The Bureau of Public Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Monrovia, Liberia

NEWS SUMMARY FOR TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014

Foreign Minister Augustine Ngafuan’s warning to Liberians to put an end to illiteracy and the news of over 600 residents of the Liberia Broadcasting System and Zarzar communities being made homeless are stories dominating our summary of today’s selected local dailies.

DOMINANT STORIES

“If Liberia Doesn’t Put An End to Illiteracy, Illiteracy Will Put An End To Liberia”, Min. Ngafuan Warns

The FrontPage Africa newspaper, like other dailies quote a release from the Foreign Ministry as saying that Foreign Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan has warned that if Liberia does not put an end to illiteracy, it will be illiteracy that will put an end to Liberia. The Foreign Minister used his Commencement Convocation Speech at the Salvation Army-run William Booth High School’s 15th Graduation Exercise to caution the nation about the risk of illiteracy.  “We must dedicate more and more of our nation’s resources to education because of a simple and somber truth, if Liberia does not put an end to illiteracy, illiteracy will put an end to Liberia”, Minister Ngafuan stated amidst huge applause in a jam-packed ceremony that took place over the weekend at the school’s premises outside Monrovia. He stressed that schools must build libraries and research centers that are conducive for learning to enable Liberian students compete with the cinemas and the beaches. He then emphasized the need for schools to build ‘fantastic’ reading rooms and recreation centers that can compete with the ‘fantastic Fridays’ that see Liberian students flood the beaches and beer bars expending their youthful energies and exuberance on things that will accrue little benefits to them in the future. To the graduates, 192 of them styled ‘Pa-Da-Stra-A-Da-Stra (a German expression meaning ‘From difficulties to success’), the Foreign Minister said, “My advice to you is to read, read, read, and read. Your commencement today is the first step .. My first advice to you is to move on with your education because acquiring a high school diploma is no guarantee for success in the new Liberia. Do not allow this little success to make you drunk. No one ever finishes book”. He urged them to, upon leaving the high school of William Booth, venture into the ‘hard school of life’. To the parents, the Commencement Speaker noted, “Parents must never refrain from engaging their children at all levels of their development, especially during their formative years. Any responsible and caring parent would like to know what kind of peers your children mingle and interact with.” The Valedictorian for the graduates, Student Reggie Feahn urged his fellow graduates to match expectations with their level of education. Student Feahn who built his Val speech on the topic ‘Education, The Instrument For Nation Building’, appealed to the Government to increase its subsidiaries to private schools, noting that education is the light in darkness and the foundation on which Liberia will be built.

Related Captions: Min. Ngafuan Warns Of Illiteracy Threat To Nation(Daily Observer), Ngafuan raps on Liberia’s illiteracy rate(The New Dawn), “If Liberia Doesn’t Put An End to Illiteracy, Illiteracy Will Put An End To Liberia”(The Analyst), Fight Against Illiteracy-Ngafuan Urges(In Profile Daily), Illiteracy will End Liberia, if…”(INSIGHT), End Illiteracy, Or..-Minister Ngafuan Warns(The New Republic)

Floods Render 600 Homeless

More than 600 residents of the Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS) and Zarzar communities in the suburb of Paynesville have been rendered homeless as the result of severe flooding in their areas. According to Elder James W. Bryant, who has been living in the LBS Community since 1995, the community had never experienced flooding before the construction of the road from Benson Clinic to Coca Cola Factory, INSIGHT writes.

Related Captions: Flood Leaves Several Homeless(Heritage)

MOGD Holds Media Awareness Forum On Draft Domestic Violence

The Ministry of Gender and Development (MOGD) on Monday, July 7, 2014 held a media awareness working session on its “Draft Domestic Violence Act. The forum was intended to enable the media aid the ministry in the process of educating and sensitizing the public on domestic violence in Liberia through its reportage. According to the draft simplified version of the Draft Domestic Violence Act, family cruelty is rampant in Liberia. The report pointed out that the act mostly happen to people who are powerless in the society, adding that family violence and cruelty also happen in many ways among people who are connected by families. The draft act is based on the plan that the Government of Liberia (GoL) put together in 2009 to look at what men and women can do whenever they are making laws that have to do with family violence, Heritage reports.

Related Captions: Carter Center Releases Study on Women, Right of Access to Information(National Chronicle), GOL, Carter Center to Release Report on FOI(FrontPage Africa), MOGD Holds Media Awareness Forum on Draft Domestic Violence Act(Heritage)

OTHER STORIES

Good News In Ebola Fight: At Least Five Have ‘Successfully Recovered’

According to the Daily Observer, authorities of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW) said at least five persons who were tested positive for the deadly Ebola virus disease (EVD), have now successfully recovered and have tested ‘negative.’ According to Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah, four of the five, who are in Lofa and one in Montserrado, have now been “reintegrated” back into their respective communities. “This is a good news in our fight against the disease,” Asst. Min. Nyenswah, a Public Health Expert, said. “I am told that one of the Lofa survivors is a member of the Voinjama AG Church. There was a big celebration by the church members for the recovery of their colleague,” he added. The Asst. Health Minister, who is also the Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the nation, said the Government, through the Health Ministry wants to use those survivors as ambassadors to raise the hope of anyone contracting the disease that they, too, can survive. They would also tell the nation the kind of care they are given by health workers, some of whom are working 24/7 spreading health tips on the prevention of the disease. At the same time under the caption US$10M Ebola Fund Launched – West African Health Ministers Agree On Inter-Country Strategy, the New Republic daily writes that in a strong show of unity, the West African region is working to deal with the threats posed by the Ebola virus evident by a resolution by its health ministers to establish a fund of $10 million to support research into the Ebola virus.

Catholic Hospital Gets ECG Machine

Saint Joseph Catholic Hospital has received a state-of-the art ECG machine to aid the doctors in diagnosing abnormal heart conditions and also to investigate that cause of pain in the chests of some of the patients that attend the hospital. The machine value US$100,000 was presented to the hospital by Mrs. Piso Saydee Tarr, Executive Director of the Gbowee Peace Foundation on behalf of an American philanthropist, Nancy Word, who lobbied with companies, students and her family to raise funds used to buy the equipment,  INSIGHT reports.

Episcopal Bishop Heads West Africa Internal Province

The Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Liberia, Jonathan Bonaparte Baubau Hart, has been enthroned as Archbishop of the Internal Province of West Africa (IPWA) in the Church of the Province of West Africa (CPWA). Bishop Hart who is currently resident at the Cathedral Church of Holy Trinity on Bread Street is the second Bishop to be elected as the Most Reverend to the distinguished office and rank of Archbishop of the IPWA. He succeeds Dr. Solomon Tilewa Ethelbert Willie Johnson of The Gambia who died in office on January 21, 2014, Inquirer reports.

Free Diabetes Testing For Children

A diabetes testing and awareness center recently launched in the country by a former Liberian journalist will this Saturday provide free diabetes testing and awareness for children between the ages of nine and 15. Making the disclosure at the weekend, Mr. James Momoh said the exercise, which will be held at the offices of the center said the exercise, which will be held at the offices of the center on Front Street in Monrovia, is aimed at assisting parents to know the status of the sugar content of their children and to provide onsite counseling on how to manage the sugar level of their children if identified to be type 1 diabetic or developing diabetes, The NEWS reports.

WAIFEM Trains Economic, Financial Analysts

The West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), has trained over thirty Economic and Financial Analysts from across the sub-region. Delivering the Keynote Address during the opening of the Regional Workshop, the Governor of the Bank of Sierra Leone, Mr. Shaku S. Sesay, who was represented by Mr. I.K. Lamin, Director of the Financial Markets Department of the Bank of Sierra Leone highlighted the importance of the course on economic and financial analysis. Governor Sesay said in economic analysis the strengths and weaknesses of an economy are analyzed, hence it is important in order to understand the exact status and conditions of an economy, Inquirer writes.

LICC Dedicates Modern Multipurpose Research Center

The Liberia International Christian College (LICC) in Ganta on Sunday, July 6, dedicated a modern multipurpose resource center on its main campus.  Speaking to reporters at the 3^rd Commencement Excises of the institution, the President, Dr. Sei  Goryor  Buor expressed excitement over  the completion of the building and said it will be called LICC Community Research Center. He explained that the ground floor will be the library and it will contain about 40, 000 textbook and other periodicals while the upper floor will be a technology center where computers and online instruction will take place, Daily Observer reports.

Liberia Returns With Silver

The Liberian delegation of two athletes and a coach has returned from the African Junior Championships with a prestigious Silver Medal in one of the Field Events of the Games. Kadmiel Enders, 19, was pride winning of the 2^nd place in the High Jump category of the Field events, beating competitors from across the African Continents. The first place was scooped by the hosts, The NEWS reports.