Monrovia – Todee-Five year old Romeo Stewart displayed his set of uniform donated by Herriot Wallace Clan with pride. A student of the Bono Kanem Public School in Todee District, Monsterrado County, the toddler, like many other students, have no uniform to wear to school and is probably his first.
Herriot Wallace Clan is an organization based in Scotland and headed by Gambian-born British lawyer, Fatmatta Binta Jallow. The organization is being supported by Poverty Alleviation Children Education Liberia (PACELIB UK).
Stewart and many students in the town of Bono Kanem attend a school built of mud which seems like a matchbox.
Schooled in Liberia and Sierra-Leone, Fatmatta’s visit to Liberia in 2014 saw the organization gaining a foothold in Liberia. However, the Scottish soon fled the country following the outbreak of Ebola. When the virus ceased and the country returned to normalcy, she was back at it.
A brief illness and subsequent hospitalization of Fatmatta at the Kingdom Care Medical Center in Duport Road and by a strange twist of fate, led her to meet Dr. Martha Zarway, Medical Director of the health center.
“I was sick and everyone around the world kept calling Dr. Zarway to make sure I was okay. She was concerned about the identity about the patient that everyone was calling about so she came to see the one who had her receiving the incessant calls,” said the CEO of Herriot Wallace Clan.
A discussion with the barrister and the doctor led the Heriot Wallace CEO to the town of Bono Kanem in Todee as the doctor had explained that on her way to her farm every weekend, she sees kids who need help.
Paying a visit to the town, Fatmatta and her team saw needy children and parents and their hearts were immediately overwhelmed and decided to do something.
“We contacted our partner PACELIB UK who also contacted donors for us to see what could be done for these children. We saw that they didn’t have uniforms and were wearing tattered and untidy ones to school.
A donation from the Peters family from Saltire Hospitality saw Romeo Stewart and many students smiling on the weekend when they received a brand new set of uniform for the school.
As the students received their uniforms, the Herriot Wallace CEO announced plans to build a high school in the town, replacing the mud structure the students are taught in.
Jallow called on the parents to ensure that their kids wear the new uniforms in the incoming academic year. She promised the donations of copybooks, pencil etc before the school opens in September.
According to her, a container has arrived in Liberia with some materials needed to build the school. She said furniture has been donated by the Burns Family of Brightgreens for the school that is going to be built. The community has now offered a land for the school to be built.
For her part, Dr. Martha Zarway, said the donation by the Herriot Wallace Clan is a dream come true. She said the organization is in the town to help the children. “I see a lot of potential in these children—lawyers, doctors. Don’t take what you have received here for granted. Be supportive to your children—don’t leave it to the principal and children.
For Romeo Stewart and his friends, the visit by the Herriot Wallace Clan means Santa in a bit too early as it would have meant another school year with tattered clothes in a mud structure.
Gboko Stewart, [email protected]