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"Our Town": News Makers Fostering Community Development and a Better Quality of Life
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Community Development
Senator Ballout Wants Liberia Study Kenya's Agro Sector
Written by Moses Wenyou
Monday, 19 November 2007
From Star Radio Online News
Maryland County Senator John Ballout says Liberia can learn enough lessons from Kenya’s agriculture sector.
Senator Ballout described the Kenyan agricultural program as aggressive and ambitious.
He said every consumable product on the Kenyan market is produce locally.
Senator Ballout believed that Liberia could not move forward if it continues to import everything on the market.
He told Star Radio Liberian farmers need to be empowered to return to the soil and grow more food.
Senator Ballout spoke after he returned from Kenya at the head of a four man inter-governmental team.
The team spent two weeks in Kenya to conduct a population study ahead of next year’s demographic and housing census.
According to Senator Ballout, Kenya was recommended for the UNFPA sponsored study because the country has made significant progress in its population studies and implementation.
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| Maryland County Reunion
Maryland County Reunion Activity Committee
2 Maryland Avenue
Harper City, Maryland County
Maryland County Reunion Event
November 29, 2007
Harper City, Maryland County
Statement of Purpose
Marylanders of all walk of Liberian life will gather in Maryland County , Republic of Liberia , on November 29, 2007. The purpose of the occasion is three-fold: 1st, to celebrate the birth anniversary of a late son of Maryland and President of the Republic of Liberia, William V. S. Tubman, who left an indelible mark on the nation’s history, 2nd, to regenerate and rekindle a spirit of unity and solidarity amongst Marylanders by strengthening working relations between leaders and citizens and 3rd, enhance peacebuilding and then help to identify ways and means for County development.
We all know 1989 marked the beginning of a generalized anarchy of violence in Liberia .
The aftermath of such violence has continued to have a negative impact on Maryland in the form of misunderstanding among citizens and leaders. Even though there’s an increasing opposition to violence, yet war, being an idea, like dueling or slavery, over time has become embedded in the behavior of others. The appeal and legitimacy of war in the country are now in profound decline. But until leaders of the nation offer better alternatives - better quality of life, expansion of democracy, development of appropriate norms and institutions - warfare will still persists in the form of domestic conflicts as a consequence of inadequate governments. So the best way out will be the improvement in state’s policing efficiency and effectiveness to deal with “residual warfare.”
This realization abounds among Marylanders, thus the birth of a Reunion Committee to encourage Marylanders to return Home every November 29. This is because misunderstanding has considerably affected the Local and Legislative leadership’s ability to smoothly lead a postwar reconstruction effort in the County.
This spiral of misunderstanding and conflict needs to be replaced with a spiral of peace, unity, mutual understanding and cooperation in order to create an environment conducive to self-sustaining and durable peace. The approach to helping resolve these misunderstandings by the November 29 Reunion Activity will rest on three central dimensions: addressing the underlying causes of conflict and misunderstanding, repairing damaged relationships and dealing with issues of infrastructure and human resource development. Each of these must rely on different strategies and techniques towards peacebuilding – one that will consist of a wide range of activities associated with capacity-building, reconciliation, unity and societal transformation.
The Reunion Committee, in this respect, is quite aware that peacebuilding is crucial to future violence prevention and the promotion of a more peaceful and tolerant future of Maryland . Thus, it will involve articulating desirable structural, systemic, and relationship goals that might include sustainable economic development, self-sufficiency, equitable social structures that will meet human needs, and building positive relationships.
These measures will be required to prevent conflict from reemerging by creating mechanisms that will enhance cooperation and dialogue among different groups for them to manage their conflicts through peaceful means. It will also include discussion to build institutions that will provide procedures and mechanisms for effectively handling and resolving conflict. One example is the building of fair courts, capacities for labor negotiation, systems of civil society reconciliation, and a stable electoral process.
The Reunion activity will encourage a united and strong executive, legislative, and judicial institution. It will encourage democratization as a key way to creating the right sort of peace-enhancing structures, because democratization seeks to establish legitimate and stable political institutions and civil liberties that will allow meaningful competition for political power and broad participation in the selection of leaders and policies. That being the case, it will encourage the importance of Leaders adhering to principles of transparency and predictability, and for laws to be adopted through an open and public process. Post-conflict peacebuilding in Maryland and the democratization process will all form part of a comprehensive project to rebuilding those institutions.
Thus, the November 29 County Reunion Event will help galvanize the Youth and close the gap between them and our Seniors; it will encourage all Marylanders to reunite their efforts, resources, education and link them with the peacebuilding process in order to move Maryland County once more into her inheritance and into the 21st Century of community development!
republic of liberia
m i n i s t r y of i n t e r n a l a f f a i r s
Harper, Maryland county
office of the superintendent
To: Committee
FROM: The Office of the County Superintendent, Maryland County
Ignatius Sie-Teba Neufville
SUBJECT: APPOINTMENT OF A MARYLAND COUNTY REUNION COMMITTEE,
DATE: October 31, 2007
In commemoration of the 112th Anniversary of the late President William V. S. Tubman, we deem it necessary to plan and implement Reunion Program and activities thereby bringing all Marylanders and their sympathizers together in the County on November 29, 2007. For these activities to be well-planned and coordinated, a Maryland County Reunion Committee has been constituted.
Because of your wisdom in these kinds of undertaking, you have been appointed to serve on said committee with immediate effect. Below is the membership of the Committee:
Ø Rt. Rev. B. Nyema Dalieh…………………………….Chair
Ø Hon. Regina W. Sampson…………………………….Co-chair
Ø Mr. Thomas G. Bedell…………………………………Secretary
Ø Hon. Standford Sieh…………………………………...Member
Ø Mr. G. Nyema Wisner (LMA)…………………………Member
Ø Mr. Daniel S. Wilson (Interest group)……………….Member
Ø Mr. Thomas Seebo (Traditional)……………………..Member
Accept our congratulations for your preferment.
Signed: Ignatius Sie-Teba Neufville
County Superintendent
Maryland County , Republic of Liberia
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Education
Maryland Association in U.S. Donates Generator to High School
Written by Arthur Douglas
Friday, 02 January 2009
From Star Radio Online News
The National Maryland County Association of Liberia in the United States has donated a 6.5 KVA generator to the Pleebo High School in Maryland County.
According to our correspondent, the cost of the generator is put at one thousand-two hundred United States dollars.
The President of the association, Eric Giko said the donation was in response to earlier request made by the school for the operation of its computer department.
Mr. Giko said the association is committed to helping in ensuring that the young people in the county become computer literate.
For his part, the Principal of the Pleebo High School, Charles Davis commended the association for the gesture, which he said would bring relief to the institution.
Mr. Davis further named the lack of sufficient seats, library and laboratory as some of the impediments to the learning process at the school.
CRC Offers Vacation Jobs for Students in Maryland
Written by Arthur Douglas
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
From Star Radio Online News
The Cavalla Rubber Corporation in Pleebo District, Maryland County has offered more than one thousand vacation jobs to students in the county.
CRC’s General Manager John Barkemeni told Star Radio the vacation jobs are intended to assist students prepare themselves for the next academic year.
He said the decision to help the students came about when thousands of them were noticed loitering all day in search of jobs.
According to Mr. Barkemeni, the jobs which are for about two months will earn the students some dollars.
The General Manager stated his company is also planning some scholarship programs to the hundreds of high school graduates in the county.
For his part the county’s Senior Labor Inspector commended CRC for the kind gesture.
Mr. Kojo Wilson said the students will be assigned in government offices and communities to clean-up and give the county a face lift for the July 26 Celebration.
Rep. Chambers Stresses Need for Building Schools in Maryland to Accommodate Returnees
Written by Olivia Swen
Friday, 15 February 2008
From Star Radio Online News
A Representative of Maryland County says government needs to build more schools in the county to accommodate new students from the Diaspora.
Rep. Bhofa Chambers said there are limited school buildings in the county where thousands of people have begun returning from refugee camps.
He said Pleebo-Sodoken District is densely populated with over a hundred thousand and most of the young returnees are yearning to attain education.
According to Rep. Chambers, education is a right and that government must ensure that the anxious ones get the opportunity to learn.
Rep. Chambers told Star Radio he has two hundred thirty nine students on scholarship both in Maryland and in Monrovia.
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Health & Social Welfare
Sight Savers International Takes Eye Care to Maryland
Written by Arthur Douglas
Wednesday, 04 June 2008
From Star Radio Online News
A four-man team from Sight Savers International and the Health Ministry has ended a three day assessment visit to Harper, Maryland County.
During the visit, the team held series of meetings with the County Education Officer, the UN contingent in the county and other partners.
The SSI Head of Program Funding, Ben Hofnigger said the visit was to finalize plans with partners for a twelve months eye care services program for locals.
Mr. Hofnigger said the program is been funded by Irish Aid in the tone of two hundred thousand United States dollars.
Also, the Country Representative of SSI said going to southeast is to make eye care assessable to the most needy and that the region has been underserved in terms of health care.
Madam Verda Tarpeh said SSI is working closely with the Health Ministry to provide health and education in the region.
Sight Savers International is the main partner of the Ministry of Health in the area of river blindness program and has been in the southeast since 2001.
MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR HIV/AIDS DEAD
November 2007
On November 15, 2007, over 500 persons including students, local authorities, the clergy and ordinary residents of Maryland County assembled at the St. Theresa’s Cathedral in Harper, Maryland County to celebrate a special memory service for dead victims of HIV/AIDS in Maryland.
The Memorial Mass, the first of its kind in Liberia was one of many activities held to highlight the issue of HIV/AIDS in the County. According to the Chief Organizer of the program, Head Matron of J. J. Dossen Hospital and Counselor of the Voluntary Testing and Counseling Center in Harper, Ms. Coral Doryen, 951 persons were tested for HIV/AIDs in Harper and Pleebo. She disclosed that of that number, 135 were tested positive, 107 in Harper and 21 in Pleebo. Thirteen persons have already died of the virus.
Partial view of congregation during HIV/AIDS Memorial Service, 11/15/07
Ms. Doryen attributed the high increase in the rate of infection to a combination of factors including ignorance, denial and lack of education. She stressed that stigma and discrimination of the disease and its victims and survivors are key challenges that are making it difficult in disseminating messages of awareness and sensitization. According to Ms. Doryen, public misconception which associates the disease and its victims with promiscuity and death are untrue. She said HIV/AIS patients can live positively. She called on Marylanders to take advantage of the Voluntary Testing and Counseling Facilities in Harper and Pleebo to know their HIV/AIDS status.
Female students attentively listening during memorial service
In a related development, “A Beauty Pageant was held in Harper to raise awareness and erase the negative perception that young girls are the carrier of the virus. The Pageant which was held under the theme “ Stop HIV/AIDS Stigma and Discrimination” brought together over 2,000 persons at the Harper City Hall. Three Queens represented the 3 districts of Maryland contested. The contest was won by Ms. Vesta Satia of Pleebo/Sodoken District.
Story compiled by:
Sebastian Toe and Arthur Douglas
Harper, Maryland County |
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