Fighting to make sure Ebola never happens again by listening to the community.
After spending five months on the front lines fighting Ebola, I am not the same person. My organization, More Than Me, is not the same organization. We know that we can and must do more. Our girls will never be safe, they will never be able to truly thrive, until Liberia does.
In June, I met with Liberia’s Minister of Education, George Werner, and he told me about the struggles to fix an education system without ample resources. We dreamed together of a future where all Liberian children receive a quality education. Minister Werner asked me if More Than Me would help the Ministry to start rebuilding the education system by doing what we did during Ebola (rallying the community together and getting resources where they’re needed most), and what we’ve done at the More Than Me Academy, at some existing government schools. I said yes, obviously.
Last week we went on a week long tour to see these schools Minster Werner was talking about. Here are some of my initial reactions as seen through my Instagram.
Some of the biggest needs for these schools were structural: a roof that doesn’t leak, chairs that aren’t broken, enough desks for each child.
According to the Ministry of Education, only 39% of Liberia’s primary schools are a solid structure. In heavy rain, which is half the year, many buildings are unusable.
The importance of roads
Getting around to each school in rainy season proved challenging. Good roads may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about an education system, but is essential. You need roads to bring books, materials, teacher training, to get good teachers to move out to the remote areas (accessibility to the city), to get visitors to see the conditions, to travel to school, etc. We had to miss a whole county because the roads were not passable.
Listening to the community
Most schools were out of class for summer, but at this school, students had the opportunity to ask Minister Werner questions directly. Girls wanted bathrooms, everyone wanted chairs, boys asked for a wall around the school because the surrounding areas were using the school to dump garbage. Everyone asked for a good roof. Liberia’s rains are harsh and the holes in the roof make an already difficult learning environment even more impossible.
When we’d show up at a school, we had division of tasks. Laura would find children and women around the school and ask them what they thought of the education system. Often we heard that kids were hungry, sick, and had no place to sit. There were no teaching materials, teachers were not trained and didn’t show up consistently, and there was no water. The buildings were dangerous, overcrowded, and leaking. Kids were getting rained on.
The student body president shares that the school is not safe because there’s a road that runs through the school yard and motorbikes and cars drive through. Chairs are often stolen from campus.
We very rarely saw women administration or teachers, especially in the older grades. Liberia has the 1st female president in Africa, but in Liberia far more boys are in school than girls and the boys often talk over the girls. Boys are far more likely to pass the high school graduation test.
Only 20% of children who enter 1st grade will make it to 12th grade, and the majority of them are boys. This is a huge problem because we know the facts: educated girls means less war, higher national GDP, and healthier families. As we stand with Liberia to rebuild the education system the girl child will remain a focal point.
When the statistics and the reality of these schools becomes too much, I remind myself that these are real kids with real stories. Full of life, dreams and hope. They deserve better, and that’s what this trip was about. How to work together to move as fast as we can. These kids cannot wait.
The most emotional part of the trip
This video shows two grade levels sharing one room at the same time because there is not enough space. This is common in Liberia, and the fact that any child learns in these conditions is a miracle.
This is unacceptable for any child and can and must change now. Liberia will never develop, never have a future if there isn’t adequate education for its children. Ebola, war, and other crises will always be a threat until this changes.
These kids are excited and eager to learn. Together we can do this.
