Help Liberia Foundation Community School

Profound sorrow and befuddlement is currently consuming the staff, students and parents of Help Liberia Foundation School, as the unmerciful hands of death has touched Mr. Esau Wleh, one of the school’s senior staffers.

Mr. Esau Wleh, wearing the red T-shirt

Mr. Esau Wleh, who was serving as the school’s Vice Principal for Instructions before his death, had worked with the school for more than five years. He was an able and dedicated staffer, always working in the interest of the school.

The late Wleh had an on-and-off illness for months. A few weeks ago, his condition worsened and he was rushed to hospital and stayed there for days. At one point, news came that he had died, but it was later discovered to be untrue. Elation and jubilation engulfed staffers, students and parents. He recovered and resumed work.

However, his condition worsened again and he was rushed to Monrovia for treatment. He died yesterday morning, 19th January. It is a known fact that he died from an illness, but it has not been definitely established what kind of illness he had.

Funeral arrangement is being made. More information later.

The Parent-Teacher Association (P-T.A) of Help Liberia Foundation Community School has held its fourth meeting since the start of the 2012/2013 academic year, with parents thanking the school for helping to provide education to their children.

Principal addresses parents and guardians

The meeting, which brought together school staff, parents and guardians, discussed various issues, including their children’s attendance, tardiness, behavior and performance.

The school administration encouraged parents and guardians to make sure that their children be regular, neat and well-behaved, as the school staff are not in the various homes the kids live in, with the Principal saying, “You have to help us have a good school, and that also entails making your children come to school on time, come to school well-dressed and come to school well-behaved.”

Staff, parents and guardians after the PTA conference

Parents and staff, especially parents, were overjoyed when the Executive Director of the school, Mr. Paul Yeenie Harry finally announced that a five-year-lease agreement had been paid on the building. The announcement was greeted with a hand of applause that lasted for minutes. The elation was unavoidably visible.

All present expressed their appreciation to all the people whose contribution helped the school to raise the money needed for the rent payment and appealed to them to continue to help the school and the kids in any way they can.

At the end of the meeting, parents were given their children’s progress reports. nearly one hundred of the students went on the honor roll list.

What is considered a great year-end gift for our school, Help Liberia Foundation Community School, located in Buchanan City, has been received, as the school has just completed a five-year lease payment on the building we are operating the school in, instead of the originally expected three-year payment.

As most of you may already know, in September of 2012, the school was threatened with eviction if we didn’t pay for three years at the rate of $50 per month ($1,800 for the three years) by October 15.

Children and staff outside the school in September 2012

Frightened and worried by the news, an S-O-S call in the form of an article was done and placed on the site by Mary Smith of England. Quickly, Catherine Gill-Jamieson of Liberia and the UK, who is a true fighter for the kids and who was in Liberia when the threat was made, launched a vigorous fund-raising campaign to help the school and the children.

In less than two weeks, scores of individuals of good will donated and the amount needed was raised. For us, it was a miracle. When the landlords heard that we had the money, they couldn’t believe it. When it was time for us to pay, the family started having their own problem about who the administrator was and who the money should be paid to. We held our peace for them to settle their infighting, which they did this month.

But, as God would have it, the delay gave us a stronger bargaining power and opportunity. We requested that the amount per month be reduced, as we are a small school. They hauled and pulled here and there, but, at the end of the day, we won – and we won BIG TIME!

The rent per month was reduced to less than $30, and we use $1,700 to pay for five (5) years – from 1 January 2013 to 1 January 2018. Isn’t this a wonderful piece of news? Help Liberia Foundation Community School is entering the New Year with victory.

We wish to once again express our deepest appreciation to all of you who helped to raise this amount for the school. You have made us victorious and problem-free, in terms of worrying about rent payment for the next five years. As we indicated before, words are inadequate to really express how profoundly grateful we are for the humanitarian assistance you have rendered our school and the kids attending it.

Thanks for being there for us.

Please find attached the signed lease agreement (click the image to view full size).

Friends, sponsors and partners of Help Liberia Foundation Community School, both far and near, we are pleased to inform you that, through your moral and financial support, we have raised the US$1,800 we were looking for to pay the school three-year rent. In fact, we raised more than the money needed for the rent. We raised almost US$2,000.

What a success story! What an achievement! What a relief! We had earlier considered it a mountain to climb, but your involvement in the process has made the mountain a plain to walk. We have been saved from eviction, embarrassment, frustration and confusion. We are relieved.

Catherine with staff and students at the school in March 2012

Permit us, therefore, to use this medium to express our deepest appreciation to all of you who helped to raise this amount for the school. We feel that words are inadequate to really convey to you all our profound gratitude for the humanitarian assistance you have rendered our school and the kids attending it. You have saved us. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

We respect the wish of our donors who prefer anonymity, so we will not mention their names; however, we would like to mention the following persons for helping us to quickly raise the amount:

• Agnes Wilson of Scotland
• Alison Thomson of Scotland
• Nancy Incoll of Scotland & Australia
• April Ogden of England
• Marie Beilby of Australia
• Patricia Furey of Scotland
• Ann Huber of Sweden
• Lorraine McLean of Scotland
• Per-Erik Johnsson of Sweden
• Mr & Mrs Ronnie Carlin
• Christel Nagersheth
• Various Anonymous donors from Scotland

We also wish to extend special thanks and appreciation to Catherine Gill-Jamieson, the kids’ fighter and ambassador, for mobilizing a group of people of good will to selflessly donate to the cause. Catherine, you are a soldier for the kids and the school. We are glad about and appreciative of your involvement in the Buchanan School Project.

To enable people to donate without paying the charges that can be incurred when transferring money to a bank account in Liberia, Catherine set up a PayPal account to accept donations, and this was the method that most people chose to use to send their contribution. The money has now been transferred to the school’s account.

Once again, many thanks to all those who, directly or indirectly, contributed to the raising of the money for the rent. We want you to know that we really appreciate your assistance.

Our school in Buchanan, Help Liberia Foundation Community School, has reopened for the 2012/2013 school year, which runs from September 2012 to June 2013. We are, however, facing a serious challenge to our future.

The reopening day – the first day of the school year – which took place last Monday, September 10, followed a two-day teachers’ workshop and other pre-opening activities and preparations, which ended on September 8.

HLF kids on day one of the school year

The opening day brought together old and new students, as well as old and new staff members. So far, there are about 115 (one hundred fifteen) students, comprising 9 (nine) different classes: K-3, K-4, K-5, Grade-1, Grade-2, Grade-3, Grade-4, Grade-5 and Grade-6. Although the school year has begun, registration is still on going.

Help Liberia Foundation Community School, which comprises both kindergarten and primary divisions, has about 15 (fifteen) administrative, instructional and support staff.

Considering the happiness and readiness of the kids to be in school, coupled with the preparedness and seriousness of the staff to help the kids, we are convinced that we will have a more successful academic year than we had last year.

K-3 kids in their classroom on thr first day of school

Unfortunately, this zeal and dream may be short-lived if a serious problem currently hanging over the school is not removed before the 15th of October (next month).

As many of you may know, the building in which we are operating the school is not a school building; it is a residential building, which we have been leasing for the last seven years. The last time we paid the landlords was in 2008 when we paid for three years, which expired about two months ago.

The shock came about two weeks ago, during the teachers’ workshop week, when the landlords informed us that they were increasing their lease amount to US$50 per month, that we should pay for three years on or before the 15th of October, and that failure on our part will cause them to evict us from the building on October 16. We have appealed to them to reconsider their decision to no avail. We have also taken some concerned parents of the school and residents of the community to beg them, but they have refused to listen.

A cross-section of the kids and the staff on the first day of school

We are, therefore, sending out this SOS call to all individuals and institutions of good will to please come to our aid. We are in dire need of US$1,800 (US$50 per month times 36 months) to pay the owners for the three years they are requesting. We don’t want to see the kids wasting in the street or the community. We don’t want this dramatic interruption in their learning process. It will be traumatic for all of us. We need your help – any assistance you are able and willing to render for this purpose.

In case you desire to assist us with any amount that will help pay for the three years, please contact us, or get in touch with Catherine Gill-Jamieson (of Scotland and Liberia) or Mary Smith (of England). You may send money directly to the school using the school’s bank account (information here), or via Western Union or MoneyGram.

We thank you in advance for your support.

Grade 2 kids in class on the first day of school

Kids playing outside on the first day of school