Monrovia – An American based non-governmental organization; Cross Cultural Care (C3) has awarded scholarship to 21 students hailing from Grand Cape Mount at various universities in Monrovia and its surroundings.
Report by Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [email protected]
According to the founder and president of C3, Dr. Robert Montana, the gesture is his way of contributing towards addressing the gaps in the health and education sectors of Grand Cape County and Liberia at large.
The scholarship is awarded to the students to study various healthcare and education disciplines with an agreement to return to Grand Cape Mount County and work in the health and education sectors.
Dr. Montana, accompanied by his wife, Theresa Montana are currently in Liberia to review the program and interact with the beneficiaries.
Speaking to a team of reporters at a local hotel on Saturday, October 20, Dr. Montana explained that the initiative stemmed out of his experience while serving as a medical volunteer at the St. Timothy Government Hospital in Robertsport during the Ebola crisis.
He explained that there was a limited number of local health practitioners working with their foreign counterparts, and of these local health workers, not many was from Grand Cape Mount.
That is how, he said, his organization which was involved with training and building the capacity of health workers transitioned to the scholarship program.
“If you talk to anyone around the world on how to improve a community, they will tell you that it all begins with education,” he said.
“So, even though I am not an expert in education, and I have never created a scholarship before, we knew we needed to do more than just to bring experts in the country to teach and train people. And that is how it all started. We engaged the Ministry of Health and with their guidance, we were able to create this wonderful scholarship.”
He narrated that the education aspect was included to train teachers who will go back to the county to teach at the schools.
The support toward education began with leasing of a four-bed room apartment for two Peace Corp volunteers assigned to Grand Cape Mount.
He expressed hope that the six students that are benefiting from the teacher scholarship will also go back into the community and make the public education system stronger and called on the beneficiaries and the media to spread the information so that others from the Grand Cape Mount County can benefit.
When asked about the source of funding, the C3 founder and president revealed that the scholarship is vastly funded by his family with some support coming from private donations, mostly foreign health volunteers including doctors, nurses and physician assistants who once served in Grand Mount County.
Also speaking, Mrs. Montana, who oversees education and training noted that the successful candidates are selected following a competitive vetting process in line with the C3 and the Ministries of Health and Education’s standards.
Meanwhile, on behalf of her fellow beneficiaries, Patricia S. Gray thanked the Montanas for the opportunity afforded them in acquiring tertiary education; describing them as “true liberators and custodians of men’s empowerment in a difficult terrain like Liberia.”
She named lack of access to computer, textbooks and transportation to get to school as some of the constraints they are encountering and called on them to expand the scholarship to cover more students from Grand Cape Mount.
Meanwhile students benefiting from the healthcare scholarship include Melia N. Borbor, candidate of master’s in public health at Cuttington Graduate School, Shadrach Saylee, Cyrus Gbellay, Victor Quannah all BSc candidates in Nursing at the United Methodist University (UMU) and Korlu Kerkula, Bsc, Midwifery,UMU.
Others are Brimah Kromah, Hawa Kromah, Patricia Gray and Bendu Massaquoi pursuing Associate degrees in Nursing at Smythe Institute. Hazel K. Farley, BSc, Medical Laboratory technology, Stanley Sherrif and Perry P. Koffa, BSc Physician Assistant of the Mother Pattern College of Health Sciences.
Anita Zoe Kiadii, BSc, Adventist University, Gertrude Fokpah, BSc in Nursing at Cuttington University and Hamitta M. Dennis, BSc in Environmental Science at Stella Maris Polytechnic.
Students benefiting from the teacher’s scholarship include Taywah E. Kundu, BSc, Secondary Education at CU, Mechach Koley, Secondary Education, African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU), while Irene Paye, Abraham Sayoun and Emmanuel Teah are vying for BSc in Secondary Education at the University of Liberia.
Dr. Montana is a Medical Doctor with a vast experience in emergency relief work, especially in disaster areas and war zones across the the globe.
He addition n to his service in Liberia during the Ebola, he has worked in Haiti during the devasting earthquake and volatile areas such as Syria and the Gaza Strip.