PROJECT TITLE: ROLE OF RADIO IN DISSEMINATION OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND NATIONAL HEALTH EDUCATION TO DEFEAT MALARIA
Liberian is confronted with a number of developmental challenges since the end of the civil war and a successful democratic election. Even with fair elections and with the war behind them, as long as malaria is in their midst, Liberians will be too weak to work or attend school, unable to defend themselves, and left with little hope for the future. The LIHEDE's paradigm to malaria eradicate is enshrined in its integrated approached, which calls for a shift from rather than tinkering with therapeutic-only practices of malaria control with the aim of improving the health of Liberia to a completely different perspective.
In this breath, Radio LIHEDE that got it license in Liberia to operate will stand out as a major discourse architect, temperament respondent and determined intermediary. The link therefore between radio, the Liberian populace, health education and eventual malaria eradication cannot be over emphasized.
Radio LIHEDE Objectives:
• Creating awareness of malaria control
• Rallying nation - to best practices
• Simplifying research findings on mosquitoes' behavior
• Working with government to community on various malaria control issues
Read more by clicking here ROLE OF RADIO:
Project Title: Community-based Farm and Buy Back Cooperative
(Plantain-Banana - COOP)
Liberia is among the nations of “Low Income-Food Deficit Countries” (LIFDC) stemming from the combination of long-term agricultural instability including the social dislocation caused by the 14 year of civil war. The war did affect the livelihood of many small farm-holders in terms of destruction of farm tools/implements, farm animals, planting material and above all internally and externally displacement of the farming population. As a result, there has been widespread starvation throughout the country. In particular, a very low impact on the domestic consumption of food which led to serious health burden (i.e. parasitic diseases like malaria, yellow fever as well as bilharzias, goiter; beri-beri, blindness and to complete the list there is a need to add tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, cholera, dengue fever and malnourishment particularly the children. All of these diseases are avoidable and treatable given the right social conditions and medical support, but all of them blighting the lives of hundreds of thousands of Liberians.
It is against this backdrop that the Community-based Banana Farm and Buy Back Cooperative is intended to achieve as one of its ultimate goals satisfactory levels of food production to supply the domestic market, reverse the food aid syndrome ( depending on donor nations to send few bags of rice when our nation is staving will never solve our problem ), reduce commercial imports and increase farmers' income.
Analysis showed that the civil war in Liberia had a direct link to agriculture. A nation that cannot feed itself is bond for civil wars and instability. Peace and agriculture go hand in hand. In other words, a national policy geared toward food self-sufficiency through a return to the soil would be the first step to eliminating Liberia's current dependence on foreign food imports for daily consumption. Therefore, the Liberian Government is to support banana production actively as the government is fully conscious of the fact that food security is important for the national growth and development. In this light, there has been a national policy that the primary production sector, including agriculture has been enjoying benefits such as exemptions from paying income tax, as well as low levels of tariffs on imported inputs or agricultural components.
Project Goal: Liberia achieve food and income security by the year 2010
Total Cost: $ 1.3 million
For a detailed information, click here to contact LIHEDE office.
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An Appeal to the Sons and Daughters of Liberia
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Fellow Liberians: politicians, lawyers, doctors, business men and women, educators, combatants, journalists, government officials – I salute you. I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak to you about an urgent topic. ( Please see flyer attached here .)
As a child growing up in Kokoyah, Upper Bong County , I lost more than 15 of my friends, along with three brothers and two nephews, to malaria. I barely survived this disease myself. I know you, too have similar stories. As you read this letter, tens of thousand of our people are bed-ridden in Liberia and in displaced persons' camps around the globe, due to 14 years of civil wars that have made them even more vulnerable. Of course, you cannot see the faces of these children from where you sit or stand to read this appeal. But wherever you sit or stand you can lift the spirit of these children from their malaria dungeon to the hope train that will lead them to the new frontiers of education, housing, and peace of mind.
I find it inconceivable, unconscionable and reprehensible that the world can endlessly talk about relatively minor human rights issues like the death penalty for killers or reading emails to prevent terrorism – but then can completely ignore the way developed nations violate Africans' most basic human rights every day, by preventing them from using readily available methods to control or even eradicate this deadly disease.
Since Liberia was founded 158 years ago, malaria has been one of the principal killers of its people: 4,500 Liberian children die each year from the disease. Across the African Continent, an estimated 500 million people contract malaria every year, up to 2 million die (half of them children), and tens of thousands are left with irreversible brain damage. Malaria has killed 50 million people, which is ten times more than AIDS over the past 15 years. Yet malaria is preventable. This terrible death toll is equivalent to sending 27 fully loaded Boeing 757 jetliners crashing into a mountain every single day, year after year. Other insect-borne diseases kill still more thousands of our people every month. The economic effects of these diseases are just as tragic, as they cost nations of the poor African Continent over $12 billion a year in lost gross domestic product.
What makes Liberia 's situation especially grave is its topography, rainforests, rainfall and the configuration of its capital city around a major wetland. Malaria is also a major cause of our nation's (and continent's) enduring poverty, because malaria victims often cannot work, attend school, cultivate their fields or care for their families for weeks or months at a time. It is essential that you and I develop and implement integrated programs for our nation that will rapidly and permanently bring malaria under control.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States , Europe, Canada and Australia used dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) to wipe out malaria and typhus in their countries. We should be able to do the same – or use other effective and efficient pesticides, some of which cost less than 25 or 50 cents an acre to apply. But we are prevented from doing this, and our people are still dying from these diseases, when the Stockholm Convention makes it clear that DDT may be used by countries that have a malaria problem. As a nation and as caring, moral people, we cannot afford such misplaced concerns, especially when no other method works as well as DDT or the pesticides Americans are using in Florida and other states to control mosquitoes and the diseases they carry.
As the parable goes, When the rope is not around your neck, it is easy to say pull it. Non-Africans, sitting in their air-conditioned homes and malaria-free environments, can afford to worry about DDT contributing to thinner bird eggshells or finding traces of DDT in animal or human bodies. They tell us we should worry about these things, too. But we have much bigger concerns.
We worry about losing more of our babies – the future of our nations – to malaria. Imagine what would happen if four children were being killed by malaria every minute in the USA , France , Germany or Japan ! Those nations would not tolerate it. They would use the same pesticides they used 40 years ago to get rid of this disease. They did it then, and we should be able to do it today! Our children's lives depend on it, and their lives are worth as much as American or European lives.
As the Executive Director of Liberian History, Education and Development, Inc. (LIHEDE), I find it compelling that this year's symposium will address the need for lasting, effective control and eventual eradication of malaria problems in Liberia – just as developed nations like the United States and Europe have done. At this symposium, we will explore cutting-edge technologies and treatments to end the suffering of the Liberian people. The symposium's goal is two-fold.
First, we must tell the world that we are sick and tired of seeing our children die daily from a disease that is readily preventable. Second, want people who are interested in find solutions to the malaria problem and not those who are comfortable with is going in Africa and write books to make their money at our detriment. The book that are of interest is that which explain how flies are chase out of Africa and Liberia has stopped spending 20-25 million dollars annually on malaria. Finally, we must evaluate every available technology and methodology that can actually help us achieve significant and lasting reductions in malaria disease and death tolls; set the stage for launching effective malaria reduction and eradication programs in Liberia; resolve to overcome political obstacles; and provide lessons for the rest of Africa in all these vital health, environmental, economic and human rights areas.
This is why I am looking you right in the eye and appealing to you as a friend, brother, and fellow Liberian and African. Even as the whole world community leadership has failed to take on the malaria issue by focusing on malaria resistance treatment, bed nets, roll-back-program as opposed to the root of the problem, which is prevention, we must appeal to the conscious of good people who are afraid and have allowed unspeakable things to happen to join the freedom from Malaria to the new frontier of malaria freed of Liberia. Let us bring our plight before their eyes now---that mosquitoes do not only bite when you are laying bed. If the world has failed to see, come let use point it out that in Africa our children play out door from 5:00 p.m. in the evening up to 8: 00 p.m. Therefore, the overly promoted bed net is not the answer because there useless in outdoors or when in root from the farm (in the evening). All roads lead to North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro , on July 29-30, 2005. Please join us.
I know this is a daunting task. But I am convinced that your support will go a long way toward ensuring that we can accomplish this goal – that we can eliminate this terrible epidemic in the new republic of Liberia , and all of Africa . Do not let anything dim your hope and enthusiasm. Join us!
Tell your friends, pastors, bishops, senators, congressmen and state representatives that malaria kills four children every minute in Sub-Saharan Africa. Tell them we cannot, and will not tolerate it any longer.
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An Appeal to Women of Liberia
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Dear Daughters of Liberia :
The officials and members of Liberia Higher Education and Development, Inc. (LIHEDE) are honored to invite officers and members of your organization to participate in a two-day symposium to brainstorm and develop a strategic plan for eradicating malaria in post-war Liberia .
First, I am prompted to recall the biblical lesson that, even before the “Word” or “Spirit” was made flesh and proceeded to reside in the person of Jesus Christ, for thousands of years – from the Old Stone Age to the closing of the last goddess temples, around AD 500 – women were at the forefront of all great civilizations. Women always brought love, peace, justice and equality to homes, communities and nations. It was no coincidence Jesus' mother beheld her son in his last hours of agony on the cross.
In like manner, I am calling on you to be at the forefront of this symposium, not only because you are Liberians, but because of your divine role in life: your role in creating and nurturing life. Today in Liberia our children know little peace, as malaria continues to be a principal killer of our people: 4,500 Liberian children die each year from the disease. Across the African Continent, an estimated 500 million people contract malaria every year, up to 2 million die (half of them children), and tens of thousands are left with irreversible brain damage. This frightful death toll is equivalent to sending 27 fully loaded Boeing 757 jetliners crashing into a mountain every single day, year after year.
You cannot see their faces, as you read this letter. But if you lean back and close your eyes, your mind will take you to the nightmare of homes, tents and clinics where women and children shake with fever and convulsions, vomit when there is nothing left in their stomachs, and cry out from the pain and thirst. You will see the hollow eyes and anguished faces of husbands and parents, who must watch helplessly as their loved ones cling to life in the torment of their malaria, lapse into comas and permanent brain damage, or are laid in their graves.
As Liberians, we have a moral obligation to chart a new direction and change our malaria statistics for the better, by burying this national calamity in the dustbin of history. With our collective will, vision, nationalism and patriotism, we can do just that.
We therefore look forward to your active participation in the symposium, “Combating Malaria in Post-Conflict Liberia,” which will be held July 29-31, 2005 on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro .
This is not merely an opportunity to be part of an historical gathering, bringing together our nation's best and brightest, to develop a plan for a malaria-free Liberia . It is also an opportunity to sign a declaration and proclamation – stating that we can no longer condone or tolerate letting our children die from a disease that is easily preventable, and that we must make the health of our citizens an integral part of our national agenda for democracy, political stability and socio-economic improvement.
We would also like to appeal to your organization to help in the dissemination of information for this symposium, and to make a modest donation to help underwrite the cost of the symposium. If your organization is unable to donate at this time, we still hope you will participate fully and look forward to seeing you and members of your organization at the symposium.
Sincerely yours
Dr. Syrulwa Somah
Executive Director-LIHEDE
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A Proposal for an Undergraduate and Graduate Major Program in Liberian Studies at all Liberian Higher Institutions of Learning...Click here to read more.LIHEDE delegation will discuss with Liberian educators the need to establish a Liberian Studies Program at each higher institution of learning in Liberia . Click on the link below for more information:
1. http://www.liberianobserver.com/education/workshop_tackle.html
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Many Liberians complain on and often how one of the things that lack most in our culture is true nationalism. This absence of nationalism can be correlated to the level of alienation that has permeated the Liberian psyche for time immemorial. There is no better proof of alienation than young Liberians in school wearing African outfits to celebrate “Africa Day.” The fact that Liberian students were “allowed” one-day to celebrate Africa meant that the rest of the time they were celebrating another culture. And indeed, up until it was destroyed by the war, Liberian educational system was mostly oriented towards studying America . Besides a few courses here and there, very little was really studied about Liberia , its culture and its people. Nationalism is bred through knowledge and the lack of deep knowledge of their own nation and culture by Liberians could be correlated with their lack of strong nationalism. However, if proposals put forward by Dr. Syrulwa Somah were to be implemented, this lacuna could be a thing of the past in the new Liberia .
Dr. Syrulwa Somah, Executive Director of Liberian History, Education and Development, Inc. (LIHEDE), in a set of proposals submitted on March, 29, 2005 in Monrovia to those responsible for the educational system in Liberia, calls for what he calls the creation of disciplines that would give Liberians a deep understanding of their nation state, instill a sense of identity that goes beyond primal identities based on tribal or ethnic belonging and lead to a better understanding amongst the people and future leaders. “It is education that can remove all forms of hatred, racism, tribalism, sectionalism, fear, disease, poverty and self-destruction.”
The violence that accompanied the recent Liberian war could be likened to what Frantz Fanon called the self-hatred victims of servitude – and colonialism – feel towards their kinsmen, because every kinsman reminds the victim of his/her own persona, which he has been trained to despise. The western mode of schooling has encouraged what could be termed as a disdain for Liberian languages and culture and this has created hatred for Liberians. “If we despise the language of a people then by that very token we despise that people. If we are ashamed of our own language then we must certainly lack that minimum of self-respect, which is necessary for the healthy functioning of society.”
To create a new Liberia where patriotism and self-love would be instilled in future generations, there must be in place in new system to educate future generations. For the past 157 years, Liberians have all but reneged on their own cultural heritage and this has led to a serious shortcoming. Says Dr. Somah: “This self-denial is a transgression beyond measurable proposition, depriving oneself of the richness of one's history not only limits the possibilities and solutions to national problems solving but lack of knowledge of one own worth.”
To resolve this, he proposes a program of Liberian studies, which, in his words, “should be made a part of the curriculum at their highest institutions of learning not only for the benefits of Liberians, but also for the education of non-Liberians who may want to know about the country and its people.”
The program put forth by Dr. Somah would allow students to obtain a Bachelor degree in Liberian Studies, Peace Education, and Military Studies. At the graduate level, the programs call for a Masters Degree in Gender and Peace Building and in Environmental Studies and the whole program would culminate into a doctorate degree in Liberian Studies where students could concentrate in any of the various program. All of these programs deal with areas of weaknesses in Liberian culture.
The proposal of Dr. Somah goes far beyond the mere wish for a Liberian Studies program. Every program is detailed with the content of courses, level of classes and the number of credit for each discipline.
“The primary goal of the Liberian Studies curriculum is to provide students with knowledge on Liberian ethnic groups, their histories, cultures, mores, and seriously educate future leaders and other civil servants to solve their problems as the community of nations continues to tell them to solve their own national and political quagmires. In the past, their educational institutions have not adequately addressed national hiatus for the fact that as a people, they know a little about each other, yet they are citizens of one nation,” writes Dr. Somah who headed a delegation to Liberia and looked at many projects.
Before departing Liberia, Dr. Somah met Dr. Evelyn Kandiaka, Minister of Education Ministry of Education; Dr. Al Hasan Conteh, President University of Liberia; Dr. Henrique Tokpa, President Cuttington University College; Dr. James Oliver Duncan, President United Methodist University; Dr. Levi Zangai, President AME University; Rev. Mulbah Gray, AME Zion University, and Sister Mary Laurent Brown, President Don Bosco University, and officially present the proposed Liberian Studies program.
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Statement On Education at the Baltimore Brainstorming Session
My fellow Liberians:
In my recent book, Nyanyan Gohn-mana: History, Migration, and Government of the Bassa, I said that the role I would like to play in Liberia is that of an educator. So it is no surprise that I find myself being assigned to the panel on education at this meeting, although I had thought that my role here was to see how this meeting would tie into the pending symposium on “Promoting Civil Liberties, Collective Security, and Development in Post-Conflict Liberia” “at NC A&T State University on October 29-30, 2004, organized by my organization, the Liberian History, Education, and Development, Inc. (LIHEDE), and the whole the idea of organizing an ALL-LIBERIAN DIASPORA CONFERENCE. Well, as the saying goes, “be careful about what you prayer for, as you might very well get it.” So here I am talking about the future of education in Liberia , and not about the North Carolina symposium.
Fellow Liberians and friends, many educational scholars and psychologists have argued at length about the human faculty and concluded that what separates the family of man from beast is knowledge. In other words, knowledge is the oxidizers for the development, growth, and evolution of human beings worldwide. But knowledge, in most cases, comes through an organized national educational system and a curriculum that prepare the learner to adequately utilize his or her talents via the attainment of knowledge. Moreover, an organized system of education must train students to not only be statesmen and women, but also how to cultivate societal values such as selflessness, community involvement, nationalism, and spirituality.
The Problem
However, the system of education in Liberia has a great problem. For one of the injustices we have done to ourselves and the system of education in Liberia is completely deprive ourselves about the full knowledge about who we are as a nation and people. The educational system in Liberia deprived Liberians of the richness of Liberian history and culture such that we lack the kind of commonality and togetherness that would challenge us to find solutions to our national problems. As a result, Liberia has been consumed by one conflict after another since its founding in 1822, but especially in the last 15 years. And it seems that we have no common rallying point at which we could resolve our differences because our educational system has not taught us who we are as people, and what we need to do to develop our homeland. Even as we gather here today, the whole future of Liberia is being mortgaged out to outsiders through deforestations and other activities harmful to our environment. But worst still, Liberians seemed so preoccupied with daily living and political power that they careless about who is exploiting the natural and forest resources of Liberia . Everywhere we turn in Liberia , we see corruption, injustice, oppression, and crippling poverty. These are major problems, which, if we want to be sincere about it, we confess without hesitation that most of these problems are western-made. And that is another way of saying that these problems are largely traceable, directly or indirectly, to the foreign-oriented system of education that continued to shape the thinking of people. For instance, we have a system of education that prepare our leaders to sellout to foreign nations and subjugate our people to unnecessary hardships. We have so-called liberators who enforce laws based on injustice; and we have educated men and women who encouraged businesses such as Firestone, LAMCO, LAC, and Bong Mines to exploit our natural resources with impunity. Then we have journalists who lie and promote yellow journalism, sensationalize events, and promote indecencies in society. And, of course, the politicians who never seemed to get their act together out of greed for power and prestige. But, interestingly, these are all “educated people;” and, in many cases "highly" educated Liberians. Wasn't their education designed to prepare them for the roles they are playing in Liberia today? I think so.
For example, when I recently proposed the Liberian Studies Curriculum that LIHEDE is working on, I received many congratulations. However, to my surprise, I received some messages that asked where the graduates of the Liberian Studies Program would work. But the question is being asked because in the minds of many Liberians, the rest of the world has already mapped out for Liberians our understanding of what jobs should be, and so we have decided to follow in their footsteps to achieve their understanding of progress.
And it is equally sad that due to this lack of our lack of knowledge of our culture and ourselves, we have destroyed our Poro and Sande universities, by killing our old people who have irreplaceable knowledge about our commonality. Moreover, we place high premium on other peoples' cultures such that we have not only plunged our nation into wanton death and destruction, but also we still questioning the essence of a pure Liberian studies curriculum at our highest institution of learning. Hence, without a common framework binding all of us, our society cannot continue to exist; it will disintegrate and be absorbed by other societies as we are seeing today in Liberia . If we hope to live together in peace as Liberians, isn't it time that we knew something about the cultures that make up this so-called Land of Liberty ?
How have we helped ourselves by advancing the European agenda by teaching our children to read books like Don and Peggy and Snow White, Huckleberry, Romeo and Juliet, Canterbury Tales; Rip Van Winkle, King Arthur's Round Table and Jonathan Swift on the national level? We barely read about any tribal hero, folktales and legends of our culture? How have Beowulf and Hercules who became our heroes and stories about the Trojan War that saturated our thinking helped us? Make no mistake this kind of education have produced so many graduates, masters, PhD's, and so many professionals --- engineers, doctors, politicians, economists, teachers, priest, etc. in our nation based on the standards in developed countries. But how have knowing or learning more about the Presidents of United States, capital cities of the world, social studies and languages of Western countries rather than Liberian studies build a lasting peace for all of us?
For the most part, the fundamental philosophies of Western-styled education are rooted in cultural supremacy, exploitation, capitalism and winner takes all because moral training is a casualty of such education. We need to redesign the educational system to produce kind of citizenry we need in Liberia who will love, respect and die for the survival of our nation.
The End Results
Liberia is in turmoil today because Liberians do not know their own stories. The Liberian educational curriculum is totally devoid of indigenous culture. And while the western stories I listed earlier that are taught in Liberian schools might be compelling stories in their own rights, they are irrelevant to the Liberian culture and society. And it seems to me that our present predicament lies in the fact that we have proven to be totally unprepared to accept and implement a leadership system based on our own design.
Are we better off now? If our answer is no, may I goad you that we must now be prepared to teach ourselves about ourselves, our history, our spirituality, our identity so that we can become masters of Liberia, not slaves in Liberia. For I am convinced that get to know ourselves better as Liberians, we would begin to have deeper appreciation for one another. But education is the key to unity and development in Liberia , as well as respect for each ethnicity of our nation if we desire a peaceful and productive society.
And this is why a Liberian Studies Program at higher institutions of learning in Liberia ought to be a must in the redesign of the Liberian educational in this upcoming 4th republic of Liberia . I believe now is the time that others develop a respect for us by knowing our history and contributions to the world. The challenge before us, now, at this place in Baltimore , is to move away from the sole purpose of western education, which is the acquisition of wealth and material things rather than cultivation of our citizens.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please permit me to close my brief remarks with the following Recommendations:
• That the system of education in Liberia be redesigned to produce knowledgeable and productive citizens and leaders committed to the development of Liberian society beyond 2005
• That a system of education be developed in Liberia that would empower our students to participate in national, regional, and international math and science fairs.
I should also let you know that in order to sustain ourselves as a sovereign nation after 14 years of armed conflict, we must begin to seriously educate our people and our leaders that no one will develop Liberia but Liberians. For anyone with a sense of imagination can easily see from this civil war that learning about our common identity holds the past, the present, and the future of Liberia together because their ontology places more emphasis on the collective prosperity and survival of the Liberian nation and people.
I thank you.
