Liberian girls get a chance to celebrate

The first Miss Academic Excellence Award was held in Bomi County, Liberia, in June. Schools across the region were invited to put forward girls who are achieving well academically and had demonstrated good conduct in the classroom. 

Seven schools took part in the spelling and reading competitions held at the County Education Office in Tubmanburg.  The girls each had to spell words and then read out a passage from a school reader.  The judges also took into consideration the girls’ overall confidence and delivery throughout the competition, which was organised by Spotlight on Girls Education and Mary’s Meals.

While the judges had a difficult task deciding which of the girls was the strongest candidate, after a lot of deliberation Mayuan of St Dominic school in Tubmanburg, was crowned Miss Academic Excellence 2010. 

Mayuan,13, said “I am so  proud be Miss Academic Excellence and promise to take my studies seriously and become a strong and educated  woman. Thank you for believing in girls and rewarding us for our hard work” 

All the girls who took part in the competition went home with a goodie bag stuffed with education materials, clothes and a T-shirt, donated by Mary’s Meals.

While the competition has been fun for the girls, there is an important underlying message. The theme for the event ‘Support Girls Education for a better Nation’, makes the point that girls across Liberia must be encouraged to realise their potential as useful and valuable members of society.

The main aim of this competition is to encourage girls to work hard to maintain their good averages and be proud of that achievement. 

The newly crowned Miss Academic Excellence 2010 and the runners took part in a parade and crowning ceremony on the 24^th June.  Many influential and respected women were invited to share some words of encouragement.

In a country where many teenage girls do not have access to education, this was an opportunity to demonstrate to schools, parents and communities that girls who are working hard in school deserve to be there and should be encouraged and supported to reach their full potential.

Interest in the competition has been encouraging and Rebecca Boakai, its organiser, has been overwhelmed with requests from schools who would like to participate next time. 

She has hopes to make the event an annual occurrence: ‘We will continue to work with the girls of this country to free their minds, ” she said. “I am so proud of all the girls who competed.”

Big backpacks and little children

Stephen Cox is a projects officer for Mary’s Meals in Glasgow

I started working for Mary’s Meals in September 2006, and since my first week I have been looking forward to going into a Mary’s Meals school somewhere in Africa to witness the distribution of backpacks.

In April I got my wish, and I was not disappointed.

Children with their Mary's Meals backpacks

We do not give advance warning to the schools that we are coming to do a backpack distribution; otherwise this could cause a riot in the villages!

So when we drove up to the school with the backpacks loaded on the back of the truck I could see a few excited faces peering out of the classrooms, as although they didn’t know we were coming that particular day, they knew about the backpacks. Everybody knows about the backpacks.

One class is targeted at a time and the Mary’s Meals monitor responsible for the distribution gives each class a talk about where the backpacks come from, and what their intended purpose is.

The children were very patient, and quiet at this point – I think they were scared in case we changed our mind at the last minute if they misbehaved. And then each child was given a backpack – apparently it is considered rude in Liberia to show too much emotion so it was a quieter experience than I had imagined, but I could see the glint in each of their eyes as I handed the backpacks out, they were all excited beyond belief.

I am not joking when I say that some of the backpacks I gave out were about the same size as the children I was giving them to. One boy in particular sticks in my mind, he was determined to lift the backpack I gave him, even although it was up to his eye level. Luckily an older brother appeared to help carry the backpack (and his wee brother) home.

After distribution is finished in a school the children get to go home for the day as they are far too excited to continue working. And it is when they got let out into the playground that the noise really began.

Children were smelling towels and soap; tasting toothpaste; mesmerized by the bright colured pens; and I caught two wee boys literally screaming at one another when they saw that they had each received a tennis ball in their backpack.

The mothers of most of the children must have a sixth sense for this kind of thing because by the time we were leaving they had all arrived to take their children home with their new backpack, which Liesbeth, our country director,  informs me will be shared between the whole family. 

Small grains but a big difference

Stephen Cox is a projects officer for Mary’s Meals in Glasgow.

The Mary’s Meals rice farm is by far the largest farm I saw when I was in Liberia, and it stretches as far as the eye can see. Mr Matthews, the manager, took me round in the soaring heat, and I could barely manage to walk, never mind do any work.

After some coaxing from the workers, I took the plunge and got up to my knees in mud to take a turn at planting some rice. The ladies that work there thought this was hilarious.

Around twelve o’clock each day the workers take a break and ‘eat rice’, which is the staple diet in Liberia, a meal provided by Mary‘s Meals. During this break one of the workers, a lady called Tenneh, was nominated to come and speak to me on behalf of all the people who work on the rice farm.

A rice farm worker

Although the people in Liberia speak English, it is with a very strong accent, and fairly difficult to understand, however this lady was determined to tell me herself what a difference the rice farm has made to her, all the other workers on the farm, and their families too.

First of all she told me what it was like before Mary’s Meals came to Tubmanburg. She has four young children to look after and feed every day, and at that time she did not have a job to support her family. Also, her children did not go to school, as there was no incentive to do so. Education is less important when your focus is on a daily struggle to survive.

A sign at the rice farm

Mary’s Meals began in Liberia in 2004/05 at which time Teneh’s children started to attend one of the schools that receives Mary’s Meals, because the promise of a daily meal encouraged them to do so.

Then more recently in 2009 she began working at the Mary’s Meals rice farm, where she gets a meal every day, and a regular income to help support her family.

In a relatively short space of time Mary’s Meals has transformed the life of Teneh and her family, by providing the family with a source of income, and daily nutritious meals for the whole family. She said that this was not just true of her, but of most of the other mothers that work on the rice farm.

‘Without Mary’s Meals I would have no income and my children would not go to school.’

She extended deep thanks to me and all people involved in Mary’s Meals, as without our assistance her and her family would still be facing a daily struggle to survive, yet now her children have the chance of an education, and the chance to make a better lives for themselves, and their children.

Mary’s Meals celebrates

As part of the celebration of feeding 400,000 worldwide, Mary’s Meals in Liberia held a party to officially open the warehouse.

Guests included children from neighbouring schools, teachers and other friends of Mary’s Meals. Father Adrian blessed the new building, and then there were words of appreciation, followed by plenty of music and dancing.

The grand finale was an appearance by the ‘Masked Country Dancer’ which sadly we were not able to photograph, but it was a great performance that had all the children on the edge of their seats.

Our team were working the skype throughout and managed to connect with Scotland for some of it. After it was over we enjoyed a cup of tea with some well-travelled Scottish shortbread.

Following the opening of the newly completed warehouse, Mary’s Meals has moved and now has its offices, warehouse and guesthouse all on the same compound. Thanks to the space in the new warehouse, we have been able to bring in the full amount of food to be distributed for the month in this first week – which will significantly improve the efficiency of the distribution.

A visit to Liberia

Stephen Cox is a Mary’s Meals projects officer.

The first thing that struck me when we were readying to land in Monrovia was the lush landscape that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. I knew Liberia was a fertile land, and covered mostly by tropical rainforest, but until you actually see it with your own eyes it is pretty hard to imagine.

Stephen visits a Mary's Meals project

The second thing that struck me was one obvious thing that was missing from the landscape – roads. There were a number of what looked like red ash tracks snaking through the deep forest, but from where I was looking I could not see one single tarmac road. It turns out there are a few tarmac roads that run through the country, but only a handful, which makes moving around the country very difficult.

Thankfully one of these roads runs straight past our project in Tubmanburg, which is around a two and a half hour drive from the airport. I was collected at the airport by Emma Turner, who is volunteering for us in Liberia at the moment and John Bracewell the ‘VIP’ driver for us out in Liberia. I am not sure but I think by VIP they mean he is the one that drives the car that is least beat up, which is not saying mush, and collects people from the airport.

Rubber plantations, the local prison and hundreds of schools in between…

March was a busy month for the team in Liberia. Thanks to the continued generosity of supporters from around the world, Mary’s Meals has been gradually expanding, feeding thousands more school children every month – the latest figure for Liberia stands at just under 25,000. 

One new location added to the list is a local rubber plantation that has long been known for its troubled and violent past. 

Children from the plantation

During the war the plantation became home for many rebel groups and a hotspot for continued fighting and rioting. Soon after the war the government had a crackdown and forcibly removed many of the former rebels and illegal rubber tappers, but the plantation remained a largely lawless and uncontrolled area. 

Sadly this meant that the communities living within the plantation, especially the women and children left behind, suffered hugely and were cut off from the outside world.  Mary’s Meals had been receiving requests for assistance from many of the schools within the plantation for some time. Unfortunately due to the unpredictable and insecure nature of the area it had not been possible to set up a permanent programme, until recently. 

The good news is that with assistance from a foreign investor, work is well underway to restore the plantation, roads are being rebuilt and crops planted.  This has provided many employment opportunities along the way and the plantation has become a stable and productive place.  

Mary’s Meals has been following the developments closely, wanting to be prepared to move into the plantation and set up feeding for the schools as soon as possible.  Initial assessments showed that there were almost double the number of children initially predicted in the schools, which was encouraging to learn.

Having had to turn down their requests for many years and after the struggles the schools have faced, it was a happy day when the first distribution of food arrived at the schools last week, reaching almost 2,500 children.  

Another unusual location Mary’s Meals was recently invited to by the UN, was the local prison.  This was to learn about their literacy programme and to share words of encouragement with the juvenile inmates. 

Many of the detainees have never received any form of education, so they have actually set up a school within the prison, Tubmanburg Prison Primary School.  Mary’s Meals is supporting this effort and has provided them with some educational materials to help with the reading and writing classes.

Wonderful, from Mary's Meals delivers a positive message to inmates at Tubmanburg Prison

So from the rubber plantation to the local prison and all the hundreds of schools in between, Mary’s Meals has had a busy month and is now getting ready to start distribution all over again for April.

Mary’s Meals backpacks in action

Four times a year a container arrives in Liberia from Scotland, jam packed with all sorts of donations such as education materials, sports equipment, medical and office supplies.

Children in Bomi county with new backpacks

The bulk of the contents, however, are thousands upon thousands of school backpacks.  Gifted by children from all over of the UK, more than 10,000 backpacks have already been distributed to school children supported by Mary’s Meals across Liberia.   

However, there are still many more children to reach and the latest shipment of backpacks will shortly be loaded into the trucks and shared out. 

Schools in post war Liberia appear to have popped up in every available space, giving rise to an array of schools of every shape, size and faith.

Just reaching these schools can be a challenge in itself due to the condition of the roads.  The Mary’s Meals drivers take on this task with relish, expertly steering the trucks and pickups laden with bags over dangerously small bridges and driving them up seemingly impassable roads. 

Many of the smaller village schools appear to be nothing more than a hut until you peek your head round the door to find a surprisingly large number of little faces all sitting in a row smiling back at you, quickly jumping to their feet to greet you with a well versed and very loud ‘good morning visitor’ and often a song or two! 

Many of these schools are not supported by the government and it is common to find that the teachers are not receiving anything in the way of wages but continue to teach the children of their community for free.

Inside the classrooms children share desks, over-spilling to the floor and there is very little in the way of textbooks or writing materials. Despite these enormous challenges, the schools are literally bursting with children eagerly learning their alphabet and times tables.  

Backpack distribution proves a fun part of the job for the Mary’s Meals team and the children literally cannot hide their excitement and let out squeals of delight as they take a peak at the contents of their new bags. It is encouraging and joyful to see and while the generosity continues and the backpacks keep coming, it is clear that there is no shortage of children on the recieving end to benefit from the bags.

Each backpack is different, but along with educational materials they are often generously stuffed full with other goodies such as toys, stickers, clothes and shoes. 

With the backpacks also comes a more serious message as Joseph, Assistant Director, addresses the children and tells them that they must take their education seriously, stay at school and work hard.  He explains that the backpacks have travelled across the world and are from children who care about them and want to help them so they can gain a good education.

The children listen attentively, hugging their new bags and nod their heads in agreement that they are the future of Liberia.

Sing while you’re working

The men are singing while they are working. One man signs a line, praising God, and the others repeat it. They sing as a group while they are working. They are harvesting our first rice. There is not a sound or sight more beautiful.

Last January we started the rice farm as an effort to encourage local rice farming. The idea behind it is that if we feed children in Mary’s Meals schools with locally produced rice, then the local economy and local farmers, will benefit from that. Every dollar that would come our way would have a double value. It would feed a child and support the farmers and their families.

At work on the Mary’s Meals Rice Farm

The government gave us 25 acres of swampland to develop. An overgrown, bushy, snake ridden swamp. And the men started brushing it by hand with their machetes.

They worked steadily, day by day, under the inspiring leadership of Mr. Mathews, a local teacher, and they cleared the 25 acres.

Snakes, lizards, frogs and other wildlife had to run for its life or end up in the soup. Then the field was burned and the layer of top soil that was filled with roots and grass removed.

The bunks were put in place, forming 20x20m squares that would be the actual rice paddies. Peripheral canals were dug to control the water in the swamp and the rice nursery was started.

The first baby rice was planted 5 months ago. And we watched it grow.

The rainy season was supposed to start in April but did not come.  May came but no rain. The fields started to look a bit dry. Every little raindrop that fell was treasured by now. Our well had hardly water in it. But still the rain did not come. Until July. Then it rained for days and the rice on the fields came up fast. What a relief!

Going to the rice farm is my favorite trip. To see the full rice stalks swaying in the breeze and the men going round with their catapults shooting at the rice birds and rattling a long line with cans on it to scare them away.

To smell the unique smell of crops ripening on the fields, the soil and the moisture. And to hear the singing of the men at work, or the cook humming over the big pot on the fire where she cooks the food for the workers. The laughter of the women transplanting the baby rice into the field.

Growing food brings happiness, gives hope, and feeds children, here in Liberia.

The Crusty Boys

Six months ago I moved my office work to the Oscar Romero School. The other staff remain in our office at the St. Benedict Technical School, running the distribution from there. But I needed a bit more peace and quiet to do the ever increasing office work. And the quiet was hard to find at the St. Benedict. And that is mainly due to the Crusty Boys.

The Crusty Boys used to start coming in around ten o’clock in the morning. They were dressed in rags. Bits of rope held their trousers together so they did not slide down. Shirts were sometimes only bits of fabric hanging together by threads, where the color has long faded.Bare butts stick out of the back of trousers of which the seat is gone. They are a scruffy, crusty bunch. And one of the first things they do is poke their heads around our office door and wave at us saying “Hi Sis Liz”.

Then they go around the back to where the kitchen is where the Mary’s Meals food is being cooked for the St. Dominic students. The whole lot finds a place under a tree in the shadow and they wait. What are they waiting for? They are waiting for The Crust. “What Crust?” you might think. Well, the rice crust.

A meal is prepared at a Mary's Meals school

Cooking for the little children from the Kindergarten who eat at 10.30 in enormous pots leaves a thick crust of half burned rice in the cook pot. And that is what the boys come for. After the schoolchildren eat, they get the Crust.

Since I like to go amongst the children when they are eating to check out the food, I noticed the Crusty Boys long ago. They look on so hungrily while the other kids eat that it is almost too painful to watch. And when the pot with the Crust comes they sit around it with up to 15 boys, and it is all divided up. Some times peacefully and sometimes not. And than they will hang around until the big children come to eat at 12.30. And this hanging around is preferably done outside my window under the shade of our roof.

And that is were the Crusty Boys and I got to know each other. During their hanging around time they sit and talk. And talk very loudly and occasionally scream at each other. It is very hard to work next to them. So one time I went outside to find out who they really were and get them to be more quiet.

I found out that some of the Crusty Boys were out of school but some were in school. And most of those went to a school they referred to as “in the Market”. And why were they not at school? Because of “no food in the house”. So they go to school hungry and their school did not provide food. So after an hour or so they would sneak out and start hunting for food.

This is the reality for kids living in Liberia. Most families get by on a daily basis. Sometimes food is there and many times it is not. Children wake up hungry, go to school hungry and when they come home in the afternoon there is no guarantee that a meal will be waiting for them. Most of the time they come home to empty rundown mud houses with hardly a roof on them. Then they sit down and wait to see if a parent will come back with food.

The Crusty Boys took me to their “in the market” school. Its actual name is Valley Center School. And it is not really a school. It is a bunch of teachers with a lot of little kids. They are sitting in an open palaver hut which they have divided into “classrooms” with locally woven mats. They are the kids that cannot afford school fees.

When the happy news came from Scotland that we could start feeding more children we straightaway added the Valley Center School to our programme. They were overjoyed! And since then we have gone back to them distributing backpacks, clothes and blackboards. So the number of Crusty Boys hanging around our office has reduced drastically. Those who were not in school mostly have registered and are going to school now. Most schools in Tubmanburg receive Mary’s Meals so there is a good reason to go to school.

The Crusty Boys no longer depend on the Crust only. They get a bowl of rice with soup, guaranteed every school day!

Rice Farming

It was during the visit of David Lamont, the sponsor of the Oscar Romero School for Deaf Children, that the subject came up. Why is there not more locally produced food used in Mary’s Meals schoolfeeding in Liberia?

A very legitimate question. We have always been interested in getting locally produced food for Mary’s Meals and for this reason a rice mill was bought and placed on the New World Farm (agricultural department of St. Benedict Technical School in Tubmanburg).  And some farmers did bring their rice which we milled and bought up on the spot. But it was also noticed that it was little. 

Most farmers in our region became refugees in huge IDP (internally displaced persons) camps around Monrovia when the final attack on that city was launched from Tubmanburg.

Coming back after a few years in the IDP camp the farmers would find that nature had reclaimed their farms. And so they had to start clearing and brushing. The first year after the war the farm would be small and the family would go hungry. The second year the farm would get a little bigger and the produced food would feed the farmer’s family almost the year around. In the third year some farmers managed to excist of their own produce again.

We are now getting towards the time where farmers might start producing food to be sold. But the food market is delicate and we do not want to start buying up food that might be needed by others.

David suggested we would start farming rice ourself as an encouragment to the farmers and to introduce more country rice into the Mary’s Meals. We were straight away very much inspired. Ideally Mary’s Meals would consist of  only locally produced rice but one has to start somewhere. The local authorities were inspired and gave us 25 acres of swamp land to turn into rice field, right here in Tubmanburg.

The local people were very much inspired by the jobs it opened up working on the fields. And as they dug into the deep mud of the swamp, de-stumping trees, burning the brushing, digging watering canals, turning the soil and transplanting the seedlings, many more became inspired.

Looking around me these past two weeks I see smoke trailing up to the sky everywhere. It is the end of the dry season and the farmers are burning their farms as preparation for planting crops. In the past three years I have been here I have not seen that much smoke. It looks like everyone is farming. Big farms.

The smoke going up means that the farmers around us are inspired also. That they know that Mary’s Meals is now waiting on their rice. They know we are serious because most children around us eat  Mary’s Meals every school day. They know that if they can produce than we are their customers. We will pay cash for the rice that will feed their own children in their schools. Until one day we will not be needed.

That day is still to come. Farming by hand with a hoe and a cutlass is a tedious task and takes a lot of time. But the farmers know we are here to stay and will wait for them. If all goes as planned than we will locally produce 10% of Mary’s Meals rice by next year. It might be more. There is a lot of smoke around me!