Patience Kaifa, 12, took her first trip to a bookstore on Tuesday (March 28, 2022) when she and 13 other children from four elementary schools boarded Logos Hope, the world’s largest floating book fair at the National Port Authority. The ship docked in Monrovia on March 19, 2022 and is expected to depart April 5, 2022.
The trip was sponsored by the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa (GPFA), the organization created by Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee. The students are among 118 students on the GPFA scholarship program. The participating schools on the Logos Hope trip included students from Konola Academy, Cuttington Campus School, Cathedral High School and Crystal Foundation School.
Kaifa, a fifth grader at Konola Academy, has been on the GPFA scholarship for four years.
“The Gbowee Foundation pays my school fees and also takes me on field trips, so that I can meet other people and learn new things. This is my first time on a ship and going to a bookstore. I enjoyed myself,” Kaifa explained with enthusiasm.
Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee said the core of the Foundation’s education program is to expose students to experience outside of the classroom.
“We are interested and invested in the wholistic education of all the children in our program and beyond. We believe that exposing our students to worlds beyond their realities is the best approach to mentoring the next generation of leaders in Liberia,” she said.
On the ship, the students watched a short video about Logos Hope before touring the bookstore where they were excited to see a wide selection of books. They checked crossword puzzles, dictionaries, Disney books, books on science, math, English, Bible stories, coloring books and much more.
The Foundation also gave them money to buy books of their choice.
O’Neil Lathrobe, a fifth grader at Konola Academy, bought a crossword puzzle book.
“This is a great experience. This puzzle book will help me learn new words,” Lathrobe, 13, stated.
Penneliah Victor, a sixth grader at Cuttington Campus School in Suacoco, Bong County, said Logos Hope was her third field trip with GPFA. She said that the scholarship program also took her to Peace Jam and Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County.
“This trip opened my eyes to a lot of new things. I have not seen so many books in my life before. Thank you, Aunty Leymah,” she expressed gratitude.