About Liberian Children’s Education Fund

The Liberian children’s Education Fund was inspired by the passionate call of Liberia’s children to restore their shattered future. “GIVE US GOOD FUTURE. WE WANT EDUCATION, NOT GUNS.” This was the solemn appeal of war-wary children during the desperate search for peace in Liberia in 1996. True to their aspiration, according to a UN report, about 20,000 child soldiers and former combatants voluntarily disarmed to the Government of Liberia and the international community based on the simple promise that they would be afforded an opportunity to return to school. Yet, since then, little efforts have been applied to fulfill their educational hopes and aspirations, a betrayal of their trust. Several of these child soldiers still roam the villages, towns and city streets, while others have been lured into the current reign of havoc and terror on their own war-wary people. The children have become victims of an ongoing civil conflict that has devastated the economic, social and educational fabric of their heritage-Liberia. The organizers believe strongly that the government and people of the United States and the international community have a moral obligation to help restore peace to Liberia and help in its reconstruction.

Liberia, located on the West coast of Africa, was founded in 1816-1822 by a group of American philanthropists called the American Colonization Society (ACS) to repatriate and resettle free African-Americans to their “Homeland”- Africa.

All characteristics of nationhood were modeled after the United States of America. The experiment, despite some shortcomings, boasts of enviable historical milestones. It laid the foundation for democracy and shared intercultural and social values between North America and Africa. It inspired the African liberation struggle and the subsequent independence of more than 50 African countries. Its first five presidents-Joseph Jenkins Roberts, Stephen Allen Benson, Daniel Bashiel Warner, James Spriggs Payne, and Edward James Roye- were born and raised as Americans before sailing to West Africa to found a new home. Yet, despite this unique historical tie that exists between these two countries and peoples, and at a time when the United States boasts of the best of everything, including an enviable educational system, Liberia, can now most aptly be described a nation at-risk. More than a decade of bloody civil war has destroyed the country’s economic and social fabric At the core of her current woes lies more than a century of mass ignorance, 75%-illiteracy, poverty and a shattered educational system and programs. Indeed, the children’s call presents in clear terms their greatest aspiration, and in it lies the hope for lasting peace in Liberia.

ESTABLISHMENT

The Liberian Children’s Education Fund is a public trust fund, operated as a non-profit organization. It was established in 1999 in the United States of America by a group of Liberians and friends of Liberia who have resolved to reawaken and refocus the spirits of their fellow compatriots around a common vision and purpose of responding to our children’s solemn call of an educational investment in their future.

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