Dear partners and friends,
On behalf of Camp for Peace Liberia, let me extend our sentiments and best wishes to all of you our many sympathizers, friends, sponsors, donors for your support rendered to our program in 2017. Had it not been of your assistant we wouldn’t have reached this far.
As you all may be aware, the year 2017 was a very busy year for Liberia. A year that witnessed a smooth transfer of power from one democratically elected government to another in more than 73 years. No one would ever believe that Liberia would have reached this far. There were scepticism and fear across different spectrums of our society that in the absence of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), the country would revert back to conflict especially when they had to go through electoral process. But as the they witnessed and watched to see an outcome that came in a most positive manner shows to the world that Liberia is on the right trajectory of peace and national reconciliation and development.
As an organization, we were very excited, privileged, challenged, supported and ultimately empowered by your finances, ideas to contribute to this landmark process of our nation’s history.
It was very astonishing to see the youth of Liberia exercising tolerance and respect for one another before, during and after the electoral process. They all share a common desire to make Liberia a better place by conducting themselves with insight and conviction while holding themselves to the standard of excellence and integrity. I believe we can work together to strengthen and sharpen our peace, democracy and development in the coming years. Where there is peace, there will always be development.
As we embark on another journey into 2018, it is my fervent hope and desire that we will continue to exhibit those good and positive attributes that we exhibited during our electoral process. We hope to step up our efforts to provide opportunities for youth in Liberia. We will continue to provide vulnerable youths with education and psychosocial support in a safe, secure setting. We will also work to protect young people from engaging into violence and help them regain confidence, self-esteem, life skills and a positive outlook on the future. Our focus on the well-being and development of the young people of Liberia contributes to a more peaceful and harmonious future for them and their communities. We also continue to work in promoting meaningful participation of the youths of Liberia in the decision-making processes that affect them.
We will continue to work with established peace clubs, strengthen our existing youth structures in various communities, enrol and train more youths in diversified skills in carpentry, masonry, electricity, plumbing, conduct psychosocial counselling, etc. We will work with our two mini cooperative groups in Lofa to enhance agriculture and the guest house construction projects. We will continue to work with various schools where we established e-libraries to train and enhance the academic abilities of students and alleviate some of the challenges teachers face in finding academic materials. We will work to strengthen our internal network working with other civil society organizations across the country. With the help of our partners we hope to expand our effort in other communities where we have not worked. If peace must transcend we all must create the space for our youths to tap their potentials. We must remain consistent and engaged in helping one another and developing our country. It is only Liberians that can develop Liberia and our friends will only trust us when we take the first and second step in making our country to what it should be. We hope to go beyond where we stopped in 2017. We are of the conviction that when peace is maintained, empowerment and development will follow.
We want to congratulate all of your for your meaningful contributions towards our achievement in 2017. Especially to our students and community members who opened their door to allow us work. It is because of you we are doing what we doing and you remain a very integral part of our program. We also want to acknowledge the gracious contribution and support of the following partners, sponsors and friends whose gifts made us to realize these milestones. The Steel Workers Humanity of Canada, New York Metropolitan Synod (MNYS), Center for Sacred Studies (CSS), the United Nations Alliance of Civilization (UNAOC), the Rumie Initiative, Global Giving, Healing Exchange Project with Lois Kunkel and Agnes Strik, Ann Beckett and Marilyn Satterfield and the many other whose names cannot be mentioned in this forward note.
May God bless all of you.
Sincerely yours,
B. Abel Learwellie
Executive Director