Salayea District, Lofa County – Former Defense Minister Brownie J. Samukai has pledged to fully underwrite the costs of any of the graduates of the Lutheran Church-run Lutheran Training Institute (LTI) in Salayea, Lofa County, who have the ambition of going to medical school after their graduation.
Report by Selma Lomax, [email protected]
According to the former Minister of National Defense, Lofa County which he hails from is experiencing a drought in medical doctors and so, it is important that students take advantage of the opportunity to come back to the county to serve.
“I am prepared to pay the tuition of anyone willing to do nursing or related study,” he assured.
The scholarship will only be given to students who are willing to return to Lofa to serve upon graduation.
Mr. Samukai spoke Thursday, August 23rd, when he served as keynote speaker during the graduation ceremony of the Lutheran Training Institute in Salayea, Lofa County.
He used the occasion to challenge Liberian youths on the need to change their orientation and make themselves changed agents for the Liberia of their dreams.
“Young people need to change their mindset and altitude if they want to be agents of change,” Samukai said.
The former Defense Minister urged Liberian youths, including the graduating students, to continuously seek knowledge and develop analytical minds in addition to self-discipline.
Mr. Samukai, who served as Defense Minister for 12 years under former President Sirleaf, admonished young people to rediscover themselves in order to be of great benefit to the society.
“I want to admonish you to explore your mind, discover yourself and then give the best that is in you to your age and the world,” he added quoting Wilfred Peterson, an American author.
He charged the young people in Liberia to quit whining and urged them to always think deeply and come up with solutions to situations that anger them instead of complaining.
“If someone angers you so much, instead of complaining, you need to think hard about the possible solutions and to do something about it. Anger itself is not a strategy,” he told them.
The former Defense Minister hopes that the efforts he has embarked upon will go a long way in creating a new Liberia where dreams come true – a country where every citizen regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, religion and physical ability, health status, economic circumstances or any other social markers will have opportunities and enabling environment to achieve to achieve their God-given purpose in life,” he said.