YOUNG-Africa Blog

2010 YOUNG-Africa Updates

2011-01-29T12:31:00.000-08:00

Chinese Ambassador speaks to UL graduates

At the end of the 2010 year, the Chinese ambassador to Liberia gave a commencement address at the University of Liberia convocation ceremony with the thesis that a country can only be developed if its people can produce finished goods, services, and ideas. Most of his speech served as a juxtaposition of contrasting features of the Liberian economy. He noted that despite the huge availability of arable land and the small population of the country, it still faces poverty and depends on outside support for survival. He also noted that despite the huge natural rubber plantations and iron ore deposits in the country, in nowhere in Liberia are sneakers, tires, nails, or cutlasses produced. “Liberia has the largest forest in West Africa, but it does not produce high grade furniture,” he went on to say.

President Sirleaf presents YOUNG-Africa first awards

While Ambassador Zhou's speech was directed at urging the recently graduated university students to play an active role in creating products in their nation's economy, we're extending that message to the entire youth population in the country. We're still preaching that message even though it's been about a while since any updates on the progress of YOUNG-Africa have been posted, but fear not folks, the dream is still alive.

The past year has brought a series of successes, or signs of impending success, although it took a lot of time and work to achieve those. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf did follow up on her promise and presented the first set of awards to the winners at the country's 163rd Independence Day Celebrations. A sign of her good faith in YOUNG-Africa, she also personally pledged to donate an equivalent of half the total amount of prizes. It is worth noting how extremely essential one of our advisors, Massachusetts State Representative Benjamin Swan was in helping us achieving the successes of 2010. He met with the Liberian representatives (including Rep. Gaye) and there is now a YOUNG-Africa Inventors and Entrepreneurs Act on the floor for which the Speaker of the House has pledged support. The bill is intended to increase government support, incentives, and budgetary allocations for engineering, science, and the YOUNG-Africa competition across the nation. We will keep you updated on the status of that bill.

In addition to presenting the first awards and drafting a bill, we've also been able to register YOUNG-Africa as a legal entity in Liberia, which will open up opportunities to obtain support from many organizations, businesses, and embassies in the country. Especially promising is the support we hope to get from the multinational businesses operating in the country including the British-Indian mining giant ArcelorMittal and Firestone Rubber Company. We're hoping that these verbal agreements from their representatives will materialize into actual support.

Mission Accomplished

2010-01-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the places and moments that take our breath away." I think I speak for both I and Torli Krua when I say that this quote summarizes our experience on this trip. What was my first return to Liberia since fleeing the war as a child turned out to be one that filled my spirit with a immeasurable amount of hope for my country and the continent. YOUNG-Africa allowed us to travel to so many regions of the country and to meet so many people who were striving to return this little war-torn nation back to the vibrancy that some of its children have never seen throughout their entire lives. We found out that despite the what pure statistics state about the economics of nation, the actual situation is far different. The country is rich in so many ways, from the hospitality of the people, the richness of the soil which provided us fresh fruits on a daily basis, to the richness of the minds of the young people. We know that this is true for so many African nations and we hope that someday, our efforts can help transform that richness into physical wealth for the continent and its people.

The worst thing about the journey back was not the amount of time it took flying from Liberia to Ethiopia and then back across to Washington, DC. In fact, it wasn't even the extra scrutiny given to us by the Customs and Border Protections (CPB) officers, which I assumed was because we were from West Africa and had transited through Ethiopia (a close neighbor to Yemen). The only negative thing about waiting to be examined by CPB officers was that we weren't being fed constantly as we were while on the Ethiopian Airlines flight. The worst part of the journey was arriving at Dulles airport during one of the worst winter weather that the area had experienced in a while and while wearing only a t-shirt and a spring jacket.

With regards to the selection of the competition winners, we've had a hard time deciding upon the top three winners therefore we're working with our three advisors to develop a relatively objective method of judging which will be used in the future. In the mean time, we've appointed a temporary country director for YOUNG-Africa in Liberia - Ms. Elvina Kolleh - who will coordinate all our activities in the country including the preparation for the big awards ceremony (tentatively in February) where the prizes will be presented by the president herself, H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Announcement of Finalists

2009-12-28T01:28:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all followers of our blog. On Dec. 24th, however, we held a press conference to announce the finalists of the business idea competition for inventors and entrepreneurs. The significance of that date is that it marks the 20th anniversary of Charles Taylor's launch of the civil war from Nimba County. The war was aimed at improving the lives of the people but 20 years later, most of those who participated and even those who didn't find themselves in either the same condition or a worse one. Here was a less dramatic approach to the same problem which would help people pull themselves out of poverty.

Later this week, we'll announce the 3 winners and in February, we'll have the awards ceremony, where H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will present the awards to the winners. More updates on that specific date will be given in the future. The following is a list of the finalists, a summary of their ideas, and the location from which they will operate their businesses.

YOLITAGLWO (Tappita)

A mini-printing press. The team already runs a desktop publishing center and wants to expand their business.

God’s Grace Enterprise (Tappita)

Ground hog farming as a way to alleviate the ground hog problem farmers face while also providing cheap and tasty meat on the local market.

Future Determiners for Electric Supply (Sanniquellie)

Providing electricity through setting up units of generators

Young Break Through (Sanniquellie)

Use palm kernel that people already waste to produce palm kernel oil and use the shells in making roofing tiles and decorations for homes

Installation of Rice Mill Shop in Sanniquellie

Rice processing plant (rice mill)

LAO Yeedell AMCOS (Ganta)

Production and cultivation of moringa (a crop which has been identified as having tremendous health benefits) on a large scale.

Saclepea Community Blacksmith Shop (Saclepea)

Producing metalworks, which would otherwise be imported, locally. The team currently makes cutlasses, axes, knives, hoes, rakes, buckets, hinges, cement block molds, and have recently perfected the production of cassava grinders, kernel crackers, and rice mills.

Ahamed Konneh (Bahn)

Invention of a new tool for loosening soil and scraping weeds that is superior to the hoe.

Gbusair Aeronautics Research Institute (GARI) (Ganta)

A research institute to produce the first aircraft made in Africa. He has already created a model airplane that glides but needs an engine to propel it.

His Grace Desktop Publishing Center (Yekepa)

Printing, photocopying and scanning of documents in Yekepa. The town has nowhere for this and residents can travel at least 20-30 miles for the nearest center.

Modern African Bamboo Industry (Tappita)

Establishment of an institute that will educate people in working with bamboo in the process of working on huge projects constructing many things out of bamboo. The team leader has already constructed many structures of bamboo including furnitures and a huge ceiling of a church.

Menretha Christian Textbook Publishing Company (Tappita)

Creation of a company to create and print textbooks to be used by Liberian schools.

Starting a Library Company (Tappita)

A public library in Tappita.

Anti-Dermatosis (Monrovia)

Establishing a business to spread awareness about skincare and diseases associated with it and researching and marketing a product (which is being branded as Anti-Dermatosis) that cures many skin diseases. The product has already been sold and users claim it is effective.

A commentary on NGOs

2009-12-18T06:41:00.000-08:00

As the deadline to the business competition for 2009 has arrived, we’ve retrieved the boxes from the five (5) towns. Because there’s no courier service or reliable mail available here, individuals on motorbikes delivered the boxes to us. We’ve picked these up and will be heading to Monrovia in a few hours. We still have yet to hear from the president’s office on a firm date but we’ve decided to proceed to conduct the awards ceremony in Monrovia whether or not the president is able to make it. In Monrovia, we’ll have better coverage by the media and YOUNG-Africa will gain a lot more exposure than we could by holding the ceremony in Ganta, Nimba County.

In the meantime, I have a short commentary on how the existence of some NGOs within Liberia has hindered progress and sometimes made our work more difficult. Some of these are based on my observations and the opinions of people I’ve asked while in the country. Foreign NGOs really began their influx into the country when the civil war ended because Liberia was an attractive place for funders. You have rape victims, war orphans, traumatized war victims, destruction of food production processes, etc. Whatever problem you could think of that an NGO wanted to tackle, Liberia had it.

These NGOs would send their experts into the country and start doing their work. Most of these “experts” would not be Liberian nationals and the programs planned generally wouldn’t have input from the constituency they desire to serve. These experts would be paid salaries that are too high compared with those they’re working with (the Liberian staff) and most of the money coming from funders would go into the pockets of the “experts.” And from what I hear, these “experts” are merely just monitors, keeping watch as the Liberians do the work. It’s almost like using a $500,000 bulldozer to mow your lawn.

Additionally, because they are in control of a lot of resources in a place where resources are scarce, you have a potential for exploitation. Some recent examples include the case of the sex for aid scandal that involved some UN agencies and other organizations where local girls would engage in sexual acts with NGO workers for quick money. Another example includes the reselling of fuel allocated for use in the vehicles of the organizations to the local people.

These organizations also have workshops and other events where they take people from many regions and pay all their expenses and give them a stipend among other free things. There have been so many NGOs coming into the country and offering free things that we decided that, because of limited funding, not only would we reduce our workshops to 2 hours but we wouldn’t offer food. When we had our workshops, some people made the comments, “papay, we gappin’ ooo” meaning “old man, we’re hungry” and Mr. Krua offered a word of advice to the complainants, “Big problem, big opportunity… maybe in the future you can start a business that sells food at our workshops.”

The presence of these NGOs creates a culture of dependency where people and community institutions are continuously looking for quick short-term benefits and often stop taking initiatives on their own. This has been reflected in the hesitation on the part of some community radio stations to broadcast our advertisements freely in exchange for us helping them acquire computers and the equipment to establish internet cafes to bring income into the stations and to allow them more access to the world of news. They figure that because we’re like an NGO, we must have a lot of money to spend on them, as most of the NGOs usually do. It’s almost as if they’re trying to wear us down, because we have the money and eventually, we’ll give in and pay the over $800 USD for continuous advertisement of YOUNG-Africa over 6 months.

At the end of the involvement of the NGOs (and there is always an end because another country or situation will eventually become more attractive to funders), who really benefits? There was a case where a hand pump was being built in the village of Ziah (shown below) and as soon as funding dried up, the project was left uncompleted. It’s almost as if these guys are benefitting off the miseries of others for as long as they can and they leave to find another misery. Mr. Krua described the never ending revolving tactics of international NGOs from one misery infested country to another as: “short-term gain for long–term pain.” Eventually the NGO would leave and the targeted country descends to business as usual.

So what then can be the solution to the problem? I actually met a pastor who advocated that the government ban foreign NGOs from working within the country and instead encourage donors to fund projects led by people in the community. He also warned that they should not even give the money to the national government. I would actually say they should start by taking a softer approach and suggest that foreign NGOs be required to partner equally with a local organization or community for whatever projects they conduct.

And Now We Wait…

2009-12-15T00:21:00.000-08:00

After all our travels around Nimba, we’re back in Ganta, waiting for the deadline of the competition to arrive. We had five wooden boxes created for each of the town. These boxes have only one entry – a slit on the top for the papers to enter. If there’s any tampering with the box, we’ll know. After the deadline passes, these boxes will be delivered to us in Ganta and the evaluation process will begin. Initially, there weren't a lot of people submitting entries into the competition; however, as the deadline approaches, the traffic of people submitting has increased. People even gather outside the radio stations to copy the questions that they have to answer.

For now, we’re not sure of the exact date or location of the awards ceremony. There are currently two plans that could go into action depending on a variable. That variable is the decision from the office of the President of Liberia. For the past weeks, we've been aggressively finding ways to get a letter through to the president, asking her to present the awards. We received a phone call from the president’s office a few days ago stating that the president is interested in the program and that she would be glad to present the awards, however, our suggested date of the 24th of December does not work well for her. Luckily, we had expected that and we've asking them to chose virtually any day between next weekend and the 31st. If any of those dates do work, we’ll transport the winners to Monrovia to have the program there; if not, we’ll have the program in Ganta.

We've already begun asking district representatives, mayors, and the two senators to volunteer to help out with transportation of the winners to Monrovia if that plan goes through. Already, a few of them have pledged to assist with whatever resources they can provide. In the meantime, we've been spreading the word about our program through whatever means we find. What we actually want to do is to get the Nimba legislative caucus to help us to be able to present to the national legislature.

Stuck on Mount Nimba

2009-12-11T03:42:00.000-08:00

On our time off from workshops, we decided to visit the campus of the ABC University in Yekepa, a town situated below the Nimba mountain ranges in northeast Liberia. Because the area is mountainous, the temperature in the town is sometimes as low as the high 50s (Fahrenheit) at night. The result of this is not only a lot of Liberians complaining that the place is cold but also the sometimes humorous sight of people wearing heavy winter coats and hats.

The town has a relaxing feel to it, almost as if it should be a vacation spot. Maybe it was this relaxing atmosphere that led us to go touring the Nimba Mountain ranges. The trip that should have lasted only about 2 hours ended up taking us almost 12 hours to finally get back to the ABC campus, during which time, we were without food or bottled water.

We decided to drive up to the highest peak to be able to get a good view of the area. We were told we would see towns in Guinea and Cote D’Ivoire from there. The road up the mountain was paved very well, so driving wouldn't be a problem. We told the folks at the university to expect us for lunch at noon. Because we were strangers in the area, a local pastor volunteered to be our guide up the mountain.

Everything went well until we were a 5 minute drive from the top when the car started making sputtering noises and was spewing steam from its hood. We all got out of the car to examine this phenomenon. The problem appeared to be coming from the radiator which was not properly sealed and all the water in it had spilled out leading to the car overheating. Since we were close to the top, where most of the cell phone companies had their towers located, Pastor Kwaibiah suggested that we go ask one of the attendants under the tower for water. We borrowed his container and went back to the vehicle to refill the radiator. It seemed as if everything was fine again.

So in a show of gratitude, we decided to refill the man's container for him. This was where things really went wrong. Pastor Kwaibiah was directing us around to where the water source was and he pointed at a path that went off the paved road. My uncle was very hesitant to drive there. In fact, he asked, "Are you sure there's road here?" Our guide confidently answered, "I wouldn't take you anywhere I haven't been before." And so we proceeded. The car was entering into the high grass and one could not really tell what the condition of the ground was really like.

Suddenly, the tires started to spin. We had entered mud without even knowing it. Big Problem! Our vehicle was not four-wheel drive, and to add to that, our tires were not made for mud or rough terrain, it was the smooth type. We decided to turn the vehicle around, but it was already too late for retreating. Pushing the SUV only led to progressions of a foot or two each time and then the tires would start spinning in place.

We had to think of other ways to get out of this problem. The tires of the vehicle needed some traction, so we tried placing the mats from the car under the tires but the tires would just shoot the mats back, even if you stepped on it. We then tried calling our contacts at UNMIL in Monrovia to see whether they could ask the Bangladesh soldiers at the base of the mountain to help us out. Unfortunately, they said they could only help us if we were on the main road; since we had strayed off, they couldn't do anything. We tried everything we could, including removing all our load from the vehicle and gathering small gravel to spread it on the tire path, however, there was just too much land to cover and this process was too energy intensive.

Then Pastor Kwaibiah noticed a pumpkin in the car as he was rummaging for tools and exclaimed, “Who put this pumpkin here?” We had received the pumpkin as a gift from a guy in Sanniquellie just as we were given a rooster in Bahn but we could actually travel with the pumpkin so we brought it along. Apparently, a lot of Liberians in this area believe in a superstition that traveling with pumpkins in vehicles was a sure way to create problems for the vehicle and the way to avoid that was to mark the pumpkin by chopping some part off. So the pastor decided to do that. But that didn’t help our case. We were still stuck in the mud!

Someone came up with the brilliant idea of placing some planks under the tires so that the vehicle could just roll over them. The plan sounded like something that would work. We decided to make the 15-20 minute climb up to the highest peak where one of the cell phone companies had its tower. We would ask the guys there for some planks.

It was at this time that we were not only really hungry but also very thirsty. Hunger, we could deal with but thirst was something that needed to be quenched instantly. My uncle and I had made a practice of only drinking bottled water so far and we were hesitant to drink the water coming out of the mountain. However, it was a far way down the mountain (3 hours walk to be exact) and our thirst was extreme. We also reasoned that the water was not coming from an open source, but from in the rocks so it must be relatively safe for drinking. So we decided to obey our thirst. As for the hunger, we could do nothing about that. Besides, the human body has an amazing ability to forget about hunger after several hours of feeling hungry.

We came back to the vehicle to try the plank idea but we received only little positive results. It was only when the two guys from the cell phone tower came that we had four people pushing and one driving - enough manpower to make significant moves. We had also changed one of the back tires to give us more traction. At this point, it was already past 7 pm and we had already spent over 9 hours on the mountain. We were really hoping that we would stay there till night and have to sleep in the wilderness. Not only is the area is known for its wildlife but it's also known to be very cold up at the peak when nightfall comes. The guys who guard the cell phone tower do not usually go down at the end of the day; they actually sleep in a small shack on the mountain. If our vehicle was not out of the mud by nightfall, we rationalized that we would pile up with them and sleep in the shack.

Luckily, we received phone calls at that moment that help from the university was coming but they couldn’t pinpoint our exact location. Before they even got to us, we were able to get the vehicle out of the mud. As quickly as we got out of that situation, another situation arose – one of the vehicle’s tires was punctured.

We were finally able to change that and then went down the mountain. Down there, we went to get fuel for the car. At which point, the clutch decided to stop working properly. With all these problems arising, and given that YOUNG-Africa is asking people to seek business solutions to problems, we couldn’t help but think how quickly we would be able to get out of that situation had there been some sort of rescue service similar to AAA in the US. The experience did however exhibit all the elements of a good “African” adventure – hunger, thirst, danger from wildlife, etc – and for some reason, I did enjoy most of it.

Workshops All Completed

2009-12-08T14:25:00.000-08:00

As of Dec. 7th, we've completed all our workshops including the one in Sanniquellie and the one in Ganta on Saturday. Both Mr. Krua and I have been feeling a big wave of relief. Between moving from churches to schools to radio stations to publicize YOUNG-Africa, the process got to be pretty tiring. Then when you factor in the process of projecting your voice to such huge crowds, you can see how strenuous things were. But it was an exciting process because we never knew who or what we would find in each town.

We believe so much in this program's potential to impact the economic scene of the country that we've actually invited the President of Liberia to present the first set of awards given to those who win the business idea competition. We have a letter addressed to the president from one of our advisors, Massachusetts State Representative Benjamin Swan. Although the Liberian ambassador to the US has already agreed to deliver the letter and we've also given a copy to the Chief Protocol Officer, we still have yet to get a response from the president's office. While in Ganta, we also asked the district representative to deliver our letter to the president who was arriving in the city to dedicate the representative's office. Basically, we're making every attempt that there is to ensure that the president reads the letter. In Sanniquellie, we found out the president would be attending a football game between Grand Gedeh County and Nimba County. We decided to yet again make another attempt but that didn't carry on well.

I was riding in the convoy of Madame Edith Gongloe-Weh, County Superintendent (a position similar to that of a governor if Liberia were a federal state) and a close friend of Mr. Krua, to meet the president to hand over the letter when we noticed that the president's convoy was already pulling out to leave the city. There had apparently been some miscommunication about the time when she would be leaving. The president's convoy stopped for a brief while for the superintendent to speak with her however, there wasn't even enough time to give her our letter. In the upcoming days, the superintendent will be meeting the president again in Monrovia, where she has agreed to ask her on our behalf to present the awards.

Since our upcoming schedule will be dependent upon whether or not the president agrees to our proposal, our plans are not set in stone for now. For the next week, we'll be networking and seeking areas where we can expand in the future. We've prepared a short video that has shown what we've been doing in Nimba County and we hope we can get the other counties' officials to lobby us by offering certain services and provisions. We'll give this video to officials in the counties and ask them for what they have to offer the program to ensure its success. When the officials are alligned with our goals (as in Bahn), our programs are a lot more sucessful. In Sanniquellie, the superintendent provided us with a very comfortable lodging in the mansion with 24-7 access to electricity (a very rare luxury in Liberia). Additionally, we were also provided food and entertainment, in the form of traditional performers. Such accomodations allow the program to run very smoothly.

For now though, we'll be running advertisements on community radio stations to remind people of the competition. We're also heading to ABC University in Yekepa to visit the school and the mining area being managed by the steel giant, ArcelorMittal.

Below are some pictures of some of the dignitaries from Nimba who were in town for the president's visit. Others included the Minister of Public Works (Kofi Woods), Minister of Labor (Tiawan Gongloe), Telecommunications Commissioner (Harry Yuan), Dep. Minister of Commerce (Dr. Norkeh), Chief Education Officer for Nimba (George Wuo), some paramount chiefs, and many more.

The Sky is No Longer the Limit: Nimba County Ready for Takeoff

2009-12-04T15:01:00.000-08:00

Today (Friday Dec. 4th), we were scheduled to conduct another workshop in Liberia's second largest city, Ganta. Our exact plans did not materialize because of the lack of proper publicity surrounding the program and other bureaucratic obstacles. We've postponed the workshops for Saturday morning. The extra time will give us the opportunity to have enough copies of the program for our participants. Our delay also allowed us the opportunity to discover some amazing talents that the city of Ganta had to offer. We encountered a few extremely talented and gifted young people while traveling around town.

Today's discoveries reminds me of a quote that my co-director and mentor, Torli Krua, once made more than a year ago:

"The first air plane never took off from the ground and didn't even fly in the skies; it took off from an imagination and flew in the mind of someone who, not only dreamed to fly but also reasoned that all things imaginable are also possible."

Two young men are involved in business ventures that supply the very much needed IT resources and another has a vision to expand his small video theater. He wants to purchase a projector and satellite dish to capture the huge market of young Liberians who closely follow the European football leagues but often cannot afford to own a TV because of the lack of electricity. We also met an aspiring judge who also happens to be the winner of the Miss Ganta beauty pageant.

The headliner of the day, however, is one Harry Gbusseh who is on a mission to build one of the first airplane or helicopter to come out of Africa. Since graduating from high school, he has been working at the United Methodist school campus as an Arts and Crafts teacher for a mere $65 per month salary. He's been able to construct among other things, a few model airplanes which can fly on battery power and he wants to design and build more ambitious projects.

Since graduation from high school, Harry hasn't been able to afford the education to obtain the education of his dream - in aerospace engineering, but he has done his best to educate himself in Physics, fluid dynamics and anything pertaining to airplanes as much as his sparse resources can permit. He clearly understands and can articulate what makes a plane fly and the accompanying natural laws that permit these phenomena to occur. Harry has been trying to build a helicopter but lacks the money to purchase not only an engine but also to pay for a welder to create the parts he needs. His ultimate goal is to work with an educational institution to augment his knowledge of the aviation field for the purpose of starting an aeronautical research institute here in Liberia whose goal will be to produce one of the first aircrafts made in Africa. Given that this promising young man shares a birthday (August 19th) with one of the Wright brothers, I don't think this is something beyond his reach.

Big Problem... Big Opportunity

2009-12-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

We left early from Bahn on Thursday, Dec. 3rd on a very cool and extremely dewy morning. Our next stop on the workshop tour wass Saclepea. Since we hadn't found anyone who would be able to lodge us, we spent an extra night in Representative Worlea-Saywah Dunah's home. In Saclepea, about an hour's drive from Bahn, we also conducted an interview at one of the radio stations in the morning.

Throughout all our travels, we've been successful in developing an interesting relationship with the radio stations. Most of the towns and cities outside of Monrovia have at least one community radio station per district. These stations are usually supplied with 24-hour power by a cell phone company, in most cases, Cellcom or Lonestar Cell. In a country where the power grid in non-existent in counties outside of the Monrovia area and even in Monrovia, this can be a huge blessing. In return for supplying this power, the companies get the opportunity to advertise at their own discretion on the radio. We've identified these stations as an excellent opportunity for YOUNG-Africa as locations for our resources to be located. Since the stations already have energy and manpower, we can work with each other to provide resources to members of the community interested in entrepreneurial activities. Resources such as an internet cafe, library, and other business resources would thrive in such environment best. The station can manage and use the revenues from the cafes as a way to sustain themselves, since at this moment all workers at radio stations are volunteers. So far, in each town, we've made agreements to work with these stations. For now, they will just receive the entries into the business idea competition. In the future, we'll roll out more resources.

After leaving the radio station, we visited the Johnny Voker Senior High School and met with the District Education Officer for that district. He then called all the principals of the senior high schools (10th - 12th grades) in the area to notify them that we were in town. Soon, we had all the students from the various schools coming over to the auditorium. Indeed, there were so many students that the auditorium was packed, leading us to move out to the football field.

Students each brought out a desk with them onto the field and they formed a huge circle around us. For a few minutes, I was actually very intimidated by the crowd. We did not expect such a huge turnout in this town. As we're just starting out the organization, we want to publicize as much as possible, so we weren't limiting the amount of people who can attend the workshops. Smaller and more focused workshops will be conducted in the future by the organizations we are establishing a partnership with, the Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY) and the UN's International Labor Organization (ILO).

We tried to get a loudspeaker but we were only able to get it at the end of the program. It's a wonder my uncle and I still have our voices intact. Mr. Krua actually coined a sort of call and response phrase that he in keeping the crown in order. Conveniently, it was also a reference to how we wanted the young people to start viewing problems in their communities. He would say, "Big Problem..." and they would respond, "Big Opportunity!" In addition to the volume problem, we also hadn't anticipated such a large number of people and we didn't have enough copies of the competition handout available. Students and townspeople alike were clamoring for a copy of the handout. One young female student actually commandeered our adhesive tape and told me, "If I don't get a sheet, I won't give you your tape." Most of the others took non-threatening approaches such as fanning me (the sun was getting strong), and then telling me how considerate they were in caring for me. I should reward them for their kindness. Some would see the YOUNG-Africa sign fall down from my hand and then pick it up and give it to me, hoping I would reward them with their kindness. We decided to call out the senior prefects and community members who weren't in school first to distribute the forms to them prior to randomly handing it out to students.

An Avalanche of Support

2009-12-02T14:58:00.000-08:00

We conducted another successful workshop in Bahn, a small diamond-mining town near the Ivorian border. Neither my uncle or I have ever been to this town before. In fact, when we were first planning the locations where we would conduct workshops, we had only considered 4 towns/cities and Bahn was not one of them but the representative of the district where Bahn is located begged us to bring the program into his district.

For that reason, even though we ourselves didn't publicize as much as we did in Tappita, we still received a large number of attendees. The community radio station here which was started about 6 months ago mainly by the hand of the district representative worked hard to publicize our programs on their own. The honorable representative also provided us lodging and food. The momentum for the YOUNG-Africa movement is picking up pretty well. There are so many people who are excited about the program, from government officials, to the Christian and Muslim communities, to even the the women. We had a group of women who are in some sort of cooperative visit us at the representative's home and commend us on what we were doing. They even wanted to kill a rooster for us but we already have food in abundance.

In celebration of our success so far and our transcendence of the previous problems we had in getting to Nimba County, here are a few words written by a friend about the beauty of living.

The Beauty of Living

Living is good
You live what you think
And you think what you live
The way you treat it
That's how it treats you

Sometimes challenges come
They serve as catalyst of strength
When you confront them with grieve, they overcome you
When you treat them with love and friendliness, you overcome them

Never say "I can't", always say "I did"
Never say "it's difficult", always say "it's possible"
Never infuse negative energy
Always be positive in your mind

The beauty of living is living itself
Its the way you come in contact with nature
It's the joy of being with nature
It's the beauty of treating circumstances

This overcoming power
This challenging spirit
This humble spirit
The strength in weakness
And the weakness to strengthen

Yes, I want to live this livving
I want to befriend it
It's part of the Creator's plan
It's good for His creatures
That's why it's beautiful living this way.

By Seboe Maparyan

Tappita Workshops an Overwhelming Success

2009-12-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

This morning, 189 youth from Tappita along with about 10 religious, community, and business leaders, filled the Tappeh Memorial High School's auditorium for our 3 hour workshop. The first stage of our whole operation in Tappita was considered a huge success, not only because of the huge turnout at the workshop, but also because of amount of publicity that we generated about the program. By the time we hit the town, almost everyone had at least heard of YOUNG-Africa. We collaborated with the leadership of all the four high schools to get schools to excuse students interested in the program to attend the workshop.

On the morning of the workshop, we headed over to the various high school campuses to reiterate our message at their morning assemblies and speak to the two principals that we hadn't gotten a chance to speak to. The school authorities received our programs with great excitement; in fact, we even had a lot of teachers asking us whether they could attend the workshop. Although we saw some students take advantage of this opportunity to cut school, a whole lot of them marched from their respective school yards to the auditorium.

The program began with Torli Krua himself giving an electrifying rendering of his life story of how he came from attending Tappeh Memorial High School, graduating at a time when most high school graduates in the area only choice of career was to become teachers, to becoming an entrepreneur to start a high tech consulting business in Liberia. The main theme of his message was that people from Tappita are all born naked, just as as people from China, the US, and Europe. Therefore, people from Tappita had no excuse to not be innovating and creating jobs for themselves, instead of sitting around and saying, "no jobs here oooooo." Just as he had been motivated to take life into his hands after reading a story about a Ghanaian villager who had gone to the University of Ghana-Legon to study Electrical Engineering, and later on to M.I.T., they should be inspired to start their own companies and take charge of their destinies by hearing his story of how he started his own business and was making a base salary of $7,500 a month in the late 80's.

After Mr. Krua finished his act, I proceeded with the general business education portion of the workshop. This portioned was designed not to get too technical into what is typical in starting and running businesses. Instead it briefly demonstrated, by engaging the audience in an idea generation session, that the problems students faced in their community were indeed huge business opportunities and that sound planning and research could increase the success rate of whatever business solution they were planning on initiating. Those who were more interested in acquiring a business plan template could borrow one from their local pastors, imam (pictured below), or schools.

At the end of the workshop, we introduced and explained the business idea competition. There were lots of questions as so many people were interested in the relatively huge monetary prizes we were offering - $2000, $1000, and $500. The competition began today and will end in 2 weeks. We had a questionnaires which contained 6 questions that participants could answer to enter the competition. They would all turn their entries in to the Voice of Tappita radio station whose manager will in turn send the entries to us on the 16th of December. As we only had a few sheets of the questionnaires, we gave some copies to the principals of schools and told students of all the schools to look at their bulletin boards and copy the questions. For those who were not currently attending school, we gave them their own personal copies. However, with about 200 people in the room eying an opportunity to win the $2000 top prize, the students began crowding me to get a copy of the questionnaire.

There were only about 10 more copies left to give out but there were so many students who wanted it. I told them I would give distribute those copies to the prefects of the four schools and suddenly, everyone became a prefect. The excitement was great. A lot of people would walk over to my uncle and I and tell us, "we're going to win this competition, we know it... we have a really great idea." Some parents who were too old to compete also assured us that their children would win the top prize. We are now in the second town, Bahn, on our trip throughout Nimba County. Although a smaller town, if we get a similar excitement over the program Wednesday morning, we'll consider it a success. One of our major successes is our partnership with the Voice of Tappita radio station. The station will function as the YOUNG-Africa local center in Tappita. Since they have a partnership with a cell phone company to receive free electricity 24 hours a day, the station will be an ideal spot in expanding the amount of resources we provide to Tappita citizens, including internet, among other things.

Workshops to Begin Tomorrow Morning in Tappita

2009-11-30T13:44:00.000-08:00

We held the official launch of YOUNG-Africa's pilot project in Liberia today at the Ziah Mission School in the village of Ziah, Nimba County. The significance of launching at Ziah was that, back in 1964, my grandfather, Rev. Mahn C. Krua, and other Liberians decided to build a school to educate the children in the area. They did not wait for the government, any NGOs or American missionaries. In fact, the missionaries who converted them to christianity discouraged them from building schools. They told them to focus on teaching their children only about the Bible because Jesus was coming back soon. They were instructed not to worry about preparing their children for productive lives in the world. However, our forefathers did not heed their warnings and still went ahead to build the school.

As YOUNG-Africa is a program that is promoting local initiatives in solving local problems, it only makes sense that we begin at this historic school which has produced many prominent Liberian citizens including nurses, electrical engineers, nuclear technicians, etc. Some pics of the journey to Ziah are above.

Before going to Ziah, we first had to travel to Tappita from Ganta, our previous stop. From Ganta onwards Tappita, the road was extremely dusty. Once again, we saw that the road had not been maintained for over 30 years when it was cleared of forest area. While stopping for rest in a town on the way (Saclepea), we actually sat in on a palava hut meeting of representatives from the Liberian government and local concerned citizens who were discussing what to do with the money (over $5 million) that the mining company, Arcelor Mittal, had given to Nimba County for whatever the citizens wanted. The citizens have been clamoring for their roads to be paved since the $1.5 million a year amount was first paid over three years ago however, they have up till now not received any progress. The point is that the road to Tappita was filled with a lot of dust. In fact, when my uncle (Torli Krua) and I arrived, it seemed as if we had been rolling in dirt because the vehicle did not have AC.

By the time we got to Tappita, almost everyone in the town had heard of YOUNG-Africa due to the amount of interviews we conducted by phone while in Monrovia. Additionally, everyone knew who I was even without knowing my name. They would say, "I know you but you don't know me, you're that light-skinned little boy that used to be running all around here... You're Bessie's son." We toured our official ancestral home and visited the site of my grandfather's house. Our hosts are both Pastor Kerdoe Duayen and local businessman, Mr. Steven Demey. They have been excellent hosts to us, providing us good accommodations and at the same time making available, delicious and heavy breakfasts and dinners.

After touring the town, we contacted the pastors, the only imam, and the principals of all the high schools in Tappita. In Liberia, if you're trying to impact the whole community, if you don't work with religious communities, you will often not get your goals accomplished. Through talking with the school and community leaders, we set our workshop to be located at the Tappeh Memorial High School's auditorium, which has the capacity to comfortably hold about three hundred people. All students interested in the program from age 16 and above will be given permission to attend the program. The program will also be open to other youth who are not students but are still under the age of 30. It's due to begin at 8am Tuesday morning, at the same time that most schools begin.

We know we have a huge barrier ahead of us in trying to convince people here that it is possible for them to come up with brilliant ideas and creation too. Already, we've had to convince a few youth that even though they do not have as much resources as Chinese, American, or European young people, their complacency with the problems also hinders them and prevents them from solving it. The common mentality is that there are so much problems and so little resources that they can't do anything about it but just to wait until someone, whoever that could be, solves it. As we have managed to change the mindset of the few young people we've interacted with, we hope to impact even more minds tomorrow.

Arrival in Nimba

2009-11-29T12:09:00.000-08:00

It's been extremely difficult finding transportation to leave Monrovia for Nimba County but we've finally reached Ganta, the nation's second largest city. The SUV we are using has had many problems that never seem to end. Each time we fix one, it seems that another problem arises. We finally managed to replace the differential, the brakes, and another part on the car and we managed to leave Monrovia finally at 5pm yesterday. However, the lack of lights on the road, and news that 5 people had just died in a car accident on the road led us to stop at a guest house in Kakata, just an hour away from Monrovia. Coincidentally, after stopping, we noticed that one of the vehicle's tire had been punctured.

While in Kakata, we made good use of our time to speak to and make connections with a group of youth leaders from every county across Liberia. There were two leaders from each county, one representing the Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY) and another, the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The workshop was organized by the UN's International Labor Organization (ILO) and their program just happened to be geared towards assisting young people in starting their own businesses. They are currently in the process of training people to serve as trainers help teach certain business skills to the youth. The newly begun program has a budget of $5 million over 4 years and we will be working closely with them in the future. The only main concern of everyone but the Nimba County delegates was why we couldn't start in their county. In fact, one young man actually stood up and said he wants his county to be the next one we go to because all the development and NGOs always tended to ignore them. We collected all their information and from the excitement visible on all their faces, we could tell they would be in contact with us.

We then checked out of the City View Guest House and proceeded to fix our tire to continue our journey. The road leading up-country had many huge craters all over the asphalt, therefore, it makes sense for me to describe it as in terrible shape. However, given that the road had not been maintained for almost 30 years, I would describe it as pretty good. Looking at the condition of the country overall, it seems as if the government did a lot of road construction during the governing party's first few years but only in Monrovia. Now, I've seen no signs of road maintenance or construction, even in Monrovia. As for the interior of the country, there exists no signs of active progress.

In fact, it's not only with the roads - there are no signs of active efforts to increase availability of non-petroleum generated electricity, there aren't any proactive steps to reduce the unusually high occurrence of armed robberies, and people are tired of the importation of highly paid expatriates from America to work in the government. Overall, there's a frustration with the whole political process. That might have been one of the reasons why during the recent senatorial election, George Weah's CDC won the seat.

Trials and Tribulations: Problems with Mobility

2009-11-25T04:25:00.000-08:00

The YOUNG-Africa movement has encountered a few problems in getting its goals accomplished. By this time, we should have arrived in Nimba County and spent the night there, however, it has been difficult finding transportation. The mode of transportation we had previously arranged while in the US was to borrow the SUV of Rev. Dahn Demey of Harvest Baptist Church and Liberty Radio. However, since that time, the vehicle has undergone certain transformations that has rendered it completely useless in making a cross country trip. The main problem is the leakage of the fluid that controls the power steering function of the vehicle, which actually led to other problems with the engine.

We now have to find another vehicle to use in going to Nimba County. We're currently negotiating to see about getting another SUV. This problem might seem like a big problem right now because acquiring private vehicles in this country is pretty tough given the huge transportation problems that everybody face, however, we would like to use this situation as an opportunity to do as we preach. In a way, we'll try to find an innovative solution to this problem, just as we've been asking people to.

On that note, we've already found someone who has produced a solution to a common problem in Liberia through invention. While on Liberty Radio, we received a call from a young man called Emmanuel Gontee who had created a blend of natural oils and herbs as a remedy to common skin problems such as ringworm, dandruff, and acne. The product has a dark brown color and possesses the odor of the two main oils used in it - coconut oil and palm kernel oil. I could not get the English names of the other ingredients used in the concoction probably because some of these herbs were native to Liberia.

When Emmanuel told us of his creation, we were a bit skeptical and asked to meet with him. Upon meeting him face-to-face, we found out that he had attended a school in Ghana and had studied dermatology and skin care issues. Since returning, he had discovered that a mixture of these herbs and oils were useful in solving some of the common skin diseases known to Liberians. He has called the product, "Anti-dermatoses." After experimenting with different portions, he has arrived at a final product. It is his goal to be able to package the product properly (as of now, he sells it in a small plastic bag to which he attaches a small paper that says "Anti-dermatoses. External use only. 2008-2009. Cell No. 077825272"). He also wants to work with researchers to optimize his product and he wants to be able to better market it.

When we first met him, Emmanuel did not have a sample of the product ready, so we asked to meet him the next day. We would observe to see how he marketed his product and what people's reactions were to the product. I was designated as the official observer. I followed him from a distance and watched as he stood in an empty space. He then yelled out to the open space, "My people ohh.... I get something I want tell y'all..." Although he spoke English quite well normally, when he was doing this, he used Liberian vernacular English almost exclusively. He would then tell people who he was and what organization he was with. Then came the warnings about using perm, "iron soap" and other caustic and dangerous products Liberians were in the process of using. He would also give the reasons why these things were not good, even using scientific terms. The usage of terms like "medulla oblongata" would be accompanied by expressions or exclamations that are similar in meaning to "Oh!" or "Wow!"

After explaining some of these problems and their causes, he would then offer them his remedy and tell them that the product is one dose for one person and should be used until finished. He does not sell to children and he tells them to call him if they have any problems.

After he was done selling his products, I proceeded to ask some of those present about their opinion of the product and what he was saying. Most of them agreed that the products he warned against using which had harsh chemicals were harmful. They knew that using perm and "iron soap" was harmful because of their past experiences (in fact, I've observed that a lot of women in the country do not use perm on their hair). I tried to get some of them to speak on camera but only a few agreed. Liberians do not like getting on camera here. Sometime people think that you're taking their pictures to make money off it. In this specific case, they didn't want me to videotape them for the possibility that one of their relatives in the US could see them and think they had some skin issues. Additionally, for the women, they might not have been in their best attires and since Liberians like to bluff, they didn't want to look bad on camera.

I did manage to talk to some women who explained thought his product would work. We are trying to decide whether Emmanuel will be a good fit as a motivator to speak to the youth. More updates to come.
On a side note, yesterday was election day for the senatorial election in Montserado County. Below is a poster of George Weah endorsing the candidate of his party.

Liberian Ministry of Labor Supports YOUNG-Africa at Press Conference

2009-11-22T16:37:00.000-08:00

Liberia has a lot of resources and a lot of potentials but as we stay here longer, I'm getting to understand how Liberia's problems can seem overwhelming. They can seem so overwhelming in fact that they have the potential make people forget about the huge potential of the country. The unemployment rate has to be almost as high as the unofficial estimate that non-profits gave - 80%.

Everywhere we've gone, people either just tend to sit in their homes and claim that "this country is hard" and that they have nothing to do in terms of employment or they sit by small stalls and hope that enough people will come to buy their products to allow them to sustain their daily lives.

What it really comes down to is that this is not an unemployment problem or an electricity problem or an armed robbery problem. What seems to plague Liberia is a problem of mentality and orientation. If young Liberians are to be inspired, equipped and challenged to begin creating innovative and marketable solutions to problems in the communities they reside, there must be a radical change in orientation and mentality, beginning with a redesign of education in homes, schools, places of worship and traditional settings. The Liberian education must be overhauled. A new outcome driven educational focus that values and rewards research and efforts aimed at solving complex local problems, improving the quality of life for all citizens, encouraging science and technology, inventions that meet human needs must be ushered in.

Another gateway is through religion. Liberians are very religious people. However, religion has not helped Liberians solve basic problems in their communities where they reside. For example, places of worship are silent or simply dumbfounded in the face of massive unemployment, skyrocketing illiteracy, crippling diseases and endemic corruption in society and government.

What better places are there than the captive audience at weekly places of worship to expound the common good of values? What better place is there to reinforce hard work, production of goods and services as the right path to success than place of worship? Where else can the noble purposes of education and service placed in context with teachings of the Holy Scriptures? The education system in Liberia is designed to produce individuals whose primary purpose in life is to work in government offices and thereby gain vast wealth for themselves and their families. People who serve in government and fail to amass wealth are generally considered stupid. Other educational goals such as social change, patriotism, public service, and improving the quality of life for humanity is relegated to the back burner.

Already, we are beginning to see important roles and responsibilities of a much bigger pool of collaborating partners for YOUNG-Africa, ranging from schools, to ministries of education, to traditional leaders, to youth organizations, to existing businesses and even places of worship.

Press Conference

Given the importance Liberians attach to government officials, we decided to invite the Minister of Labor of the Republic of Liberia, The Honorable Tiawan Gongloe to our pre-launching of YOUNG Africa. We choose the highest point in Monrovia, Ducor's Snapper Hill, where the giant size monument of Liberia's first President, Joseph Jenkins Roberts stands majestically, overlooking the city.

Aside from a few onlookers, the audience were journalists from 8 media institutions including Star Radio, The Liberian Broadcasting Corporation, The Analyst Newspaper, The News Newspaper, among others. UHRI CEO, Torli Krua, declared that "...the word Africa invokes poverty, hunger, wars, instability and lack of opportunity." However, if African youths begin looking at problems as opportunities, they will be inspired to create innovative and marketable solutions, using their minds. "The greatest resources in Africa is not Africa's natural resources. Rather, Africa's greatest resource is the mind of Africa's youth." I then talked about the three-pronged approach of YOUNG-Africa - motivation, resources, and competition.

Minister Gongloe lauded UHRI and recounted his days in Boston, when he worked at UHRI assisting refugees and presenting at congressional briefings. Gongloe paid tribute to President Roberts and others who declared Liberia an independent republic in 1847. The Minister said he believes that YOUNG-Africa will lead Africa out of consumerism to become a continent where goods and services originate to meet the needs of African and the world.

Dried Dog Sweet

2009-11-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

There is a saying we've been hearing repeatedly for the past few days we've spent in the country that goes somewhat like this: "Dried dog [is] sweet, but what will we eat until the dog gets dried." In this next update, we decided to use video form but it took us a while to upload this video. By the time we had uploaded it, it was another day with newer results. Keep that in mind as you watch. Torli Krua narrates the story.

The video briefly explains some of the issues that people face in trying to acquire loans to begin their entrepreneurial activities. As locating financial options currently available in the country is under the Resources pillar of YOUNG-Africa (the three pillars are Motivation, Resources, and Competition), we set out to find out what loans, grants, etc were out there. It didn't take us long to realize from our first stop, UBA, that very few banks offered these options. Through discussing the issue with the bank's agent and others, we got a few recommendations for places to check out: CHF International, Liberian Enterprise Development Financing Company (LEDFC), and a local bank.

CHF International was one NGO that dealt with bringing vibrancy to the economic scene. They operated in the same building as LEDFC (I'm pictured in front of the building with YOUNG-Africa's poster board). Because of the little time we had, I was tasked with visiting these two organizations and finding out what their options were. I went without my uncle but remembered to use the same techniques we had both been employing in getting people aroused over YOUNG-Africa - an eccentric manner of displaying YOUNG-Africa's poster board, a talking style that would frequent between Liberian English and American English (with the portions in Liberian English meant to be emphasized), and frequent request for response from the listener in the form of "an tha true?" which has the same meaning as "isn't that true?" among others.

I found out from a young lady who was acting as both a receptionist and administrative assistant that LEDFC offered loans between $10,000 and $1 million at interest rates varying between 13.7% and 15%. They also allowed people the option to pay their loans within up to 5 years and interest was charged on a yearly basis. This was the best option we had discovered in the country for Liberian nationals - most institutions offering loans wanted them paid back within 6 months. Collateral was often made in the form of the deed to one's house or a relative's or a generator. As I asked more questions, the young lady suggested I speak with the big boss man, the general manager of LEDFC. I think she must have made a good introduction because when I walked into the room, I could feel a lot of strong positive energy. Their smiles also indicated they were excited about something. I sat down and explained the whole deal in a way that said, "I want to make life easy for you." In fact, I actually did use that phrase, "I'm trying to help you do your job." Another Liberian was in the office along with the boss man and from the smile beaming on his face, I could tell he was eating up everything I was saying about YOUNG-Africa. It was as if they had been waiting for a while for a young person to take this initiative. The boss man indicated that he wanted me to be in contact with them and also to speak to the head of CHF which offered smaller loans (about $50 in size most of the times).

We've also been continuing our efforts to raise awareness about YOUNG-Africa and network with more people. Through all our conversations, it is dawning upon us that no organization in Liberia attacks the problem with the type of multi-pronged approach that we used. We've appeared on the UNMIL radio station once now and pre-recorded another show on that same station which will air in a week. This might be one of the best interviews YOUNG-Africa has done so far and the show is run by some ambitious youth. We've also met with the Minister of Labor who wants to publicly endorse the program and Mr. Raphael Abiem, the United Nations Missions In Liberia (UNMIL) Human Rights Officer and initiator of the Truth and Reconciliation Council (TRC) for Liberia's war has agreed to become our 3rd member of the board of advisors.

Future plans include holding a press conference on Sunday before we leave on Tuesday for Nimba County. We'll post more updates as time goes by.

Setting Low Expectations

2009-11-18T22:17:00.000-08:00

So, Jefferson King has finally arrived in Liberia after having left for so long. I must say that I'm impressed. Some of my uncles and other family members who have been visiting Liberia more frequently had attempted to prepare me for the country. Maybe they all deliberately conspired to give me disparraging news from Liberia out of love so that when I arrived on ground I would have set my expectations so low that I would have to be impressed. Or maybe I should be impressed given Liberia's recent past and my relatives have been comparing the country too much to Ghana (Accra, mainly) and the US without considerations for the past. Either way, all the major roads within Monrovia were paved nicely and provided for a very smooth ride. The minor roads were terrible and at some times I couldn't imagine how people even knew they were roads but this is what I saw when I was in Kumasi although to a lesser extent. I had expected electricity to only exist on streetlights and on 3 or four streets, however a few of the houses we visited were connected to Monrovia's power grid and most of the nice streets had streetlights. I was thrilled to see all the foliage and vegetation within the city. As a big tree and nature lover, I can't wait till we travel to Nimba county for me to see the thick forests and green mountains along the way. In general, I'm impressed by what I've seen in the country so far from my first two days, although I'm trying to caution myself to not get too excited. Even though no police officer has attempted to extort money from us yet and even though the closest thing to being harrasses at the airport for money was getting a wink from some guy (I assume winking and muttering something under one's breath is a prime way of asking for money), I keep reminding myself that it's only been two days. We'll wait and see (I am disappointed with how slow the wireless internet from the cell phone company is).

Entering into the country I was worried that my long stay "in exile" would make it hard for me to fit in within Liberian society and culture. I was delighted when one of my uncle Torli's friend, Seeboe Maparyan, asked why I still had my Liberian accent. I get no stares in the street and I feel like I've been in this environment for a while. It must've been those few days I took practicing Liberian English. My American accent does tend to come in place more when I'm on official business, such as explaining YOUNG-Africa to someone or while on the radio. In more social settings however, the Liberian in me comes out.

I was also worried about how people would receive and perceive the project in the country. Would there be citizens unreasonably trying to sabotage the program? Would people view YOUNG-Africa as too idealistic and brush it off? So many worries and questions. However, even before landing in Monrovia, my uncle and I received more inspiration to continue doing conducting the project. Behind our seat on the flight through Ethiopia was an American man and wife who were journeying to Africa's oldest country to adopt two sisters from Addis Ababa. As I was trying to relax myself and sleep, I overheard this man asking a few Ethiopians how to say certain words properly in Amharic. He was holding what seemed like a book designed to help people read the Geez characters in order to speak Amharic better. From the reactions of the Ethiopians on the plane, he was doing very well and I was impressed and kept my ears tuned.

I then learned about his philantropic intentions to adopt those two sisters whose father had died and their mother could no longer afford to feed them so she had given them to an orphanage. Apparently, a few days earlier, the mother had gone to a court to sign over her parental rights to her kids. With every minute that he kept talking, the story turned uglier. They, along with some other couples from Boston, had sent in a request to the orphanage for the right type of children they wanted. "We asked for two sisters between the ages of 18 months and 4 years," he exlained to the two Ethiopian ladies across the row from him. I became sick with the whole thing and decided to wake my sleeping uncle up to partake of this (I filled him up through our native Dan language). As my uncle spoke to them, they came off as people who were really convinced about how good their deeds were.

They justified their actions by saying that they would be able to take care of the kids even better than their mother or the orphanage could and they would give them presents and other amenities that they wouldn't be able to get while in Ethiopia. Besides, they had made sure they were getting two sisters so that one would never feel like she was alone. The father mentioned that this would prevent them from feeling as if no one understands them when they become teenagers and have the typical teenage angst. Additionally, the husband mentioned how his wife had been extra considerate of the feelings of the "biological mother" and included that they would send the mother a picture and letter of her kids once a year.

Of course my uncle did not want to come off too strong or hostile so he let them keep their justifications and just mentioned that there needs to be ways to ensure that people don't need to fly from thousands of miles to adopt kids because mothers couldn't provide for their kids. He wanted to, but refrained from asking why they hadn't gone to adopt some children from Mississippi or some orphans from other areas in America. What was even disappointing was that it seemed as if the Ethiopian ladies were ingesting everything these guys were saying and looked impressed. These people who wanted to help out in the situation did not want to answer questions regarding to the sustainability of such practice and the question of whether it really solves anything. The incident just drew my attention to how much YOUNG-Africa is needed. I see YOUNG-Africa as a movement that improves the economic vibrancy of the continent. I see it as a movement that produces innovators who create companies and industries that provide a livelihood to citizens of their countries so that mothers do not have to give their children away because their husband has died and they have no means of providing for their families. Lastly, I see YOUNG-Africa as a movement that challenges Africans to seek African-initiated solutions to their problems in every aspect of society from the economy to the welfare of citizens who need protection.

Inspired once again, we arrived in Monrovia on Tuesday set to launch the program. The reception was very warm. People agreed that this is what Liberia, and Africa needed although they all wondered how other Liberians would received the program. The next day, we conducted an interview on a radio station about YOUNG-Africa. As the program was a "call-in" program, we had lots of people calling in to congratulate us and wish us success. I was expecting the occassional, "I don't know whether it's possible..." but the calls were all positive. Even at the end of the program, a guy called to tell us that he had invented a product and wanted to join us in encouraging Liberians to actively seek out and create marketable solutions to their problems. We will meet with him later this week to find out exactly what his invention is and whether he can serve as a motivational speaker.

We will be leaving for Nimba County on Monday to implement the project there and the workshop materials are all ready and look good. We are currently in the process of spreading awareness about YOUNG-Africa and seeking partnerships while in Monrovia. We have talked to some people from one of the nationwide radio stations operated by the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and hope to make more connections in the future.

Back to Africa - YOUNG-Africa delegation departs for Liberia

2009-11-16T00:24:00.000-08:00

Today at 9.30am, the YOUNG-Africa delegation will board an Ethiopian Airlines flight and depart for the capital of Liberia - Monrovia. Our departure comes at a time when YOUNG-Africa is receiving increasingly grand support from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, including a pledge of support from the Liberian Minister of Labor Tiawan Gongloe, not only in monetary form but also in the provision of resources to alleviate the transportation costs on the project. Additionally, just within the past week, we have received over $2000 in cash and check donations from individual supporters in the US.

Upon arrival in the country, we will be meeting with several media organizations to conduct interviews to create more publicity about the program. We'll also be meeting with the leadership of two of the largest
youth umbrella organizations including the Federation of Liberian Youth (FLY). The FLY leadership has already expressed support for the program and we will work with them to identify young Liberian innovators and entrepreneurs once on ground. The following week, we'll travel to the more rural Nimba County to really begin business.

I'm very excited not only about the prospects of YOUNG-Africa, but also to be going back to Liberia for the first time since fleeing the war as a child. Thanks to all the supporters and encouragers out there who have believed in the power of Africans to dream big and have equipped us with funding to help them make those dreams a reality.

Once we acquire a wireless internet card in Liberia, I should be able to regularly post updates to the program during our month and a half stay.

YOUNG-Africa Hosts Sucessful Launch Weekend

2009-11-09T21:38:00.000-08:00

As our departure date for Liberia approaches (1 week), YOUNG-Africa held a host of events this past weekend as the program was officially being launched in the US. I was invited by a small church in Boston (Quincy Street Missional Church) to speak about YOUNG-Africa, in substitute for the regular sermon. I was also given the chance to ask the congregation to donate to the program (the picture at the right shows me posing in my African attire with the pastor, Rev Ralph Kee).

At the same time that this church was meeting, YOUNG-Africa had its official launch party which drew over 75 attendees. After a brief introductory speech at the official launching at the headquarters of the Universal Human Rights International in Boston, MA. I hastened across town to deliver my first "sermon" at the church.The launch was very successful and drew people from all over New England, including Zambian musical band led by Pezzy Kudakwashe from Portland, Maine. The lunch menu was varied and delicious, with food from both Liberia and Italy. As the event was sponsored by Olive Garden, the restaurant provided the Italian food.

Overall, the two-day weekend events drew much publicity for YOUNG-Africa and also brought in over $900 in donations from attendees.

Launch of YOUNG-Africa's website

2009-10-29T22:33:00.001-07:00

I would like to announce the launch of YOUNG-Africa's website - http://www.young-africa.org. It provides a lot of information on the organization and soon will have a way to channel financial support for the movement.

In other updates, I was recently interviewed by the West Africa Democracy Radio (WADR) which is a radio network that spans several countries across West Africa. Listen to the interview at http://www.wadr.org/eng/news/news.php?id=15. The portion that features me begins at the 1400th second.

As always, if you or someone would like to make US tax-deductible financial contributions to the cause, please contact us or send checks to:

The Society for Education and Economic Development
31 Heath Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Article on Voice of America

2009-10-01T07:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Voice of America (VOA) aired an impromptu interview of me speaking about YOUNG-Africa. Interestingly enough, some hours later, I was contacted on facebook by not only William Kamkwamba but also his TED mentor. I have since gotten in contact with them by email.

As some might know, William is the young man who at age 14 built a windmill from scrap metals and has now gained international fame. He has even written a book which he's now promoting throughout the country. I have been using William for a while now as an inspiration for YOUNG-Africa, to show that it is possible for young Africans to come up with brilliant ideas.

I am filled with excitement and hope to meet this example of young African ingenuity Oct. 17th. Below, you can see William's blog and also the original VOA article online. A link to the audio of the interview is also available on the right hand side of the page.

The Solution

2009-09-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I was eating in a Cornell cafeteria when something struck me. I noticed the amount of waste that went on in the dining facility and thought to myself, “People are wasting too much food here.” As that thought passed through my head, I also remembered that there was a business idea competition on campus that challenged people to come up with innovative solutions to problems. The top price of $2,500 seemed to me to be a very attractive incentive and challenged me to come up with a solution to this problem of wasting food.

Returning to my apartment, I sat at my desk with a notepad and started brainstorming. “Perhaps we can have some scale that measures the weight of the tray initially and then charge people for the amount they waste….” I thought to myself, “…no that won’t work… What about things like bones, etc.” I came to the conclusion that I could produce no device that any entity like Cornell would be willing to pay for to curb waste in their dining halls when I knew that simple steps like reducing the portions of food available could take care of that problem (interestingly enough, a year later, Cornell began the process of removing trays from the dining halls so that people would take less food at a time).

Anyway, I felt angry at myself that I had set aside and “wasted” almost 2 hours of my time to arrive at nothing. I hadn’t produced any exciting gadget, therefore the time was unproductive. I then slowly began to realize the magnitude of what was going on. Because of a competition that was offering monetary prizes, I had set aside time to think and be creative.

I then remembered how my uncle always lamented the fact that not enough Liberians were dreaming up innovative ideas to solve their country’s problems and that he was trying to find a way to solve this problem. As one who dedicated his entire educational pursuit to helping rebuild his country, I could not help but notice the great opportunity that lied ahead. Perhaps other young Liberians could be motivated to dream up innovative solution if they had such competition available to them. Perhaps there were already inventors and thinkers in the country working quietly whose innovative products and services could be brought to the forefront and used to motivate others. My excitement was building around the issue.

I had initially only envisioned the program as it exists at Cornell, only in the form of the business idea competition. However, through research online, and consultation with others (especially my chief mentor Torli Krua), the business idea competition was able to evolve into the program that it is now. In fact, because my uncle does work with nationals from many African countries and because most African countries have these same problems, we have broadened our goal to aiming to cover the entire continent in the future. For now, the pilot will be in one county within Liberia, Nimba County - the origin of the Organization of African Unity.

We will spur innovation and creativity in three ways – motivation, provision of resources, and competition.

Motivation
Because Liberian youths do not get to see enough of their countrymen praised for their brilliant ideas and creations, many subconsciously and sometimes consciously have it in their minds that the task of coming up with innovative solutions should be relegated to foreigners. To counter this trend, we are conducting motivational workshops to showcase extraordinary Liberian role models to the youth. The goal here is to basically get them to see somebody who has been where they are and rationalize that if that person could create and innovate, they can too.

Resources
A lot of times, people do not pursue their dreams because of the lack of resources. With that in mind, we’re making available to participants of YOUNG-Africa, a plethora of resources which include mentors in local communities, information on acquiring finance, business education workshops, research portals to allow for the fine-tuning of ideas, and a website specific to the Liberian context.

Competition
In a lot of instances, all the previous motivation and provision of resources might not be enough to motivate people to stimulate innovation and creativity. Consequently, there will also be a business idea competition challenging the youth to invent and develop innovative solutions to local problems and plans to market their products or services.

Through YOUNG-Africa, we aim to see Africans start to innovate, to start producing more of their own quality products for distribution in local and international markets, to create industries that provide jobs for their fellow Africans. We want Africans to present localized solutions to the dire energy crisis that exist throughout the continent (a surmountable problem, given that a 14-years old boy in Malawi was able to build a windmill to power his own home) and desist from waiting upon their governments for every problem. We aspire for an Africa where great ideas are not thrown away and forgotten simply because of the unavailability of resources and funding, but rather are nourished into reality.

YOUNG-Africa must serve as catalyst and fuel for the engine of a movement of young African dreamers.

“If We Don’t Engage The Youth, Something Else Will Engage Them” - Edwin Sele

2009-09-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

A few decades ago, a young Liberian worked diligently to finalize a design for the body of a boat. He also proceeded to outfit it with an engine that he had also designed himself. After accomplishing such an impressive feat, the young Liberian tested and successfully sailed the boat on the waters around one of Monrovia’s islands.

At that time, there was neither much support nor accolades awarded to the young man for the product he had created. For that reason, this brilliant creation from someone who could have been one of Liberia’s premier inventors was not nurtured and a great mind and idea went to waste.

If a program had been in existence at that time to unleash and nurture the creative potentials of Liberia’s youth, who knows what could have happened. There are many other young Liberians who have innovative ideas or potential are not pursued and nurtured. The fact that we know very little about these dreamers and innovators can only mean that not enough is being done to extract and support these ideas.

The current situation we have is one where we depend on foreign sources for much of our livelihood and solutions to the many problems we have. As a result, Liberians are importing everything - not only products but also ideas.

We import most of the rice we eat (70%) when we have one of the most fertile soils in all of Africa. We import common items we need every day (eg. soap, lotion, etc.) although we possess the knowledge of how to make these and when it only takes basic thinking to figure out how to mass-produce this for sale in the country. We passively look towards the hundreds of foreign NGOs in the country to solve our problems from healthcare to sanitary systems. We sit and wait for the Chinese to build factories or for multi-national firms to build mining facilities to provide us with jobs when we have the God-given minds to think and create opportunities for ourselves.

These problems are not unique to Liberia alone although the civil war served to exacerbate some of these. In fact, most African countries have the problem of having their economy dominated by foreign entities. Many more are net importers of many goods and do not have their citizens actively participating to innovate and create new products and services to solve problems in their countries.

Hence, the importance of a program that marshals the creative potential of Africans is not only essential but long overdue. With that, we are launching YOUNG-Africa. We are not advocated rejecting assistance from foreigners but rather we are advocating that Africans play proactive roles in coming up with the solutions to problems in their countries. This method of conducting business ensures that Africans are not always dependent upon foreigners for solutions to their problems. Furthermore, it allows Africans to feel a sense of ownership over their own countries and will lead to more stability in these countries as more citizens begin creating businesses that generate income for themselves and jobs for others.