By Mark Neywon Mengonfia mmenginfia@gmail.com
Zondo Town was a scene of jubilations last Saturday, when ground was broken for the construction of an elementary school in the area.
Children, adults and elderly were seen dancing when pastor Joah and his delegation started an exuberant parade in the town.
The parade before the official ground breaking ceremony was led by predominantly old women and men followed by students and parents of the SOLTIAMON Christian School System.
Alice Kpue- a mother of six children including other women of Zondo Town could not hold back their joy as they sang their traditional songs thanking God for directing pastor Joah to their town to have a school constructed there.
Old lady Kpue said “the coming of an elementary school will bring relief to the lives of children growing up in that remote part of Grand Bassa County.
She was overcome with joy as she emphatically stated, “I am happy until I do not know what to say. Our town is now on the way to development.
“More schools School will be built here and our children will not have to leave from this town to travel to Buchannan City or to the capital city of Monrovia for schooling.”
Ma Alice, Another elderly lady sadly stated, “My parents did not send me to school, but I said to myself when I become a full grown woman, I will make sure that all my children go to school.”
Ma- Nonmah Gragar, an old resident of the town, believed to be in her 80s faintly joined others to dance as the jubilant crowd approached her.
“I am very happy for what I am hearing” she said through an interpreter.
As she danced leaving her walking stick on the ground, old-lady Gragar started raining praises on the vision bearers of the institution.
In her speech, the wife of Pastor Joah, madam Tiangay Saba Koon Joah said, she and her husband saw the pressing need to have a school constructed in the village that gave birth to the education of her husband many years back.
She said they thought that it was a great thing to give back to town the means to empower less fortunate kids whose parents do not have the financial might to have them travel to Buchanan City or Monrovia for higher education.
She indicated that the project Titled” Giving Back To Zondo” will have elementary, junior, senior high school and a collage constructed on a space of 10 acres of land provided by the community. Mrs. Joah said that the four projects [elementary, junior, senior high school and a collage] will be carried out progressively, starting with the elementary school.
“As this first phase is going on, we will come and break ground for the junior high on two lots of land and we will move on this other side and break ground for the senior high on two lots of land” she said with a smile across her face. Mrs. Joah indicated that the projects when completed will have a foster home that will to enable children to go through fostering as was done with her husband when he started kindergarten at Zondo mission at age 16.
She stated that all the community will have to do is to help with man power for the project to come to completion.”
Mrs. Joah rallied the efforts of the Liberia Agriculture Company (LAC) to help them in paving the roads and to provide safe drinking water for the kids and their parents in the town.
Additionally, she said that it is expected that the first project [elementary school] which is estimated at 65-80 thousand United States Dollars will be completed by September of this year,
Pastor Solomon Joah said it is a dream that has come through for him and his family to have made such an impact on the lives of the ordinary people of Zondo.
As an assurance, Pastor Joah said his schools are based on Christian principles adding that indecent dress codes, same sex marriage and other negative habits that tend to damage society will not be accepted or tolerated on the campus.
“We are modern people, but traditional remains” he said.
Additionally, Pastor Joah said the classes will be eighteen by eighteen with good ventilations for the kids.
All the lawmakers who were invited to the event failed to attend with the sole exception of Senator Karnga-Lawrence whose contribution to the building project was presented through her proxy at the event.
The event was attended by representatives of LAC as well as Atty. Mmonbeydo Joah who happens to be the daughter of the vision bearers of the SOLTIAMON Christian School System. Recounting the hard days of her parents, Atty. Joah said” imagine a person sitting in kindergarten at age 16. That is the story of my father”
She recounted that after her father, after learning to read when he reached 6 grade, the missionaries supported him through high school at Ricks Institute where he met his wife, Joah.
“Together, they built a legacy. It was tough – those days. You can see it in our names. He named my brother, Monbladyu, meaning, “hunger time child; my name is Mmonbeydo, which means, “I am one of you” my mother did not want another child after my brother. Five years later, my sister came. My father named her, Mmonyuenjay – “I am the reason” and they stopped having kids” she said with a laughter on her face.
She said she has an obligation to ensure that her parents dream does not die, but lives on to have more of such impacts on ordinary kids.
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