Buchanan, Grand Bassa County – Over 100 school-going children at the Advent Christian Primary School in Kpandy Town, outside Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, have benefited from a donation of book bags and copybooks from a group call Local Initiative.
The bags and books were distributed to the kids Friday, October 20, 2017, on the school campus.
Mark Thompson, chief executive officer of Local Initiative, said his group believes in helping the needed.
“The bags and books are meant to augment what the kids already have,” Thompson further stated; adding: “Whenever we leave Liberia, we go and lobby with friends to help the needed.”
He mentioned that Local Initiative chose Advent Christian Primary School because students there were really in need of the items.
The school is located in a populated underprivileged community in Kpandy Town, outside Buchanan.
The school’s proprietor, Du-Ben Cleon, said they started the school as a study class for kids between ages four to eight as means of keeping them up.
Cleon further stated that there was no school for the bigger boys and girls in the community so he decided to turn the study class into a community school due to the huge number of children he had attending the study class.
“I opened this school this year. I have over 250 students but there is no money to keep teachers in the school; we are all volunteering,” Cleon added.
“We have not even found a uniform for the kids to use. Parents are really sending their children,” he stated.
He was very grateful for the bags and copybooks as they will help most of the students because their parents cannot even afford to buy copybooks for their kids.
“Sometimes I can use my own money to get copybooks for these students but thank God for Local Initiative’s intervention,” Cleon added.
A member of the community, Marpue Kpue, happily thanked Local Initiative for helping their children.
“For me, I have no money to buy bags and copy books for my children. Thank God for this group that has come to help our children,” Ms. Kpue, a parent, said.
Another community member, Joseph Jimmy, expressed his joy to Local Initiative for the gesture.
Report by Elton Wroinbee Tiah, FPA Contributor