Orphans make headway in agriculture

At least 377 less fortunate children (students) of the New Hope Foundation Academy in Paynesville are involved in agriculture program alongside academic work to improve their lives.

The school which was established on May 26, 2010, has been caring for orphans from several communities in Paynesville, providing them food, clothing, medication and education through support of authorities of the institution.

The school has prioritized agriculture and computer literacy programs for the underprivileged kids who harvest their produce, sell them and spend the proceeds to buy essential drugs, food and clothing for themselves.
The founder and CEO of the New Hope Foundation Academy Lester N. Wehyee said the despite being self-supported, the academy enrolls 10 less fortunate kids almost yearly and spend US$1,540 to sustain them.

Mr. Wehyee who has wide range of agriculture knowledge, also disclosed that the school decided to go the rescue of less fortunate children after the prolonged civil conflict in Liberia that destroyed lives of thousands of children and left thousands others without parents.

He said the mission of the academy is to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ to the less fortunate children besides meeting their physical and emotional needs, expressing hope to extend the institution’s activities to other parts of Liberia through prayers and support of Liberians and philanthropic organizations.

He noted that under privilege kids of the school want to extent the agriculture program, but lack of land poses a serious problem to their dream of cultivating bigger farms for sustainability. The young Liberian educator said since the academy started catering to the less fortunate children, the social protection department of the Ministry of Gender has provided no assistance.

Mr. Wehyee said besides caring for the destitute children, the school also lacks chairs, benches, cooking utensils and regular nutritional supply for their survivor. He appealed to the Health and Gender Ministries to extend social services and health care to the kids most of whom are without parents.

By Emmanuel Mondaye