakdown, a breakdown which could have been avoided if he had inspected his car earlier. Remember always, do not follow where the road may lead you, instead, go where there is no road and leave a trail that others may follow.
As you go from here, I want you to contemplate on positive ways to further your education in order to become better citizens. A developed nation derives from an educated people, so know that your country needs you. Your graduation today doesn’t mean you have acquired all you need academically, it is just the beginning. As our beloved country progresses, there is a need for more educated citizens. This, in turn will improve Liberia. Be serious and steadfast in life. Further your education and be an asset to your country. It is indeed very sad to see that for several long years, foreigners have occupied prominent positions in our country, while indigenous Liberians are striving. This must stop, and to do that we must adequately prepare ourselves. You are the future nation builders. The heights which desirous and honest men have reached today were not obtained overnight. It took them diligence, persistence and determination. These are the virtues that will define who you are upon graduation.
Life doesn’t usually follow the plans you lay out for yourself. You will experience the highs and lows of life, the difficult and the easy and unfortunately, there may sometimes be times of too many difficulties and just not enough smooth sailing. Your true success will be defined by how you handle both of these times.
You have taken a key step towards your successful future and also the betterment of your family and your communities. You have worked hard, spending months learning new things. Our complex and technical world today requires education and skills that were not needed in the past. Ultimately, your well educated generation will benefit all of us in the future.
You are now armed with one of the most important tool needed to forge your path ahead. It’s not the diploma itself that counts; it’s about what you’ve learned along the way and what you do with the education you’ve acquired in your journey to graduation today. Your future and what you are to become upon graduation is in your hands and no one else. Seize the opportunity. The important thing is you have already taken the initial step needed to build a more promising future. Every class u have attended, every test, every quiz, every assignment and every grade mark you have earned, they have all been preparing you to adapt to change and challenges you are going to meet. I know that sometimes it was tough, but bear in mind that it will get tougher when you get into the world out there. Nothing is going to be handed to you, you have to earn it and know that it will mean a lot to you because u earned it.
To the parents, family members, and friends of those graduating and earning certifications, I say to you congratulations, and you should know that your support through this process made an enormous impact on the lives of these young and energetic graduates. I’m sure you are very proud of them as they close this portion of their lives and prepare for the next step into a new world.
What you do with what you have acquired over the years will now determine and define who you want and ought to be in the future that lays ahead of you.
Before I take my seat, let me make this very clear to you; do not sit, look for opportunities that will help you further your academic pursuit. When path becomes very difficult for you, be focused, be determined and don’t be carried away. Be cognizant of the fact that the decisions you make after you leave here will fulfill what you are to become upon this graduation.
Once again to the graduating class, please accept my congratulations. I wish you well in your future endeavors and the best of luck. May Jehovah bless us all.
I thank you.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Sophisticated Human Mind Amidst Turbulent World Economy
BY: EDITH GONGLOE-WEH
The Principal, faculty and support staff of the Sanniquellie Central High School, the graduating class, officials of government present, parents, well wishers, special guests, Clergy and members of the Methodist Church, students, distinguished ladies and gentlemen.
Let me acknowledge the tireless efforts of the school administrators, teachers and support staff, who have worked hard to help our children achieve this milestone in pursuit of their education. You have succeeded thus far by making huge sacrifices.
Let me also hasten to thank the government of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf for its commitment to reviving our broken educational system. It is certainly an enormous task, but the government is making some strides. The enormity of the problem has not discouraged you parents from educating your children. For this I want to say a big thank you to all parents.
Though, we have made many gains since the coming to power of Madam Sirleaf’s government, yet, we cannot delude ourselves of the challenges ahead of us as a Nation. This Country still faces the daunting task of re-building its broken infrastructures in every sector. The issue of commitment and honesty remains a force to reckon with. Dishonesty and lack of commitment plague every institution of our Nation.
My dear graduates, parents, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, our children are a part of a rapidly growing and complicated world. Today, technology has made the world such a small place. We can talk to people all over the world, using our cell phones as though we are sitting with them where they are. This was not possible thirty years ago.
The human mind has grown in highly sophisticated ways. Yet the world economy continues to show signs of trouble. Life is getting harder and harder everywhere. 44 million children in underdeveloped countries, Liberia included, remain deprived of education not by their choice, but by sheer lack of privilege or minimal privilege. Countries are scrambling for survival and are strengthening their academic institutions, regulating their markets and tightening their borders to protect whatever little jobs are there for their citizens and provide them security.
It is in this world of rapid technological growth, insecurities of all types and competing economic interests that our children must compete. Therefore, I want to talk to you about how we can prepare our children to meet the rising challenges in this global village.
We know that the government is still struggling to rebuild our existing but broken institutions and build new ones where necessary. In my mind the greatest emphasis should be placed on education. The educational sector of the Nation needs to be strengthened far more than anything imaginable.
To strengthen the education system, teacher’s salaries must be made competitive with their contemporaries in the region. The Country’s curriculum must be standardized and comparable to regional and international standards. More schools must be built in every part of the Country to cater to the educational needs of the Liberian children. These graduates and the children of Liberia will not rise to the National and global challenge if they are not adequately prepared.
The preparation of our children cannot start in the middle. The preparation starts from the period of 2-5 years. This is the most critical stage of the human cognitive development process. It is at this age that the child’s language and mathematics skills are developed.
Unfortunately, Pre-primary education and early childhood development remain the most neglected and therefore the weakest link of our educational system as a Nation. Government must prioritize this stage of the learning process, strengthen primary and secondary education, and improve tertiary institutions’ capacities. Government must put more money into early childhood development if our children must rise to the growing global competition. Our teachers must be trained in early childhood development and education, primary and secondary education to improve their capacities as they teach our children.
The Nation’s schools need more educational materials and text books. More schools must be built to accommodate our growing population and educational demands, especially in Nimba with nearly a half of the Nation’s population. Liberia cannot continue to neglect building and equipping laboratories and libraries and expect Liberian children to measure up to their peers from other countries in the physical and natural sciences. This neglect is directly responsible for Liberian children pursuit of disciplines in the social science. Because by the time the high school graduates get to college they are so frightened to venture into the sciences since they are not prepared at the primary and secondary levels.
Further, our children cannot rise up to face the world if their self confidence is poor. The confidence of our children will then improve their self esteem. They cannot rise to the challenge if math and science continue to be one of the weakest links in our education system. They certainly cannot rise to the challenge if there are no positive role models to emulate. Nimba County , Liberia , we must create more positive role models for our children. A society without credible statesmen and women to serve as model for their younger generation will grab unto any available icon whether good or bad and quickly degenerate into mediocrity and become subservient to whatever is thrown at them.
The South Africans would not have been freed from Apatheid if Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, and other Freedom fighters were not inspired by the strengths, pride, confidence, intelligence and nationalism of their Zulu and Xhosa kings. The blacks in America today have hundreds of role models from Martin Luther King to Barrack Obama. There has to be a good number of people, men and women that our children can say today, I want to be like John Brown or Mary when I grow up.
.
During the war years, there were plenty of role models, but they were modeling the wrong philosophy of life for our children. As a result, children only wanted to know how to shoot the AK 47 or throw hand grenades, seize properties that were not theirs. Thankfully, that time has changed.
We ourselves must rise to the challenge and know that the children are watching us and they are watching very closely. What kind of citizens and what kinds of leaders are we? What kinds of parents are raising our Country’s future? What kinds of teachers are in our classrooms? Can the good example of a teacher make some kids to aspire to become a professional teacher when they grow up? Are our private and public administrators exercising leadership in ways that inspire many children to dream of being like them? We must be the right role models for our children. The children must find their niche in this society because we as adult population have helped to sway them in positive and competitive directions.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, Nimba County and its resources remain endangered and risks continuous exploitation with inadequate benefits unless we can prepare our children to play major roles in the exploitation of our resources. We are not freed until we educate ourselves and our children. We are not educated until we can become competitive in contemporary focus of the rest of the world.
Distinguished graduates and sterling young men and women, you have fought a good fight even under difficult circumstances. No libraries, no access to laboratories where scientific experiments are done to juggle your scientific imaginations and curiosities to want to pursue college education and career in biology, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, medicine, engineering and so on so forth. I say to you today, with your tested strengths and resilience, there is no doubt in my mind that you will continue the fight until you achieve your educational dreams. Let the sky be your limit. Pick a role model. Find one in your family or in your community.
Liberia needs your skills to ensure its continual existence among Nations. We are encouraged by the focus of this government on strengthening the educational sector. We hope that government will include building more vocational and Technical institutions in the Counties to create easy and affordable access to building the skills of our children. The Nimba Community College is a great beginning, no doubt, but we need government to fully support it so that its impact can be felt throughout the length and breadth of Nimba County.
Our resources will soon run out at the rate it is being exploited. We need to develop our capacities and increase our human development index from its current low global status to a more comparable state. Unless the skills and knowledge of our youthful population is strategically developed, we run the risk of being diminished to a low status as a Nation state. Time is running out. We cannot and should not falter. We can achieve this because other Countries that were once where we are today did it. Our Country can rise again and be a shinning star as it was meant to be. Liberia can again become the beacon of hope it once was. Let us meet these challenges with valor unpretending. We must keep hope alive and work hard today to gain tomorrow. Congratulations. Long live Nimba County , Long live our strong heritage and indomitable will to thrive and long live Liberia . May God bless Liberia and bless us all. I thank you.
A SPEECH DELIVERED AT CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL 2012 COMMENCEMENT SANNIWUELLIE, NIMBA COUNTY, JUNE 29, 2012
The Principal, faculty and support staff of the Sanniquellie Central High School, the graduating class, officials of government present, parents, well wishers, special guests, Clergy and members of the Methodist Church, students, distinguished ladies and gentlemen.
Let me acknowledge the tireless efforts of the school administrators, teachers and support staff, who have worked hard to help our children achieve this milestone in pursuit of their education. You have succeeded thus far by making huge sacrifices.
Let me also hasten to thank the government of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf for its commitment to reviving our broken educational system. It is certainly an enormous task, but the government is making some strides. The enormity of the problem has not discouraged you parents from educating your children. For this I want to say a big thank you to all parents.
Though, we have made many gains since the coming to power of Madam Sirleaf’s government, yet, we cannot delude ourselves of the challenges ahead of us as a Nation. This Country still faces the daunting task of re-building its broken infrastructures in every sector. The issue of commitment and honesty remains a force to reckon with. Dishonesty and lack of commitment plague every institution of our Nation.
My dear graduates, parents, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, our children are a part of a rapidly growing and complicated world. Today, technology has made the world such a small place. We can talk to people all over the world, using our cell phones as though we are sitting with them where they are. This was not possible thirty years ago.
The human mind has grown in highly sophisticated ways. Yet the world economy continues to show signs of trouble. Life is getting harder and harder everywhere. 44 million children in underdeveloped countries, Liberia included, remain deprived of education not by their choice, but by sheer lack of privilege or minimal privilege. Countries are scrambling for survival and are strengthening their academic institutions, regulating their markets and tightening their borders to protect whatever little jobs are there for their citizens and provide them security.
It is in this world of rapid technological growth, insecurities of all types and competing economic interests that our children must compete. Therefore, I want to talk to you about how we can prepare our children to meet the rising challenges in this global village.
We know that the government is still struggling to rebuild our existing but broken institutions and build new ones where necessary. In my mind the greatest emphasis should be placed on education. The educational sector of the Nation needs to be strengthened far more than anything imaginable.
To strengthen the education system, teacher’s salaries must be made competitive with their contemporaries in the region. The Country’s curriculum must be standardized and comparable to regional and international standards. More schools must be built in every part of the Country to cater to the educational needs of the Liberian children. These graduates and the children of Liberia will not rise to the National and global challenge if they are not adequately prepared.
The preparation of our children cannot start in the middle. The preparation starts from the period of 2-5 years. This is the most critical stage of the human cognitive development process. It is at this age that the child’s language and mathematics skills are developed.
Unfortunately, Pre-primary education and early childhood development remain the most neglected and therefore the weakest link of our educational system as a Nation. Government must prioritize this stage of the learning process, strengthen primary and secondary education, and improve tertiary institutions’ capacities. Government must put more money into early childhood development if our children must rise to the growing global competition. Our teachers must be trained in early childhood development and education, primary and secondary education to improve their capacities as they teach our children.
The Nation’s schools need more educational materials and text books. More schools must be built to accommodate our growing population and educational demands, especially in Nimba with nearly a half of the Nation’s population. Liberia cannot continue to neglect building and equipping laboratories and libraries and expect Liberian children to measure up to their peers from other countries in the physical and natural sciences. This neglect is directly responsible for Liberian children pursuit of disciplines in the social science. Because by the time the high school graduates get to college they are so frightened to venture into the sciences since they are not prepared at the primary and secondary levels.
Further, our children cannot rise up to face the world if their self confidence is poor. The confidence of our children will then improve their self esteem. They cannot rise to the challenge if math and science continue to be one of the weakest links in our education system. They certainly cannot rise to the challenge if there are no positive role models to emulate. Nimba County , Liberia , we must create more positive role models for our children. A society without credible statesmen and women to serve as model for their younger generation will grab unto any available icon whether good or bad and quickly degenerate into mediocrity and become subservient to whatever is thrown at them.
The South Africans would not have been freed from Apatheid if Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, and other Freedom fighters were not inspired by the strengths, pride, confidence, intelligence and nationalism of their Zulu and Xhosa kings. The blacks in America today have hundreds of role models from Martin Luther King to Barrack Obama. There has to be a good number of people, men and women that our children can say today, I want to be like John Brown or Mary when I grow up.
.
During the war years, there were plenty of role models, but they were modeling the wrong philosophy of life for our children. As a result, children only wanted to know how to shoot the AK 47 or throw hand grenades, seize properties that were not theirs. Thankfully, that time has changed.
We ourselves must rise to the challenge and know that the children are watching us and they are watching very closely. What kind of citizens and what kinds of leaders are we? What kinds of parents are raising our Country’s future? What kinds of teachers are in our classrooms? Can the good example of a teacher make some kids to aspire to become a professional teacher when they grow up? Are our private and public administrators exercising leadership in ways that inspire many children to dream of being like them? We must be the right role models for our children. The children must find their niche in this society because we as adult population have helped to sway them in positive and competitive directions.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, Nimba County and its resources remain endangered and risks continuous exploitation with inadequate benefits unless we can prepare our children to play major roles in the exploitation of our resources. We are not freed until we educate ourselves and our children. We are not educated until we can become competitive in contemporary focus of the rest of the world.
Distinguished graduates and sterling young men and women, you have fought a good fight even under difficult circumstances. No libraries, no access to laboratories where scientific experiments are done to juggle your scientific imaginations and curiosities to want to pursue college education and career in biology, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, medicine, engineering and so on so forth. I say to you today, with your tested strengths and resilience, there is no doubt in my mind that you will continue the fight until you achieve your educational dreams. Let the sky be your limit. Pick a role model. Find one in your family or in your community.
Liberia needs your skills to ensure its continual existence among Nations. We are encouraged by the focus of this government on strengthening the educational sector. We hope that government will include building more vocational and Technical institutions in the Counties to create easy and affordable access to building the skills of our children. The Nimba Community College is a great beginning, no doubt, but we need government to fully support it so that its impact can be felt throughout the length and breadth of Nimba County.
Our resources will soon run out at the rate it is being exploited. We need to develop our capacities and increase our human development index from its current low global status to a more comparable state. Unless the skills and knowledge of our youthful population is strategically developed, we run the risk of being diminished to a low status as a Nation state. Time is running out. We cannot and should not falter. We can achieve this because other Countries that were once where we are today did it. Our Country can rise again and be a shinning star as it was meant to be. Liberia can again become the beacon of hope it once was. Let us meet these challenges with valor unpretending. We must keep hope alive and work hard today to gain tomorrow. Congratulations. Long live Nimba County , Long live our strong heritage and indomitable will to thrive and long live Liberia . May God bless Liberia and bless us all. I thank you.
A SPEECH DELIVERED AT CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL 2012 COMMENCEMENT SANNIWUELLIE, NIMBA COUNTY, JUNE 29, 2012
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