I am Richard H. Sieh, 37 years of age. I hail from Grand Kru County, south eastern Liberia. I come from a large family background, seven brothers, eight sisters. I graduated from the University of Liberia in 1988 with a Bachelors degree in Mathematics. I taught for two years in Monrovia as teacher of Mathematics before the rebel incursion in my country in December 1989. During the early years of the war I fled to Harper, Maryland county where I served as a classroom teacher.
When the civil war in my country intensified, I fled to neighbouring Ivory Coast for safety. While in the Ivory Coast, I founded HEAL (Help Ease the Agony of Liberians), a local Liberian NGO catering for unaccompanied children from Liberia to the Ivory Coast. I also continued my teaching career with the ADRA Frontline Education school system.
I returned to Liberia in 1998 after the elections in 1997. While in Liberia, I worked as Program Officer for FOCUS, a child rights advocacy group while at the same time serving as teacher of Mathematics at the College of West Africa Business Program. When the situation was intensifying again especially with Charles Taylor’s crackdown on Human Rights Advocacy groups and as the security situation became tensed, I fled to Ghana as a refugee with my family.
In Ghana, I experienced the worst of situation on the Buduburam Refugee Camp. My family and I could hardly find food to eat. I tried to secure a scholarship from the UNHCR to further my studies. I was not successful. I had even been accepted by the UNESCO-IHE program at the University of Delft in the Netherlands, but I could not get any sponsorship.
This did not deter me. In collaboration with a lay missionary of the Society of African Missions (SMA), I co-founded FORKIDS (Friends Of Refugee Kids In Difficult Situation) a local Liberian NGO in Ghana. FORKIDS, was instrumental in sending child laborers to school and providing psychological and material support for boys whom the society saw as “difficult boys.” This project led to the establishment of a vocational training center (SMA Technical-Vocational Training Center) since most of the child laborers we were in contact with complained that their caregivers and guidance were out of jobs due to the fact that they were not skilled. Thus to empower the caregivers to be self-employed, we established the vocational training center. The training center operated for four years training youths, young adults, and adults, some of whom were former combatants and others in difficult circumstances. Our program stood out to be the hope for refugees on the camp.
A Cross-section of Trainees in Ghana
Still, I did not abandon my struggle to secure a scholarship for further studies. But the more I tried, the less I succeeded. When the semblance of peace appeared in Liberia, I decided with some of my staff members, along with a lay missionary of the SMA, to transplant the Ghana project to Liberia as our contribution to Liberia’s post-war reconstruction. With tools secured from the Save the Tools Foundation of the Netherlands, I travelled for 3 weeks by road from Ghana to Liberia in mid August 2005. I was sick on the road from stomach problem and from stress exerted on me by border securities, especially through the Ivory Coast. But my resilience was dominant and I successfully arrived with the tools – over 3000 assorted tools to serve as starter for our proposed training center. We established a local NGO, PEP (People Empowerment Program) and PEP gave birth to a vocational-technical training center, PEP-TEC (PEP Technical Education Center). The center is housed in an unfinished storey building refurbished by PEP with assistance from the Refugee Foundation in The Netherlands.
The training center, PEP-TEC, is now in full swing. We offer training in nine skill areas: Auto Mechanics, Computer Science, Carpentry, Electricity, Masonry, Plumbing, Soap Science, Tailoring and Typing. PEP-TEC has twelve staff members. We are not paid. We all render voluntary services. It is difficult to get funding for staff compensation from many organizations. On record, the center accommodates 266 students (172 males, 94 females) comprising ex-combatants, IDP’s, and other war-affected persons in extreme difficult circumstances. This is why we adapt the motto: Give Line, Not Fish.
Richard with Some Child laborers in Ghana, 2001
The community in which the project is located (Pipeline, Paynesville) is very grateful for the program. Imagine mothers, especially young single mothers, taking their young babies to the training sessions, a situation that often creates discomfort for the trainers. But it is difficult to ask them to leave their babies at home since they (the mothers) have nobody to care for their babies at home. More than this, asking the mothers to leave their babies home may compel them to leave the program, which is not healthy for the rehabilitation and reintegration process in the context of strengthening the socio-economic fabric of communities in the process of nation building in Liberia.
PEP also collaborates with rural and urban communities in institutional capacity building by offering workshops and training for community-based organizations. One of such trainings is ongoing with the St. Benedict Vocational School in Tubmanburg outside of the capital Monrovia. PEP provides training for teachers in the areas of Lesson Planning, Curriculum Development, Classroom Management, and Skills Development in some trade areas.
Training Center in Liberia, PEP-TEC
Yes, many people are battered by circumstances. Those without “bones” are battered and broken. But the ossified, the likes of Richard, are resilient and focused. It is true that in flying, the only obstacle the eagle is faced with is the resistance of the wind. Yet, without this resistance, the proud bird would not be able to fly. Indeed, the obstacles we face in life also provide the basis for us to move forward! This is the end of my story.
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