Bong Mines, Bong County – A Liberian living in the United States has awarded scholarship to 50 children living in the concessional community of Bong Mines, Bong County as a means of alleviated poverty in a community that experiencing multiple challenges.
Franklin Dunn, who is leading the initiative through his Liberian based group — Friends of Franklin Dunn — said the scholarship scheme was his way of tackling poverty in the community he once lived as a boy.
“After seeing the need and the quench and yarning for a place I so love, I embarked on my journey back in Bong Mines – a place where I began all of my earthly sojourn,” said Dunn in a letter.
The Friends of Franklin Dunn said it is committed to ensuring that the people of Fuamah and Sanoyea districts receive adequate health care, education and financial benefits that are rightfully theirs.
Speaking to FrontPage Africa, the brother of Franklin Dunn, Melvin Dunn who is spearheading the scholarships in Liberia, said the gesture had no political motive but philanthropic in nature.
In addition to the scholarships, he said there were several donations made in the past, including medical drugs supplies, rice, and eyeglasses.
“He has provided a scholarship to a kid from grade one through college, now he’s running a new scholarships scheme,” Melvin Dunn, a brother to the funder of the organization, said.
Founded in 2011, Dunn’s philanthropic initiative is also gear towards what he termed as “Restoring some level of human dignity in other to raise people’s hope.”
Many of the group’s activities are happening in Fuamah District.
“When he came on a visit and saw that the place was impoverish, seeing many parents couldn’t afford, it prompted him to start looking into scholarships to start helping to build the capacity of Liberians,” Melvin said of his brother.
The Friends of Dunn is also partnering with Cecelia Kpor, a Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) partisan also regarded as the “Queen of CDC” in the USA.
Their collaboration, Dunn said, was making immense intervention on the lives of locals in Bong Mines, but emphasized that it objective was non-political.
“Parents are enthusiastic about the scholarships and his ultimate goal of improving the lives of people especially in Bong Mines – a society that has been so denigrated after the civil war,” he said.
He is also calling on communities in Faumah District to embrace the initiative, which will impact the lives of locals, while clarifying that the group and its funder were not engaging into politics was speculated in some quarters.
But Dunn emphasized that the lack of trust in politicians that have failed to deliver on their promises was hampering the lives of people in Bong Mines.
He said it was also a challenge for the scholarship scheme.
“Trust is the first and foremost challenge affecting the initiative because a lot of people have said things and have not done anything for the community,” he said.
One of the primary objectives of the group, according to Dunn, is to create opportunities for underprivileged children so that they can later contribute their own quota to the community.
Franklin, who is based in the US State of North Carolina, has over 10 years managerial experience and has a pedigree of participatory advocacy for individuals with intellectual developmental abilities and also has keen interest in fair and equal distribution of wealth, as well as respect for human rights.
Growing up in Bong Mines, Franklin played soccer for local club Bong Range United, and later played for Mighty Barrolle and the national football team, Lone Star.