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| Detroit delegation visits Liberia |
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Liberian
Liberian literacy a priority
Student's goal is for colleges to join cause
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Karen Bouffard / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Victor Helb was just 12 years old when his parents put him on a plane from war-torn Liberia so he could seek refuge with an uncle who lived in Waterford.
Now 32 and a student at Wayne State University, Helb hopes to restore literacy in Liberia, where millions of children missed out on an education during the country's 14 years of civil unrest -- and his plan has captured the support of university officials and the Liberian government.
The goal is to get 1,200 U.S. colleges to provide a scholarship for a Liberian college student -- and at the same time get students on those campuses to donate their used text books to raise money to launch literacy centers across Liberia. Each college will also be asked to recruit one volunteer reading tutor to go to Liberia.
To show it can be done, Wayne State University became the first to provide such a scholarship -- for Moriah Yeakula, 19, who was granted four years of tuition and a job to help cover living expenses. Student organizations also raised $4,500 in a used-text book drive last spring. Helb has been trained to be a reading tutor, and stands ready to become the project's first tutor volunteer.
Helb wants participating colleges to commit to at least four years of tuition for a Liberian student; money from book sales will help with costs for room, board and transportation from Liberia.
"It's very contagious when people hear about it, and ... it's a doable plan," said Linda Seatts, director of the WSU Office of International Students and Scholars, and the faculty advisor for the project. "It's very gratifying to see something of this magnitude being done by a collaborative effort."
The West African nation was founded by freed American slaves in 1822, a minority that became the nation's ruling elite. But the government was overthrown in a civil war that broke out in 1989, and stability didn't return to the country until 2003.
Clinics, hospitals, schools and roads were destroyed or badly deteriorated during the chaos. Yeakula and her family, who lived in the capital city of Monrovia, were forced to flee their home for four months at one point and take refuge inside a Firestone rubber plantation in the countryside.
"When we returned, there were holes in the roof and the walls where the bullets had fallen," Yeakula said.
Yeakula was able to complete high school at a private school in Monrovia, but access to schools is limited for children in the country, Yeakula said. Both private and government-run schools charge tuition, she added. Especially during the war, many families didn't have the money to send their children to school.
When stability was restored, Helb returned to Liberia and was appalled at what had become of the nation's education system.
"Students at the university had no books and had to study by candle light with only copies of materials," Helb said. "At the end of this road trip I figured there had to be a way we could help."
Back home in Detroit, he created the Liberian Literacy Foundation, and with help from Seatts and others at Wayne State, launched the Liberian Book Project.
A delegation that included Wayne State University officials, a Liberian embassy dignitary and Detroit literacy experts traveled to Liberia in January to assess needs and devise their strategy for implementing the project.
The group, which included Helb, Yeakula and Seatts, met with Liberian education ministers and accompanied Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to the "hinterland" outside the capital city of Monrovia for the opening of a newly renovated school.
"The government likes the project," said Edwin Sele, deputy ambassador of Liberia to the United States, who accompanied the delegation. "The potential for it is very, very great.
"There are people today at the age of 20 who never sat in a classroom because the war took so long," Sele added. "We're talking about nearly 75 percent of the country who can barely read and write.
Helb formed a partnership with Pro-Literacy Detroit, a nonprofit that provides free reading help and trains volunteer literacy tutors. Pro-Literacy Detroit has agreed to provide technical support for the project and to train tutors to go to Liberia.
Helb hopes to launch a nationwide tour this spring to recruit universities to participate in the Liberian Book Project.
Yeakula, who is earning a degree in economics at Wayne State, said she plans to return to Liberia after she graduates. She wants to use her education to help rebuild the country. And she hopes to volunteer at one of the literacy centers she believes will be funded by the Liberian Book Project.
"(Liberia) is changing, but it's a very slow upward movement," Yeakula said. "We need it to move faster. We need every child to have access to a great educational experience."
You can reach Karen Bouffard at (734) 462-2206 or kbouffard@detnews.com.
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