Harbel, Margibi County – Attracting high school students, especially females, to college education is a herculean task Harbel College (Harcol) in Firestone, Margibi County has embarked on.

“Our desire is to make a hub of sports to produce men and women that will go on and graduate from here and they can play for the Lone Star of Liberia or even play in the county meet.”

“Our desire is one day we will turn on the TV – we want to see men and women from Harbel College…, we are willing to hold on to that dream. It is not a crime to dream big for your nation, and that [is] what we are doing here” – Dr. Syrulwa Somah, President, Harbel College

The college launched its sports academy on Saturday, February 11 for both male and female students with the optimism of attracting more students in the next couple of years.

Speaking at the inauguration of the sports academy, Liberia’s Youth and Sports Minister, Saah Charles N’Tow, said the vision to initiate the project is unique and has been a project he, too, had desired since he started working in government.

“This is a vision that sees sports as an opportunistic conduit for the development of young people,” said the Youth and Sports Minister, adding that sports can help or attract young people to education.

Hailing the college for its steadfastness and commitment to educating Liberia’s youthful population, he emphasized the importance of motivating the youth.

“We should try to give young people what they want, in order for us to be able to encourage them do what they want to do,” N’Tow said.

Stressing the vital role sports play as a unifier, and how it has helped eased tension and conflict amongst Liberians during the country’s troubling days, N’Tow expressed optimism for the future of the sports academy.

“This idea is such an important idea, am praying and hoping that no one will kill this dream – that this dream will grow and turn Margibi and Liberia into another space that create players and people who will fly our flag beyond our shores,” he said.

Established in 2012 by the legislature and accredited by the commission on higher education, the college started with a limited budget around US$250,000 but appears to be the “smallest college with the biggest heart”.

The college offers Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, Safety Energy, Renewable Energy, Information Technology, Climate Change, Geography, Environmental Science and Liberian Studies.

Aiming to improving its admission of students and at the same time showing commitment for luring more female students through the sports program, the college uses athleticism as a means of keeping the young people in school.  

With the opening of the academy, which already has almost 30 female players, Harcol President recalled how he and other visionaries were determined to initiate the program years back even though their efforts were shattered.

“What kills good ideas is human being; good idea will never be killed by diseases like malaria, cholera, or HIV. But it is human being who is inclined to kill good ideas,” Dr. Syrulwa Somah told the audience at the launch of the sports academy.

In 2006, Dr. Somah and others lobbied with the Brazilian Embassy in the United States to start a sports academy in the country, but it failed because of ill fitted bottlenecks back in Liberia.

“So when I became President of Harbel College, one of my passions was to make sure that young girls’ attentions are drawn to engineering,” he said, adding that sport is a conduit of attracting young women to technical training and skills in applied science.

“Our desire is to make a hub of sports to produce men and women that will go on and graduate from here and they can play for the Lone Star of Liberia or even play in the county meet,” Dr. Somah said confidently.

“Our desire is one day we will turn on the TV – we want to see men and women from Harbel College…, we are willing to hold on to that dream. It is not a crime to dream big for your nation, and that [is] what we are doing here.”

Harcol sports academy will scout and select students from grade 9^th to 12^th who will then play on the team for up to four years and later stand the chance of enrolling in the college.

The prospect for the sports academy appears to be bright but it will need some help from the community to ensure players/students are motivated to stay in school.

Earlier, the Youth and Sports Minister amplified the role of the community and said they should take ownership, while adding that the program can help galvanize the community into one people and promote the talents of students to the international stage.

“If you give these young people more than the sports, if you prepare them for the future, then football becomes something that will not just be the only thing they depend on but get ready to become engineers tomorrow,” Minister N’Tow said.

He assured that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is committed to promoting such initiative which, he said, was highlighted in her recent address to the nation when she called for the promotion of sports in the country.

Also Speaking at the launch was the Technical Director of the National Football team, Kelvin Sebwe who hailed the initiative by the college”.

“It’s quite laudable.”

Mr. Sebwe, who played professional football for many years in Europe, told the audience that sports and education are important and when the two merged they can yield great results.

He also encouraged the female players by calling on them to strike a balance – playing sports and getting education.

“Do what you can do; do it with commitment and diligence,” he said.

For these students, the sports academy is a means of rejuvenating their desire to continue playing football under a professional stewardship.

Sabella Doue is a 12^th grader of the Firestone High School; she believes playing sports gives her a zest to make her family and Liberia proud.

“I feel soccer is good for me; it’s an exercise that keeps me strong and make me more beautiful,” she said.

“I will like to tell other girls out there that they should be encouraged to join sporting activities. It is good to play sports because it keeps you healthy and make you popular and also promote your chance of going to college here.”

Another female footballer, Naomi Paye, is amazed to see herself playing football.

“Because I had not been playing soccer before, but it’s like a dream for me,” she said, while saying misperception about women playing football doesn’t bother her.

And like Dr. Somah, they are upbeat by the academy as they look to begin more practices in the coming days to improve their skills while keeping an eye on college education at Harcol in the next few years.

Harbel, Margibi County – Lucy Kikeh, 15, is shy when a stranger attempts swaying her into a conversation and would hardly express herself, but she expresses herself better with a football at her feet.

Report by Alpha Daffae Senkpeni, alpha.senkpeni@frontpageafricaonline.com

She has gained fame by dribbling her opponents and scoring some brilliant goals from the wings with her left foot. For two years she played for an all-girls soccer squad in Monrovia.

Lucy has now been scouted to play for Harbel College located on the Firestone plantation in Margibi County. S

he lives two miles outside the plantation and has to be on time for practice every week day at 4:pm.

“I am hoping that once my team enters a league we will win the cup, that’s why I come for practice every day,” she said bashfully with her head bending down.

Lucy says playing football is her ‘trade’, and she is constantly resisting mockery from other lads who think she’s a tomboy.

During regular practice Lucy does ball drills, runs and learn other techniques along with her team mates.

She has motivated several other girls to the college girls’ soccer team.

Lucy’s team mate, Angel Tamba disagrees with the traditional Liberian stereotype that women cannot be soccer stars.

“I want for football to take me out of this country to go Europe so I can go there and play,” the 8th grader said courageously.

Like Lucy, Angel is always bullied by her friends but she doesn’t care.

She only wants to play football despite the misperceptions about women playing football.

“Football is good because it changes the mindset about women, everybody thinks women supposed to be in the kitchen – but I love football,” the 15 year old striker said.

Liberia has not have any female international footballer, and this means Lucy, Angel and her team mates have a long way to moving to a team in Europe.

The Liberia Football Association has eight teams in its top flight with LRD$168,750(US$1607) awarded to the champions and LRD$ 56,250 (US$535) to the Runners-Up.

There are minimum rewards and benefits associated with the female game in Liberia and this casts uncertainties over the development of the game and its players, but those involve with the game are still optimistic.

“We are trying to help keep our children and our girls up to the standard,” explains Coach George Quansah, alias George Pele, who says training girls to play soccer requires counseling and coaching.

“It’s a very big task because our country has not been growing female soccer and the FA and sports ministry has been working hard… but coming here to train these kids for the college team is a challenge.”

The experience George Pele is familiar with success; he’s still savoring the 2017 county meet success as deputy coach for Montserrado County.

He has scouted 25 girls to build the Harbel College team and is hopeful the team will be formidable.

For over three months, Harbel College (HARCO) is giving these girls a chance to prepare for college by playing soccer.

Interestingly, all the girls are either elementary or junior high students and have years ahead of college.

“We want to be one of the best in the county, in the country and in the world,” said a very ambitious and optimistic Dr. Syrulwa Somah.

“We want to take our team to the Olympics one day and that is the purpose for this training, both boys and girls.”

Dr. Somah, President of Harbel College, says they are now building a strong female team by selecting kids as young as 10 years up to 17 years old.

He believes the program can hook girls to college education right after high school.

“We want to produce our Mata of Brazil or our Mata of Liberia,” he said.

Established in 2012 by the legislature and accredited by the commission on higher education, Harco started with a limited budget around US$250,000 but appears to be the “smallest college in the country with the biggest heart”.

And blending football (soccer) with academics seems to be a trick the college is employing to improve its female admission.

“Sport is a major underpinning when it comes to curriculum,” said the experienced educator, who has worked at various universities in the United States.

As a former footballer himself who played for several high schools teams in Liberia back in the 1970s, says his passion for the game is unwavering.

He thinks such extra curriculum activities can strengthen academic success at the college.

“We intend to use our teachers to help these students with their lessons Math, Science and English; and the parents are supportive,” he said.

“We will find resources by reaching out to funding agencies including the Ministry of Gender and Social Protection because our President (Ellen Johnson Sirleaf) says we should give women a chance. There’s got to be bait – something you can use to hook these girls to like education.”

Dr. Somah’s optimism is translating into signs of progress, and some of these female soccer players on the college squad will be ready to enroll when the time is right.

“I will want go to the Harbel College when I finish with high school because I think they like football and will encourage me to play while I am going to college here,” Angel said.

Harbel, Margibi County – Amongst almost a dozen community colleges across the country, one college says it is forging a ‘distinct reputation’ gears toward developing the socio-economic sector of Liberia.

Alpha Daffae Senkpeni – alpha.senkpeni@frontpageafricaonline.com

“We are engaging other institutions and organizations both in Africa and in the US to provide assistance such as professors, books and equipment.

We are also going to appealing to our own legislature to support this college” – Dr. Syrulwa Somah, President of Harbel College, Margibi County

The Harbel College or HARCO based in Harbel, Margibi County is just under four years old, but it seems to be on the path of carving a new phenomenal in Liberia’s tertiary educational system.

Established in 2012 by the national legislature and accredited by the commission on higher education, the college started with a limited budget around US$250,000 but appears to be the “smallest college with the biggest heart”.

“We need to provide manpower in areas that are relevance to the socio-economic development of this country,” explains Dr. Syrulwa Somah, HARCO’s President.

“It will be a disservice to offer degrees in areas that are repetitive.”

Dr. Somah has worked as a professor of several tertiary institutions in the United States and Asia; he’s now back on his home soil with a vision of taking a four year old college to noble heights. Starting with tutorial classes in its first two years, Dr. Somah has the task of elevating the college to a full academic status.

Dr. Somah argues that many colleges and universities in the country are predominately offering business, social science and nursing degree. For example, the main state university graduates over 68% in business and social science degrees every year, he said.

For HARCO, it wants to build a reputation of becoming Liberia’s agriculture and engineering college like other colleges and universities around the world that produce specialists in technical disciplines.

The college offers Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, Safety Energy, Renewable Energy, Information Technology, Climate Change, Geography, Environmental Science and Liberian Studies.

“So, we want Harbel College to be distinctive and distinguish from other colleges and universities in the Republic of Liberia,” the ambitious Dr. Somah maintains, while speaking to FrontPageAfrica in an exclusive interview.

Luring Students to HARCO

With a tantalizing curriculum, the college says it is keen on attracting local students to meet the need of the local job market before targeting the international job market.

And to do that, the college has been engaging high school principles through their local association in Margibi County, with the aim of demystifying engineering, since many students in the country shy away from the field.

“Each time we have a program we invite them (principles); we invite their senior students to come and listen to the new areas that are not familiar to those students,” he said.

Within the next months the college will hold outreach and entrance exams at schools in Mrgibi and Grand Bassa Counties as well as Paynesville City.

At a recent symposium to attract students to the college, discussions were held on emerging technology curriculum development, highlighting student-oriented based curriculum that empowers students’ career.

With the goal of fostering inclusive learning and capacity building, the landmark symposium shed light on the development of attainable, transformative learning curriculum and turnkey product – a degree with business plan.

“I am very, very delighted that Harbel College is giving our generation the opportunity to study who we are—a study not only of certifiable heroes, the great men and women of Liberia who successfully worked through moral dilemmas, but also of more ordinary people who provide lessons in courage, diligence, or constructive protest. Liberia is the only nation that doesn’t offer degree in her own history. There is no question that normalcy can be advanced in our nation today in the ignorance of our own history,” Dr. Augustine Konneh at the symposium.

Fetching Resources

For a small college with massive ambition in a country struggling with financial issues, fetching resources is usually a challenge, but HARCO has an unflinching vision of achieving any goal. Dr. Somah says the college is determined to avoid relying on government funding, adding that the college will be a research based college.

“There’s got to be a vision to tell you where you are; where want to go, and how you going to get there,” the experienced educator said with firmness.

“So we have put a national vision in place – we are negotiating with international institutions for assistance, and we believe in research that will bring in dollars and cents to the college.”

“We are engaging other institutions and organizations both in Africa and in the US to provide assistance such as professors, books and equipment. We are also going to appealing to our own legislature to support this college.”

At the same time the college says it is holding discussions with the Firestone Rubber Company for support, while disclosing that the company is providing electricity for the college.

Dr. Somah emphasized that the college will not stoop to begging. “We are forming partnership. We believe in growing our own – in the future we want to send our faculty abroad through our partnership to get degree and comeback, these are some of the assitanceship we want.”

Dr. Somah is optimistic about making the college a research based institution in order to generate additional funding so that the college can have some financial independence.

Amongst several strategies, the college is looking to adopt a plan that will mandate its professors to either “published or perished,” adding, Dr. Somah said the institution focuses on four core areas: researching, teaching and community servicing. 

“If a professor can’t do that (publish) after five years, you won’t teach here,” warns Dr. Somah. “Because it is through research we can bring in money, then the government add to it.”

He says agriculture resources can significantly be transform into funding for the college, and said.

“The college is looking forward to starting a large plantain plantation in the country after sealing a deal with locals for 98.8 acres of land.”

Limited Budget

The challenges are enormous, and with a new budget of US$521,750, the college President says amongst government funded colleges, it received the smallest allocation in the national budget.

Amid the limited budget, the school is optimistic and says it will in the next four months complete the building currently under construction, as classes continue at the Harbel Multilateral School. It has also set the construction of more class rooms and an auditorium as a target.

The college is however seeking more support from the government that has a vision distinct from other colleges across the country in order to develop the college.

A Strategy like No Other

HARCO has hired the services of lecturers with master degrees and PhDs, and has already set a high standard for students. For example, the college does not condone students that do not take courses sequentially, and it is afraid that it severely impedes the students learning.

“When a student enters the college, you must complete the general educational course which is 53 credits, and after completion, you must meet with your counselor to arrange your area of specialization,” Dr. Somah stressed.

After a two year window, Dr. Somah revealed that the college is hoping to lure foreign professors after completing negotiations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dr. Somah’s strategy in luring foreign professors on a pro bono basis will take effect when the current 150 students have completed their general required courses.

“For example, we are looking at May, June, July and August in the US when professors will not be teaching. For example, in the United States during that period the professors will not be teaching , so they can take vacation and come volunteer and teach here at HARCO,” he said.

HARCO’s vision is gigantic amid these challenges, and can probably transform into realty if ideas are effectuated. Interestingly, all the strategies proffered by its President are vital to yielding gains but there are looming challenges that need to be remedy.

“For me, I will not stop dreaming – the vision that I have for this college. My goal is to work around it by blending education with a Liberian oriented industry of agro business,” said Dr. Somah.