Tag Archives: Sweden

We – the administrators, teachers, support staff and students of Help Liberia Foundation Community School in Buchanan City – would like to express our heart-felt thanks and appreciation to Lena Marner and Anders Marner for their decision to contribute specific monthly amount to the school for teachers’ support.

Anders (in blue African shirt) and Lena (in Purple African dress) during one of their visits at the school in 2013

This monthly contribution from Lena and Anders, like the one from Anneli Hammarstrom, is helping us with the salary payment to our teachers.

Lena and Anders presenting gifts to Paul in 2016 for the school

Lena and Anders who have been paying this monthly contribution since July 2017. They both mean a lot for the school in Buchanan. Lena and Anders are considered the Mother and the Father of the school. They are our main international contact persons abroad and have been helping the school since they first interacted with the kids and the staff about five years ago.

Lena and Paul on the campus of the University of Liberia in 2014 before the Ebola outbreak

Thanks, Lena and Anders, for always being there for the kids and the staff of the school. We appreciate your assistance, care and love for the school.

We at Help Liberia Foundation Community School would like to express our deepest appreciation to Anneli Hammarstrom, a Swedish citizen who has made the humanitarian decision to donate a specific amount to the school every month for teacher’s support.

Anneli Hammarstrom

We are profoundly grateful to Anneli for this great assistance because getting money to pay teachers in our school which is virtually free is one of the most difficult problems we have faced over the years, so Anneli’s assistance has come at the right time.

Anneli lives in Vastera, Sweden. She is a classroom teacher who teaches English and Swedish,  and she teaches students with special needs, mostly in secondary schools.. Anneli got to know about the school through Lena Marner.

Like Lena Marner and many other Swedish citizens who are helping the school, Anneli really has Liberia to her heart. She lived with her parents in Buchanan from 1970 – 1973, when she was between 8-11 years old. She has not returned to Liberia since 1973, but she is planning to visit anytime soon.

Thank you, Anneli, for making the decision to help our school in this manner. We want you to know that we really appreciate this humanitarian gesture from you.

We would like to encourage you to encourage others to follow your example to and do what you are doing for the teachers in the school.

The campus of our school in Buchanan was the scene of celebrations, games and interactions on Saturday, April 15, 2017, when some Swedish guests who had come to see the kids visited the school.

Guests and kids playing a Swedish game

Everyone connected with the school was elated. Although their visit occurred during the Easter Holiday, the kids, staff, parents and guardians, as well as excited residents of the community, thronged the campus to welcome and interact with the guests.

Kids interacting with the guests

The visitors, six in all, included the school’s Swedish Contact Person, Lena Thorne Marner (who was also the head of the delegation), Lotten Zetterstrom, Annaklara Zetterstrom, Frida Abrahamsson, Per Glimantsi, and Minna Brenner.

Kids playing games with the visitors

Not only did they bring toys, foot wear, clothes, school supplies, and sporting materials for the kids, they also played games with the kids and distributed some rice and candies among them. Lotten Zetterstrom also made a cash contribution from herself and one of her friends. Lotten and her husband lived in Yekepa where her husband worked with LAMCO in the 1960s. She was excited to be back in Liberia after more than fifty years, as she left Liberia in 1966.

Lena speaking at the program

Before their trip to the school, they had visited a few other places in Liberia, including Robertsport in Grand Cape Mount County, Yekepa in Nimba County and various places in Monrovia.

The guests (L-R) Lena, Minna, Zotten, Frida, Per, and Annaklara at the in-door program held inside the school building

They all have already safely returned to Sweden. We are thankful to them for their visit. We are also appreciative of the many gifts they brought for the school and the kids.

The guests and some of the staff

It is our hope that they will continue to remember the kids in the school.

(click on a picture below to see a slideshow).

The visitors and the kids doing some Swedish plays

The guests and some of the staff

The guests (L-R) Lena, Minna, Zotten, Frida, Per, and Annaklara at the in-door program held inside the school building

Staff members sorting out the items brought by the Swedish visitors

Per and others presenting the gifts brought by them for the school

Lotten and Paul

Mrs. Lotten Zetterstrom speaking at the short in-door program held in honor of the guests

Paul and Lena

Paul and the guests, excluding Lena

Per and his daughter (Minna)

Lena speaking at the program

Lena giving her final message to the kids and parents before leaving

Lena distributing some rice she had bought for the kids

Kids playing games with the visitors

Kids interacting with the visitors

Kids interacting with the visitors

Kids interacting with the guests

Kids in jubilant mood on the campus

Guests interacting with the kids

Guests and kids playing a Swedish game

Guests and kids playing a Swedish game

Guests and kids playing a Swedish game

Some kids attending our school in Buchanan, Help Liberia Foundation Community School, have benefitted from gifts sent to them by their sponsors in Sweden.

Felecia displays the t-shirt from her parcel

The items – which included money, clothes, and educational materials – were among the things brought by Lena and Anders and turned over to Paul for onward presentation to the kids.

Kerstin’s sponsored child (Susan) displays her sent parcel

The Swedish sponsors who sent gifts to the children they sponsor in Buchanan are Elizabeth Thorne, who sponsors three children – Abraham Montgomery, Solomon Zoegar, and Felecia Somah – and Kerstin, who sponsors one child – Susan Glasco.

One of Elizabeth’s sponsored children displays his parcel

Elizabeth sent clothes to her three children, while Kerstin sent clothes, educational materials, candies, and money to her sponsored child.

Solomon displays the t-shirt from his parcel

In a related development, the footballs and football-related materials brought by Anders and Lena for the school were donated by another Swedish citizen called Max, according to Lena.

Susan displays additional items from her parcel, including her money

We are grateful to Elizabeth and Kerstin for remembering their sponsored kids in this special way at this time, and also to Max for the gifts he sent to the school. May God continue to richly bless them so that they can continue to do more for the school and the kids attending it.

Susan displays her parcel as other kids look on

Susan displays some contents from her parcel

Two of Elizabeth’s kids display their sent parcels

The gifts brought by Lena and Anders during their recent trip to Liberia have been turned over to the school and the kids in Buchanan.

Kids and staff viewing and displaying some of the donated items

As you may recall, when Lena and Anders came to Liberia in April this year, their busy schedule could not permit them to travel to Buchanan and officially present the items they brought from Europe.

The items were, therefore, presented to Paul Yeenie Harry in Monrovia. Paul then took them to Buchanan and turned them over to the staff and the kids.

Kids and staff with the donated items

As indicated in the original article about their trip, the items they brought included basketballs, footballs, ball pumps, phones, gifts from Swedish sponsors to their sponsored children in the school, etc.

We extend many thanks to Lena and Anders, as well as the Swedish sponsors, who continue to help the school and the kids.

Note: There will be another article focusing on the items from the Swedish sponsors.