- A Non Profit Organization dedicated to Liberia
- 4300 16th St. NW
Washington DC 20011
202-545-0139
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Part 2- LEAP Trainers Visit Monrovia to Support Local Teacher Trainers A visit with U.S. Ambassador Blaney found him very supportive of the concept but unable to offer any funding for an education project. However, he offered to speak to UNICEF on our behalf.
Joan Hamilton and I conducted a staff development workshop for the 13
LET co-trainers on the campus of a local seminary. We spent a week reviewing
the concepts of early childhood, language arts, science and math teaching
for training other teachers. The co-trainers had many stories of their
successes with our curriculum and methods. They had each participated
in We also visited two schools that are privately supported by FOL members in Gardnersville and Johnsonville. Both schools were very welcoming and made us feel very honored to participate in their school programs and to observe their classrooms. Johnsonville’s principal, Ernest Shaw, who is also the administrator of the LET organization, had arranged a PTA meeting during our visit. We were pleased to see LEAP curriculum in action at Johnsonville Elementary-Junior High School.
It was hopeful to be back and see Liberians beginning again with a sense
of hope. Prices are terribly inflated due to the presence of so many international
NGOs and aid workers. Their vehicles clog the streets of Monrovia. We
were heartened that the LEAP network of teachers, more than 100 still
teaching, is ongoing and growing. Shortly after we left the Grand Bassa,
LET co-trainers led by Theo Frankyu and Ernest Shaw held a workshop in
Buchanan. It was so well received that the trainers had to turn away 25
teachers who were willing to pay $25 LD for the chance to attend. There
was only room for 75. There was no better evidence of the need for LEAP
training. We know we have ground-level support, the ability to demonstrate
results and a good reputation in
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Since
our return home, UNICEF changed officers and communicated with us that
UNICEF does not have the money to fund our proposal. LEAP and Friends
of Liberia are well thought of by UNICEF but the head of education for
UNICEF in Liberia explained that there is not money to fund this proposal.
We remain in contact in hopes that the financial situation will change
in the future.
other
workshops within their schools and communities before the fighting and
looting caused schools to be closed last summer. Schools still had not
opened in January. The co-trainers, who are still working as teachers
and principals in four counties, set up a schedule to meet and make plans
for future workshops in each of their counties. 
We
were asked by the Trustees of Donations for Higher Education, an historic
U.S. organization dedicated to the support of the University of Liberia,
to make a site visit and conduct an assessment of the University for their
board. We found the university to be badly damaged. Dr. James Kollie,
who has since become the acting President of L.U., walked us through the
campus and shared a videotape of the looting, which we brought back for
the Trustees. We were told that the government soldiers inflicted the
worst of the damage and looting the night that former president Taylor
left the country. We met with Dr. Roberts, who was president of LU at
the time, and filed his report along with our report and photographs.
The university opened for a reduced session in January, with the promise
that students can return for a full-term later this year.
Our
trip, which featured the usual ups and downs of post-war Liberia, was
helped a bit by the use of a cell phone, which we left behind for the
nascent LET organization. It should help our new NGO better communicate
in setting up their workshops and collaborations. It also is a point of
contact as they apply for some of the development money pouring into Monrovia.
teacher
training. We hope to find a way to connect the local teacher-training
NGO with some of the international funding so that we can give the future
leaders of Liberia the educational foundation they will need to rebuild
the country.