Lewis Community, JJY Monrovia, Liberia
West Africa
Websites: http://www.users.on.net/rmc/youthempowerment.html or http://www.centerforyouthempowerment.org. email: liberiarefugeeyouths@yahoo.com or empoweryouths@yahoo.com Tel: +231 6 46 46
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THE CENTER FOR YOUTH EMPOWERMENT |
An Overview of Current Activities In
Liberia
We would like to
give you an overview about our current programs and activities and the
development of the Center for Youth Empowerment in the Gardnersville Community,
suburbs of
We are really
happy to inform you that we were able to reactivate most of the activities that
we were running in the Buduburam Refugee Camp in
Besides the CYE
elementary School which was the main functional activity since our arrival in
Under the Umbrella of the
Peace Department:
Presently Peace
Education is taught in three schools including the
Peace and reconciliation workshops are
still intermittent due to the lack of substantial funding.
Under the Umbrella of the
Women Empowerment Department:
Sewing
Club
Adult literacy
program especially for the older women
The Adult Literacy Program
The Adult
Literacy Program is established for interested women of the community, from
Monday to Friday in the afternoon on the CYE School
Campus.
According to the
needs of these women we are planning to give them a small introduction to ABC
and numbers so as to be able to do measurement for their client after their
completion of the sewing school.
The CYE Sewing Club
For another
development, we have established CYE Sewing Club on the campus of the CYE
elementary school. The CYE Sewing club is an organized group especially women of
not less than five and not more than seven persons to be in one sewing club.
Depending on our own capacity with regard to support and availability of funds
we can organize as many sewing clubs as possible. The aims and objectives of the
CYE sewing club are:
The
Currently the
sewing school has one teacher with 10 students undergoing a three months
theoretical training to be followed by three months practical training and
additional three months advance courses. This makes the total of 9 months
duration for one training cycle of the sewing school. Of course this depends on
the availability of funding to pay teachers and purchase
materials.
The Center has 18 manual or hands machines and 4 embroidery machines
brought from
After the
vocational training they will be in the position to work for the sustenance of
their families. We will provide them opportunity to join the Sewing Club and
start working as professional tailors.
From our
observation and experience some of these women are illiterate. For them we will
provide ABC trainings to learn the basics in spelling, writing and reading. At
least we are going to make sure that they have all the necessary skills to work
as professional tailors.
For these women
it will be a unique possibility to experience to learn in a dignified
surrounding and atmosphere not just for becoming professional tailors, but also
for their personal growth and benefit and for learning other useful life skills.
We are
encouraging them to take part in our Peace Activities and as mentioned before,
in our Sewing Club for internship during their training and after graduation as
professional working member. Thanks to Linda Ebers, an international volunteer
from
The
In accordance
with the calendar of the Liberian school year, the CYE elementary school is to
be closed not later than 30th, June, 2011 for a normal vacation of
two months. Currently the school has an enrollment of 205 students after a total
drop of 50 students.
This is due to
numerous factors, ranging from “change of communities”, to “inability to attempt
payment of the little fee charged”.
With a total
staff of twelve – ten teachers, one janitor and one security, the institution is
strangulated with arears of monthly
stipend for school staff. Except for the regular scholarship fees payment of an
Australian Humanitarian, Dick Clifford for 22 kids and 25 kids by a German
Humanitarian Ingrid Shittich, we certainly got no means of paying the school
staff the already little stipend or
attracting more qualified teachers.
INTERNATIONL VOLUNTEER
Current
Categories of students of the
Scholarship
Students (Most vulnerable kids)
47
Students that
paid full arears
17
Student that
paid some arrears
53
Vulnerable kids
(unable to pay)
88
We also
acknowledged with appreciation to Ghana Wisdom Foundation for their donation in
early 2009 towards the construction of 70 arm chairs for the CYE elementary
School.
The CYE International Volunteer
Service
We have also
re-opened our international volunteer program. In April last year we had one international volunteer from
C O N S T R A I N T S
The sewing
school.
The
We are also
faced with the issue of purchasing stands for the hand machines. The hand
machines are outdated and we must attach the foot stand to them to meet our
students’demand.
The sewing
club
Regular
customers being the only means of sustenance for the CYE Sewing Club, the CYE
school campus is not ideal for this program. The school campus where they are
currently operating is situated in a poor community which is not ideal for such
activities; therefore making it difficult to attract customers to generate
income for sustenance.
These women are willing to work in a team
and are enthusiastic about this, in fact this is their own project, but a venue
in a more populated area is highly recommended.
We believe that
the Club will be benefited by being settled in another area.
We hope that we
can realize the relocation of the Sewing Club to another place as soon as
fundings are possible.
Peace and Reconciliation
Department
The Peace and
Reconciliation Department being the bed-rock of the Center for Youth Empowerment
will hardly deliver to the expectation of the people with just two volunteers.
Most of the trained peace workers of CYE from
The
The issue of the
vulnerable kids makes it very difficult for CYE to realize her total local
revenue from the operation of the school thereby making it automatically tedious
for the payment of teachers, purchase of school materials and other operational
cost.
The major greatest threat is
the approaching expiration of the three years lease payment on the CYE school
building that contains all of the CYE activities. The time of expiration is
early September, 2011. The issue of vulnerable kids and the low
fees charged makes it quite impossible for CYE to generate sufficient fund from
the income of the school to update payment. In fact the yearly revenue of the
school is not even sufficient for the payment of teachers, not to mention lease
update.
R E C O M M E N D A T I O N
S
We are very
pleased to appeal through you to any charitable organization, philanthropist and
some individuals of good will to come to our aid in the realization of the below
listed in the cause to serve humanity
Once again, thanks for your interest,
your support and your Steady commitment to serving and supporting humanity’s
least priviliged.
The CYE Team
sends you warmest regards and wishes you great health.
Note: For technical reasons photos have been ommited from this report. We hope this will be rectified soon.
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