The United Methodist Church is known as a champion for children and the poor. Education is a hallmark of many a United Methodist mission. True to this calling, The Liberian United Methodist Church sponsors several schools in and around Monrovia, the capital city. The Grace mission team was able to tour four of these schools.
Imagine a classroom lit by a single bulb, blackboards so overused that chalk is almost unreadable, no library, no playground equipment, and a cafeteria consisting of tables set up under an open air thatched canopy. The John Lewis Morris Memorial School serves approximately 1,000 students in pre-kindergarten through grade twelve in a poor neighborhood near Monrovia. Of the one hundred twenty-six seniors in the class of 2011, one hundred six passed the national exit exam, earning their diplomas, and eligibility to sit for college entrance exams this fall. The school also provides after school hours classes two days a week for neighborhood children who cannot afford the school fees.
After bidding JL Morris Memorial farewell, we traveled to the JJ Roberts School in Monrovia. Arriving, we were struck by the brilliant yellows and blues of the campus. Classrooms were bright, desks in generally good repair, blackboards, while still overused, were readable, a library was well-stocked, and plans for a computer lab were underway. Under the guidance of Principal Samuel K. Sagbeth, JJ Roberts has risen to be the premier UM-sponsored school in Monrovia. Similar to JL Morris, JJ Roberts serves approximately 1,000 students, pre-kindergarten through grade twelve. 90% of the students graduate and 95% of the graduates go on to college. Students at JJ Roberts are expected to do international travel and benefit from a unique relationship, forged by Principal Sagbeth, with the United States Embassy. US Embassy personnel come to the school weekly to teach conventional English pronunciation, American culture, and provide resources to the school. Like the JL Morris school, the JJ Roberts staff provide afterschool classes three days a week for area children who cannot afford to enroll.
The third school we visited was the College of West Africa on the campus of the United Methodist University of Monrovia. This was the premier high school of the United Methodist church until 1995, when JJ Roberts opened its high school department. The College of West Africa now has an enrollment of approximately 460 students. The class of 2011 graduated one hundred seventeen seniors.
Hope School for the Deaf is United Methodist-sponsored and led by Rev. David Worlobah. After the government-run school was destroyed in the war, Bishop Innis challenged Rev. Worlobah in 2008 to do something to educate the deaf students. Housed in a room about the size of a two car garage, fifty-two students from pre-kindergarten through young adulthood attend academic classes in the mornings. In the afternoons, approximately eleven students stay for vocational training, which currently consists of shoe-making. While the school has practically no resources—no books, few desks, one shoe-making machine; they have great dreams—dreams for a library, dreams for computer-based instruction, dreams for sewing machines, and, of course, they have lots of hope for the future of Liberia and Hope School for the Deaf.
Contributed by Robin Olson
Comments