Meeting A Community's Education Needs

600 children and as many as 35 adults attend Christ Redeemer International's school every day. 

A neighborhood church operates this school constructed of grass mat walls and plastic tarp roofing.  Classes are held each weekday in three separate sessions to accommodate the 600 children who attend the four room building.  An additional evening session is held for adult literacy classes.   Those classes are regularly attended by up to 35 adults from the surrounding community who attend despite long working hours during the day, difficult transportation and no electricity to light the evening study hours.  Teachers for both the school and literacy classes are church member volunteers who are incredibly committed to their church and their nation's progress.

The classrooms are crowded each day with children for whom education is a privilege and a high priority in their families.  There are no books or classroom instructional materials.  All instruction is accomplished by the teachers who copy notes and information from their own knowledge and memory of the subject matter onto the blackboard.  Students memorize the information from the blackboard and, for those fortunate enough to have a copy book and pencil, copy the information directly from the blackboard into their copy books for later review.
LOEP teacher, Mr. Gbah (barely visible on the right of the above picture), is a full time teacher at one of LOEP's partner orphan schools, is himself a full-time student at University of Liberia and volunteers each evening to teach adult literacy classes in this facility.  He is an active lay leader in the church and, as an educator, takes an acitve role in the success of the Christ Redeemer School.

As many as six students crowd onto each bench/desk in their classroom each day.  The broom is used to tamp down loose dust on the hard-packed dirt floor.  Liberian schools were still on Christmas break when the LOEP team visited in early January.  Literacy classes, however, were still being held and literacy students who arrived for their evening class while we visited are pictured below.

            Neighborhood children some of whom attend the CRS School

Science Test for grade 5/6

Some of the dedicated teachers at CRS who volunteer their time to teach in the community school.

Reports from our friends indicate rising anxiety and uneasiness in Liberia as the situation in Ivory Coast remains unresolved and refugees pour into Liberian villages on the border. Making matters worse, those who would report the facts of a dangerously out-of-control situation in Ivory Coast have become targets of the political leader now in power there. The regime in Ivory Coast is encouraging its supporters, (many of whom are simply armed thugs manning checkpoints, border crossings, etc.) to harass, intimidate and even "arrest" journalists. His supporters and minions are following his lead in repressing truth. "Arrest" has an ominous meaning deep in the jungle around pourous and fluid border areas. There is no actual jail or court and the ones arrested are in the hands of and subject to the whim of a local, heavily armed "commander" who has absolute power and is accountable to no one.


LOEP has received horrifying first-hand reports from our Liberian friends in tense areas. They have experienced frightening and dangerous harassment and intimidation from border guards while trying to go about their work documenting Ivorian refugee flight and helping in the increasingly serious humanitarian crisis that threatens to become a calamity for the entire region.

Highly recommend this excellent report on the situation:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/03/11/west_africa_lurches_toward_war

Hope for the Deaf School

Children with disabilities in Liberia have very little opportunity for education or training.  Hope School for the Deaf located on the Methodist Church of Liberia campus was established by David Worlobah. David is an active advocate for children with disabilities in Liberia and is devoted to Hope School and the students there.  LOEP spent some time at Hope in January conducting hearing screenings for students, assessing classroom instructional needs and generally having a wonderful time with the kids.  Hope is amazing, the students are remarkable and LOEP has committed to find ways to assist them in their work with deaf children in Liberia.

Check out this video about Hope School for the Deaf.

  http://www.vimeo.com/20907403

Re-Building Education from Scratch

As early as 2005 LOEP began considering requests to go to Liberia and work with our teacher colleagues there. It was not until 2009 that the first team actually went but for the four years between, LOEP volunteers studied everything we could find about education in Liberia both pre-war and post-war. We talked at length with our Liberian board members and friends and conducted a Needs Assessment at our partner schools to determine their professional development needs. The fairly intensive preparation and research made us feel well-prepared as we set off for our first training trip… well, it was a bit helpful, anyway.


Our goal is to continue making our training workshops and professional development assistance as relevant and useful as it can be for Liberian teachers. Liberia is moving forward fast so we have to keep up. While nothing quite substitutes for on-the-ground experience, we keep in close contact with our colleagues and maintain updates from other sources as new information becomes available on education in Liberia.


It occurred to me, because of the many questions we get when we talk about LOEP, that some who read this blog may find it interesting to keep up along with us. From time to time – as something particularly interesting or relevant comes up - I will post about education in Liberia from a broad perspective and post some links to source material, reports, etc. That may give our own LOEP projects some context and also provide some insight on life in Liberia as the country re-builds.


A couple of good places to start:

http://www.liberianeducationtrust.org/

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/liberia_52380.html
More next week...

Striving for Excellence

Mr. Achempong and Mr. Zinna are two LCMS high school teachers whose students must take the WAEC exams to graduate.   They will be participating in WAEC training on modern testing methods.  Every year Mr. A and Mr. Z are among the shining stars of LOEP's professional development workshops so we know they will do very well in the WAEC training!

The West African Exam Council (WAEC) sets an educational standard for accreditation and conducts annual standardized tests for high schools in the five-nation region.  Every high school student in Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Liberia must pass the WAEC exam in their final year of school in order to graduate.
Teachers and administrators at Lott Carey Mission School have worked hard to meet and maintain WAEC standards for their school and for their students since the war took such a terrible toll on Liberian education.  Their efforts are paying off and WAEC test results for Lott Carey students have been improving since difficult times in Liberia have eased.
Just this week, LOEP received word that Lott Carey's commitment to constant improvement is not going unnoticed.  One of only ten selected schools, LCMS teachers have been invited to attend a week-long workshop on Modern Trends in Education Assessment that is being held for WAEC staff.   According to Ms. Rosa Allen, LCMS principal, the invitation was based on "credibility of schools when administering WAEC, and our collaboration with WAEC over the years".  She mentions that LOEP training with it's exposure to modern methods and techniques for classroom instruction and assessment has given them an edge in the WAEC workshop.
Mrs. Allen modestly states, "we are proud to have been selected."  Those of us who have worked with LCMS teachers know that the recognition is well-deserved for a corps of professional teachers whose conscientous commitment to educating their students is making a difference in their nation's future!

Education and Agriculture

This lush scene is the seedling nursery at Alfred and Agnes Memorial Orphan Mission (AAMOM).  The seedling nursery is a direct result of AAMOM's partnership with farmers in Virginia who have been sending seeds, tools and providing agricultural support and advice to partners in Liberia since before the war ended.  Please click on the link below to read more about this effort to assist agricluture work and farming in Liberia.

http://causeforcreation.wordpress.com/the-farmers-connection-from-virginia-to-west-africa/

  

Sustainable agriculture is as critical as education to maintaining peace and stability in Liberia.  As LOEP focuses on education, our friends and other family members focus on agricultural success for our partners in Liberia.  Our mutually supportive relationship grew from the commitment our own church made years ago to assist our Liberian partners in achieving peace and stability for their nation.  

AAMOM has had great success in creating a sustainable agricultural project that not only feeds the orphans but is also successful enough to produce products for the local markets. LOEP Team member Rachel Price is an environmental scientist.  She was mightily impressed on her first visit to AAMOM with the operation's success in developing something of a thriving permaculture type community.  

Educator Honored and Dresses delivered

Little Fatu and Naomi were so pleased to receive their stylish, new pillow case dresses and posed happily with their friend, Fahmetta Morris to show their new finery.  The third dress, draped over Mrs. Morris' walker is intended for another sister who was too shy to pose for the camera.  The little girls so seldom have anything new to wear and the pillow case dresses were a real thrill as you can see from Naomi's shy but radiant smile!  Leah Lunsford and her crafting ladies made these little Liberian girls (and quite a few others) very happy!
Mrs. Morris is a retired teacher and principal who, at age 95 years, is always ready to relate stories and memories of her days in the classroom and as a Kindergarten principal.  Her memory is clear, her speech sharp and she is a youthful and vibrant lady who loves her community and her country.  Naomi, Fatu and their mother live with Mrs. Morris in the Liberian tradition.  Many people live together in households as families bound by mutual caring and need for each other regardless of whether blood ties exist.  Mrs. Morris lives with her household family in rural Clay-Ashland, a small community on the banks of the St. Paul river that was ravaged by wars of the last two decades.  She has outlived her only child and her husband and many other extended family members have settled in the U.S. where they fled to escape war in Liberia.  Mrs. Morris is a cherished member of her community and was happy to tell  us about the wonderful birthday celebration held in her honor in September when the entire communty turned out to honor her.  Family came from the U.S., Ghana and all over Liberia to join the community event with dancing and feasting to honor their community's treasured educator.