MONROVIA – A young Liberian female rights advocate and humanitarian has stressed the need for Liberians to desist from destruction criticisms and other vices that have the proclivity to tear the country apart and create hatred the citizenry.
According to Miss Benita Urey, the consistent habit of some citizens of engaging into negative criticisms for political reasons has not help in moving the country forward for a prolong period of time.
She maintained that most often goodwill and humanitarian gestures or initiatives being rendered or carried by some Liberians and other groups operating in the country, have been misconstrued by some citizens who do not mean well for their own country.
Ms. Urey made these comments on Wednesday, in an exclusive interview with FrontPage Africa in Sinkor, Monrovia.
The young female rights advocate and humanitarian is spearheading series of initiatives including the provision of support to sea erosion victims in various communities and counties including West Point, New Kru Town, and Grand Bassa, amongst others and inmates at the Monrovia Central Prison.
Through her Package for Hope, Save Liberians from Sea Erosion, Mobilizers for Change, Ms. Urey has donated food and non-food items, including several bags of rice, hundreds of nose masks, gallons of oil, among others worth thousands of United States dollars to sea erosion victims and inmates in Liberia.
According to her, citizens should be appreciative of positive ventures or initiatives being carried out by their fellow countrymen, instead of engaging into destructive criticisms to discourage or bully their compatriots.
“Many people say I am doing this for political gains or I want to run for a position. But that’s not my aim. I been doing this since I was 11 years old. I been working at White Plains Careysburg, and in other areas”.
“I don’t feel bullied or disappointed about what I am doing. I feel that this is just the Liberian people mentality that whenever somebody is doing good, they have to link it to politics. I feel that the Liberian people should stop criticizing and help each other or people that are in need”.
Ms. Urey added that though some of those initiatives would be little, Liberians must learn to appreciate and give helping hands to one another in a bid to find solutions to some of the challenges confronting their fellow citizens.
“I see what I do as a Liberian and how it impacts the lives of other people; I think if we just forget about all those negative criticisms and help people in whatever weak way we can, it makes lot of impact”.
Prisoners’ rehabilitation
Speaking further, Ms. Urey underscored the need for adequate attention to be given to inmates and prisoners at various prison facilities across the country if they should be reintegrated into the Liberian society after serving their respective sentences.
She noted that though most prisoners or inmates at various prison compounds, particuarly the Monrovia Central Prison, are eager to acquire skills to guarantee their future, the lack of support to adequately rehabilitate them remains a major challenge.
She observed that most often prisoners released from prison facilities find themselves back in jail due to the lack of vocational or technical skills to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into the Liberian society.
“Rehabilitation of inmates or prisoners is so important because when some of these people are released, they go back to prisons because they are not prepared to be outside or they have not been rehabilitated. They are in the prisons 24/7 and they do not have anything to do to keep their minds off some of the years or months they have been sentenced to”.
She disclosed that her group has decided to commence a soap making class at the prison facility to help disabuse the minds of inmates who have been released and planning to return to the ghettoes or engaging into unwholesome practices.
Ms. Urey maintained that most prisoners would return to prisons on a regular basis if the needed supports are not accorded them to be good citizens in the society when they have served their respective sentences or are released from jail.
Sea erosion
The young Liberian enterpreneur further emphasized the need for government to galvanize the necessary financial resources to help curtail the high frequency of sea erosion across the country.
She noted that thousands of citizens continue to loss their homes and other valuables as a result of the situation, and as such, government must see reason to adequately support its coastal defense project to guarantee the safety of its citizens.
“I think the government needs to find solutions although it will take lot of money for government to take care of this problem. If you look at the rocks to where the American embassy is, you will see huge rocks which ensure that whenever the sea rises, it will just hit the rocks and comes back; but in West Point we see daily sea erosion and people are losing their homes and other belongings”.
“People are estimating that witn 10 years, Sinkor will be wiped away by the ocean and we can’t afford to lose Sinkor. This is way more than relocating or educating victims. Right now, some residents of New Kru Town, West Point and Grand Bassa are being affected as a result of sea erosion and I think government needs to come in”.
Ms. Urey indicated that persistent sea erosion without any solution has compelled most families to divert funding intended to take care of their children, and improve their living conditions to either relocating or engaging into exorbitant spending on the reconditioning of their homes.
She noted that more awareness must be made to discourage residents of the coastal areas from engaging into illicit sand mining activities, which according to her, is one of the contributing factors of sea erosion in those areas.
Ms. Urey, however, commended donors and partners in Liberia , Canada, the United States and other parts of the world for their immense contributions towards her initiatives intended to better the lives of vulnerable and less fortunate Liberian citizens.
She bragged on using the social media to lure financial support to her initiatives, instead of engaging into negative propaganda and criticisms that discourage people from helping those who are in dying need in Liberia.