Monrovia – Over a hundred students from nine schools in Monrovia and its environs were privileged to watch the world’s most trending movie – Black Panther for free on Tuesday at the Silverbird Cinema in Monrovia.
Report by J.H. Webster Clayeh, [email protected]
This rare opportunity was made possible by Patrick Burrowes, a Liberian professor who had been based in the United States over the years.
This gesture, he said, was intended to motivate students through the movie and help them improve their academic performance.
The movie followed conversations between Mr. Burrowes and the students, basically on their understanding and lessons learned from the movie.
From the interaction, it became quite clear that most of the students were intrigued by the level of technology, creativity and eye-catching scenes wrapped in one package. For many of them, it was mind blowing – indeed, it was the first time for of these students to watch a movie in a cinema.
Speaking on what he takes home from the movie, Jackson Z. Jallah, a student from the Cathedral Catholic School said, “We Africans are creative but we fail to show it to the outside world. The technology used in the movie was also good.”
Esther Juwoe, student of BW Harris High School said: “The people in the village have love and understanding for each other. They achieved together in the town because they were able to set aside their differences.”
For Fatumata Jalloh, Black Panther teaches her that Liberia can be self-reliant if citizens and leaders work patriotically to ensure that national resources are used for the benefits of the people.
“The people have love for their town and at the same time have love for their king,” she added.
In a conversation with FrontPage Africa Burrowes said when he came to Liberia late last year, he was approached by some college students in Liberia told him that they had a mentoring program for high school students from six schools who were about write their WAEC exams.
Prof. Burrowes said he was impressed with the interaction he had with the 12th graders after delivering a motivational speech to them.
“I was very impressed with the kids, to see the responses they were giving and I posted the pictures on Facebook. So, friends of mine in the States who saw the pictures reached out to me and said that we are very encouraged to see these kids preparing for their exam.
“And you know a lot of Liberians have felt bad that our kids had not been performing at the WEAC exams. So my friends in the US said ‘maybe we can do some to motivate them.’ So, that is how they were able to pay for the cinema.”