Tag Archives: education

Our school in Buchanan, Help Liberia Foundation Community School, has finally reopened its door to students, teachers and parents for the resumption of normal academic activities. The school reopened on Monday, March 2.

Kids standing outside during recess on Day One

As you may recall, we closed the 2013/2014 school year in June of 2014 and had remained closed until March 2, primarily because of the outbreak of the Ebola virus in our country.

The kids are quite happy to be back in school after staying out of school for more than eight months. Many parents and educators, too, are happy to see the kids back in school.

Cross-section of kids and staff on the first day of school

On the other hand, the reopening of our school is not without problems. For instances, we have fewer students than expected, because not many parents have registered their children due to financial difficulties engendered by the Ebola crisis. Many of them are unemployed and doing nothing.

In addition, some of our old teachers left the school for employment in other schools that pay better than we do. So we have new teachers and are still in search of additional new teachers. We are running a radio announcement for that purpose. Paying teachers well and paying them on time is one of our major challenges, as the fees parents pay are little and only a few of the kids are on sponsorship.

Kids in class with teacher

Besides, we are in need of some start-up funds for the purchase of instructional materials and other school supplies, for food for the kids, as the world Food Program (WFP) has not started distributing food rations to schools, as well as for other things.

Overall, in spite of the problems connected with the opening of the school, we are happy that the school has once more opened its door to the kids. We are also happy that the Ebola virus did not take the life of any of our students or staff.

Kids in class with teacher

Before ending, we wish to indicate that we are thankful to all who helped make the reopening possible at this time.  Many thanks to all of our friends, sponsors and donors for their continuous involvement with the school in Buchanan.

Note: There will be additional articles about other activities/happenings at the school. Keep visiting our website.

Our school in Buchanan, Help Liberia Foundation Community School, is constructing a kitchen for its use, beginning this new school year.

The Vice Principal for Instructions, Mr. Andrew Garsuah, helping to mix the concrete

The construction, which costs less than $300, came about as a result of a serious requirement request by the World Food Program (WFP), which supplies the school with food rations periodically, indicating that a better and more durable kitchen must be built if the school is to continue receiving support.

Making the foundations

Because we recognize how helpful WFP’s supply of food is to the school and the kids, we have prioritized the construction of the kitchen at this point in time, for there was information that HLF School could lose that opportunity. Before this year, the school had always used kitchens built of mats and sticks.

Building the kitchen

Construction of the school annex will follow, as our Swedish friends have sent the balance of the remaining funds to Liberia.

Kitchen almost complete

Many thanks to all those whose assistance is helping the school and the kids to have the necessary facilities.

Click on any of the pictures below to see a larger versions.

After months of closure as a result of the Ebola crisis and based on the Education Ministry’s pronouncement that all schools reopen on February 2, our plan has been to reopen our school in Buchanan, Help Liberia Foundation Community School, on February 16; however, the Liberian parliament has rejected the February reopening date and proposed a March 2 date on grounds that the government has not put in place the proper measures and provided the necessary resources for that purpose.

Children in Class

The Liberian parliament reached the decision on Thursday, January 29. The lawmakers said they had already met and discussed with officials of the Ministries of Education and Health on the issue.

However, what may even be considered interesting – or rather confusing – is that, in spite of the lawmakers’ decision that the reopening of schools be pushed to March 2, the Ministry of Education announced on Friday in a press statement that the new date for the reopening of schools is February 16. The public is confused.

It may be recalled that in early January, the Ministry of Education announced that all schools should reopen on February 2, but most parents, educators, school administers, teachers, students and policy makers criticized the government for coming with such an abrupt schedule, arguing that parents and private schools were not ready for the arrangement in that they were experiencing many difficulties, including financial difficulties.

In view of this apparent confusion and considering our own pre-opening projects/activities and lack of enough resources, as well as most parents’ inability to register or pay their children’s school fees at the present moment, we are planning to reopen on March 2, instead of February 16.

As usual, our major problem is getting money to pay our teachers who are making enormous sacrifices in imparting knowledge onto the kids. Any assistance in this direction is welcome.

We are thankful to all of those whose assistance or involvement is enabling us to lay the ground work for reopening soon. We are all partners in progress.

Note: There will be an update on the annex construction in a subsequent article.