Saturday, July 26, was the Independence Day or national day of Liberia, one of Sierra Leone’s sister countries in the Mano River Union and a very close neighbour.
Here in Vancouver, the Liberian community lined up an elaborate programme which included a soccer match between Liberia and Sierra Leone at the Mercer stadium in New Westminster which Sierra Leone won (4-3).
That was followed by a huge dinner and dance at the Eastburn Community Centre in Burnaby in the evening presided over by Ophelia Kofa, the Liberia association’s president and other members of the executive.
The Leone Stars of BC were led into battle by captain Alex Sacha Touray and they displayed their usual wonderful soccer skills much to the delight of the spectators. The four goals by Sierra Leone were scored by captain Touray(2), Jenkins and Emmanuel. Richard Barrow and James Cooper scored the three goals by Liberia who were led by captain Mohamed Jawara.
I had a chat with Jerry Gbardy, a prominent member of the Liberian community and promoter of the Liberian soccer team on the significance of his country’s national day. He said Liberians everywhere consider it a big day to celebrate as Liberia is the first free black nation in Africa and around the world.
He added that it is also another opportunity for all Liberians to come together as one people and one nation after 14 years of a brutal civil war. Liberia’s civil war started in 1989 and ended in 2003.
Jerry, who came to Canada in 1995 after spending five years at the Waterloo refugee camp in Sierra Leone and studying Public Administration at the American University in Cairo, Egypt,said the Liberian association of BC, plans to acquire a community centre "to unite our people and plan projects for the benefit of our people here and in Liberia."
Jerry is also Vice President (West Coast) of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas.
President Ophelia Kofa is not totally happy with the way this year’s clebrations went and promised the Liberian association will do better next year, a view echoed by Secretary General Cooper.
Susan Kromah, a former treasurer of the Liberian association enjoyed herself at the dinner and dance. She works at New Hope, a Vancouver organization that offers counselling services to abused women.
We publish below the speech delivered by the Liberia Association of BC president Ophelia Kofa at the dinner and dance:
Mr. Chairman of the Board, Mr. Vice President, Hon Member of Parliament of Canada, Hon Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, our dynamic guest speaker, Mr. installing officer, the representative of the Liberian Association of Washington State, officials of our sister organizations here present, special invited guests from the Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia and the Members of the business community, distinguished ladies and gentlemen:
First of all, I want to give thanks and praises to the Almighty God for making this day possible, and for this country and for Liberia. May He continue to shower his blessings upon us always.
Today is a special day for Liberians at home and abroad. This day marks the 161st Independence anniversary of the Republic of Liberia. And the day is being celebrated also by the Association to install elected officials who will work for the community for the next two years. As we celebrate this day, we should be reminded of how far we have come as a nation and as a people. Thirteen years of civil war is something I do not feel comfortable talking about. Coming from being the most stable and peaceful country in Africa to being the one that self-destructs is something that I am ashamed off.
However, we cannot turn back the hand of time. All we need to do now as a people is to unite and move forward and not repeat the mistakes that got us into the mess. Instead of using our efforts and resources to destroy our country like our compatriots did in the past, let’s use ours to help in the reconstruction efforts. I encourage all of us to work toward the restoration of peace, stability and hope in Liberia once more. And the community organization such as ours is the good place to start.
It was against this backdrop that we founded the Liberian Canadian Association of BC in 1998 as a non-profit organization duly registered with the Government of British Columbia. Its purpose is to unify ourselves and to undertake projects to improve our community and to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters in refugee camps outside Liberia and those who are “virtual refugees” in their own homeland. As for us we are extremely blessed to be in this great country and beautiful province. And so it is compelling for us to do something meaningful to chart a new course for our community and for our people.
Our association is an old new organization: old considering its time of establishment but new since indeed we have not fully achieved our objectives due to the constraints of not having the needed resources to implement projects that we have earmarked in the past.
Given this fact, my administration plans to break away from the past of inactivity and push harder to achieve what we have set out to do. I will therefore like to encourage all members of this community organization to join me. Your presence in this hall is a clear manifestation of your ardent desire to work hard and make our Association second to none among other community organizations in this province.
Our goal at this point in time is to acquire a community cultural center from where we will run our daily operation. This center will be used to run an after school program for kids. We have among us trained professionals who will spearhead the program. That is good news for us. In addition to doing academic work, the kids will also be doing extra curriculum activities in the areas of sports and culture.
I do strongly believe that when our kids are fully busy blending academic activities with sports and other meaningful activities, they will have pretty decent chance of being productive and law-abiding citizens. Therefore we need to invest in the proposed after school program with all our energy and resources.
Having said that, there is one important question that needs to be addressed: How do we achieve our goals in the face of limited resources, especially so when it is our collective desire to see the Association rising to the level that we will be proud of? The answer to this question lies right with us. There is a common saying that, “when there is a will, there will always be a way”. So as of tonight let us begin to knock on doors. Let all of us get totally involved in the complete realization of the proposed project.
The cultural center with a resource center attached will help newly arriving immigrants to adjust fully into their new Canadian community. I need not over-emphasize the difficulty one goes through when you first arrive in a new community quite different from the one you were born and raised in. We all have been down that road before one way or the other.
The technical details of this project will be submitted to the Board shortly for approval and implementation.
Meanwhile, on behalf of the Executive Committee and the entire Association I would like to thank the soccer team for participating in the just-ended soccer tournament hosted by the African Soccer & Cultural Association. The Association’s soccer team won a prize for participating. I am confident that you will bring the big prize home next year. Keep it up guys!
Fellow compatriots, ladies and gentlemen, I know of the enormity of the task at hand, but we can not fail. The success of this project that we want to undertake lies within the level of commitment of the entire membership of this Association. Let us be mindful that organizations do not operate in a vacuum. They are driven by people. So we need to roll up our sleeves and begin to work now. I entertain the hope that you will not leave me alone to do this all by myself.
God Bless Canada! God Bless Liberia! I thank you.
Photos, top to botom: President Ophelia Kofa, Jerry Gbardy and Susan Kromah.
Comments