Educate Underprivileged Children in Liberia

With great thanks for your contribution, it is wonderful to receive so much from you. Every little bit adds up and eventually with the help of people like you, we will be able to achieve real change. VAAFD family takes great pleasure in saying thank you for your donation. You truly have a generous spirit and one that will help so many. We say thanks to globalgiving and our donors for their support toward our programs. We have just completed this academic year and we are beyond grateful for all of your support.

Carolyn A. Miller High School celebrated a great end of school year on the 16th of June, 2023.  This year-end party was organized by the school administration. It was a time given to students and staff to gather together to review, reflect and have fun. Our students celebrated this day with great zeal and enthusiasm. The makeup of this program was a series of activities. These activities include a kick-ball game, foot-ball games, dancing competition, singing competition and lastly, an intense speech by the principal.

 Abigail, a student of the 8th grade class, thanked the administration and staff for impacting knowledge and being patient with them throughout the school year. She said, “I am experiencing mixed feelings. I am feeling happy because I have successfully come to the end of my 8th grade year and am also sad because I will be separated from my amazing teachers and friends”.

The English teacher, Mr. Major said; “Saying goodbye to the students is so hard. The kids that we teach are precious to us, and our time together was worth it. After spending a whole year working together, it’s difficult to imagine our classrooms without them”.

In the end, the principal, Rev. Gueh, made an intense speech. In his goodbye message, he gave his students some pieces of advice, to be followed throughout their lives. He also made an emotional appeal to his students to keep trying, even when it gets tough. He told them to root out fear and take action towards their goals. Rev. Gueh told his students to carry out good behavior because attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference, and they should also act the way they'd like to be and soon they'll be the way they act. After his encouraging words, there was a time given for pictures.

This academic year couldn’t have been completed successfully without your donations. None of our success would have been possible without generous donors like you. Thank you again for your commitment and kindness.

Faith is a 20 years old young girl who is very confident and passionate about her education. She entered our school in 2020, in the grade10, and now she is a prospective graduate of the Carolyn A. Miller High School and has just completed West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). Faith lives with her single mother Mai in the Police Academy community. She lost her father at an early age and since then; her mother had been her only tower of strength.

Faith has been sick for the past thirteen 13 years, and was diagnosed with meningitis. Meningitis is an infection and inflammation of the fluid and membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. These membranes are called meninges. According to Faith, she was born like a normal child,” I felt sick at the age of 7 seven  after my kindergarten graduation, and l was in a coma  for many months, this condition was a woeful dream I will never forget. My family and friends actually thought that I was dead. Growing up and seeing myself in this condition was actually challenging, there were many days I felt miserable about my existence,” Faith said.  

When VAAFD news spoke with Faith about her career path, Faith said it is her dream to become a “writer and accountant”. She said that she wants to become a writer because she believes her books will inspire many people, especially children with disabilities and also incline parents who are faced with societal challenges due to their children's health problems, to give their kids’ education rather than giving up on their dreams. She said that she believes that children with disabilities also need to contribute to their society, they too are future leaders, they too have rights to express themselves and they too are change makers.

She is currently writing a poem titled “Give Me Education”. She said that what motivated her to write this poem was the fact that her single mother never gave up on her education. Her mother is giving her education despite her current condition. Faith said; she is beyond grateful for reaching this level and now seeing herself at this stage of her life brings her hope to reach for the sky. In her poem, she talked about uniting the nation, transforming the youth, elevating the nation and so on. She said that; she is very grateful to the Carolyn A. Miller High School family for the love that was shown to her over the past years and also for making learning very easy and fun.

Faith is a girl with so many big dreams and it’s our prayer to see her dreams becoming a reality. When I had a conversation with her, I was really amazed to hear this young girl with this condition talking with so much hope of making a difference in her nation and the world at large.

Our 6^th, 9^th and 12^th graders have just completed the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE); we say thanks so much for being there for them. Our students were very happy to complete this year’s  WASSCE and it is our prayer that they make a successful pass. We too want to use this opportunity to thank the GlobalGiving Team and all of our support  and donors for their numerous support they continue to give the children of Liberia and the world.

Thanks so much!