A structure memorializing the classroom life of the late Wilfred Kehleboe Gongloe has been dedicated in the town of Glehyi-Zorpea, Yarwin Mensonnoh Statutory District in Nimba County.
It was constructed on the premises of the Wei Gbanlue Public School (primary) in Glehyi-Zorpea Town by the children of the late teacher, and his wife, Elizabeth Menguah Gongloe, also deceased.
Speaking during the commissioning ceremony on Saturday, December 5, the head of the family, Counselor Tiawan Saye Gongole, said education is the surest way for any human being to get out of poverty because it has no geographical boundaries.
He said, “One does not have to be academic but should have a vocation to get rich instead of being poor because it would enable you to contribute to your family, the community and the country.”
Gongloe, 64, told hundreds of dignities or invited guests from all walks of life at both local and national level that teacher Wilfred Kehleboe Gongloe Education Resource Center or public library is intended for students and ordinary people to do research.
The late Wilfred and his wife, Elizabeth, were called Papa and Mama Degree because they insisted the going to school of every parent who resided in the town of Glehyi-Zorpea at the time child or children should see education as worthy venture.
Wilfred was a classroom teacher for almost 30 years and served as headmaster or principal at the Mehnla and Wehgbeanlu Public Schools during those days molding the minds of today’s leaders before his death on June 5, 2015.
Tiawan reflected how at the time their late father used to beat on people’s children as a means of encouraging them about education, and that has paid off in surrounding towns and villages in Yarwin Mensonnoh District today.
“Our father (Wilfred) and mother (Elizabeth) had 11 children of which 9 are degree holders. During those days, he was earning about US$100 as a teacher which he managed and used well in sending us to school,” Tiawan recalled.
He also recited the kinds of suffering or inhumane treatment their parents (Wilfred and Elizabeth) had to get them schooled without any assistance coming from anybody for which they have constructed a remembrance structure.
“Nobody assisted my siblings in the construction of this public library to memorialize our father’s life. This means development does not only rest with government but private and public partnership,” he noted.
On behalf of the government, David Jacobs, Superintendent of Yarwin Mensonnoh Statutory District proxied for President George Manneh Weah.
He expressed his displeasure with comments from some residents of Glehyi-Zorpea Town in particular, and Yarwin Mensonnoh District in general, for their destructive jealousy being played.
Jacobs said the people of Nimba County must be appreciative and proud of the Gongloes’ family initiative in the construction of a modern resource center in the remote part of the county.
“This is the first of its kind, if not, only in Nimba County for a private citizen to build a public library in a remote part of the country and handed same over to government free of charge, then such person must be commended,” he stated.
For Nimba County’s Chief Education Officer or CEO, Moses Dologbay, who deputized for Education Minister, Dao Ansu Sonii, stressed the importance of the resource center for school goers to take advantage of it.
He said in Yarwin Mensonnoh District, students of the Wei Gbanlue Public School (Primary) in general in Glehyi- Zorpea Town must take advantage of the facilities by taking ownership.
Dologbay believes that the intent of a library or education resource center is to check on teachers whenever lessons are given to students and/or ordinary people decide to carry out research.
He then paid tribute to the Gongloe family for taking the initiative to construct a modern resource center in the remote part of Nimba County and promised that government will deploy two (2) librarians to take care of the facilities.
Making short comments at the ceremony was the former Minister of the Post and Telecommunications, Fredrick Nokeh, Head of Girls Power, a local non-governmental organization station in Sanniquellie, Nimba County.
He also thanked the Gongloe family for the project which will impact Nimbaians, mostly the young people as well as ordinary people in their educational sojourn.
Though the cost of the structure was not announced but it is estimated at both thousands of United States and Liberian dollars respectively.
The structure has a large hall or auditorium to accommodate between 1, 000 to 2,000 persons, a book center or library which includes a computer laboratory as well as offices.
During the commissioning, a rally was held with over US$2,000 raised in pledges. Among those who committed themselves are Harrison Karnwea, President of the Nimba County Rubber Corporation US$500; and Siaka Toure, President and Chief Executive Officer of Amanita and Sons US$500.
Others are Counselor Jimmy E. Pierre US$500; Olsward Twe US$500; Sekou Bility US$200; Fredrick Nokeh US$150 as well as Ibrahim Sangare, President of the Fulani Community in Liberia who promised to electrify the building with solar power; writes Throble Kaffa Suah in Nimba County.