Support Liberian Adult Education

Welcome to the 2nd Project update for our fundraiser, "Support Liberian Education." Thank you for joining us, and if not, there is always the future. This program has existed in one form or another since the late 90's and is going nowhere. That means you have many opportunities to contribute, even if it only means sharing our project with your social media following, friends, and others. Every little bit helps, and our students, staff, and volunteers thank you!

Despite Liberia's reputation as being one of the African countries most closely resembling America before the war, because of its history and link to formerly enslaved people, the civil unrest, which lasted many years, set the country back decades even though it ended long ago. Liberia has never recovered!  As an agency on the ground throughout the war to the present, we are well aware of the issues the Liberian people still face and  as a result and choose to do something about it; this is accomplished with this project (Adult Education) as well as our Child & Maternal Healthcare Facility. 

In our eyes, lack of healthcare and nonexistent or low literacy levels were the most pressing issues faced by the Liberian people, and Imani House has stepped up to help and has done so for the past 30+ years. 

While our project serves anyone in need of assistance, it primarily focuses on educating Liberian women and girls who have a higher illiteracy rate than their male counterparts. Many of the women who contribute to Liberia's economy (by selling foodstuff and wares in markets and other places) are the segment of the population with the least education; this is because many have been trading since they were very young, with girls entering the field at 7-10 years old.

That means they had little time to learn anything other than how to count money to assist them in running their businesses, but taking time away from selling to go to school would cause suffering for their families. In a country with extremely high poverty levels, making an income takes priority over education.

Imagine selling in the market from the age of 7, and that's all you have known or done from then to adulthood. You can't read signs to find directions, open a bank account, assist children with homework, or do any of the beautiful things we can do in developed nations and take for granted.

Many of the women want to learn and crave education, especially since the period when Liberia's President was Ellen Johnson. She gave the women so much more to aspire to, and in the eyes of the people, education was vital. 

 With your assistance, Imani House has:

*continued to offer this essential service at locations in Monrovia

*outreach at markets and other areas to speak to the women about the importance of education and recruit students. In the past, we had sites in 2 Monrovia marketplaces, and now, all of our sites are very close to the market areas. This was on purpose because, during our outreach, we found being closer would allow the women to still carry on commerce with not much time lost traveling to and from class.

*worked closely with students to learn their possible barriers to education and work with them if situations arose to keep them from attending

*offered classes in the evening and nighttime to allow women to come after selling in the market.

The benefits of this program are immeasurable, and with your assistance, we can go even further. Please consider Imani House and those we serve. Thank you.

Bisi Ideraaabdullah

Executive Director