-The Tamba Aghailas Foundation challenges youths to be Ambassadors of Peace
By Moses M. Tokpah, mosesmtokpah@gmail.com
The Tamba Aghailas Foundation owned and operated by a US-based Liberian has launched a nationwide peace and development conference in Foya District, Lofa County in northwestern Liberia.
It is launched under the team “Inspire and Empower A New Generation”.
The conference was held at the Tamba Lamie Taylor Council Hall in the District recently lasted for four days and was characterized by a daylong interactive discussions
It coincided with the launch of a book entitled, “In Pursuit Of Liberty” written by Mr. Aghailas and a three-day tournament amongst youths of the District.
The conference brought together a cross-section of citizens of the Foya, including local leaders, youth groups, women groups, religious leaders and traditional leaders among other.
Mr. Tamba D. Aghailas, CEO/Founder of the Tamba Aghailas Foundation in an interview with Reporters at the end of the four days of activities said, the intent of the nationwide peace and development conference is to empower and inspire a new generation of leaders through education, capacity building and innovation and to unite the Liberian people.
He noted that the Foundation has observed that what Liberians need across the Country is sustainable development adding that to have sustainable development, there must be peace and unity among the citizens.
Mr. Aghailas revealed that during the conference, he observed that participants (especially the young people) were excited and are looking for leadership. As such, he said he was looking up to them to fill the void and be able to provide leadership.
“If you look at the demographic of Liberia right now, over 65% of the populations are young people; people under the age of thirty-five that’s where the void is and we aim to take that void to provide the leadership needed to help build a new generation of leaders for tomorrow and the future,” he revealed.
Mr. Aghailas also challenged the young people of Liberia to be Ambassadors of peace, adding that they have seen the history of the Country wherein young people were used during the Liberian civil conflictn. Ad warlords used the ignorance of young people using their financial resources to gang rape and drug the young people at the same time sending them in the killing fields.
He noted that there are young people who are “zogos” in the Country, who led the campaign against their own people. This is why the young people are important today to make sure that they are preparing the current generation and are inspiring them to stay away from the gun.
“If you want to bring a change in your Village it’s not the might of a gun but through the might of pen and through ideas and through exchanges and that’s our approach, we need to start now and this Country we as sons and daughters of Liberia need to step up to be able to bring the kind of transformation that is needed,” he narrated.
He then named water, electricity and road as three basic things that when they are available across the Country; Liberians can be able to lead their own lives, lead productive lives and will need minimum government assistance thereby calling on national government to prioritize these three areas of development.
The Foundation, according to its CEO, will top into other organizations and stakeholders that are interested in partnering with the Institution to see how it can take her work across the Country.
During the conference, Mr. Aghailas launched a book entitled, “In Pursuit Of Liberty”. It narrates his personal history, history of the people of Foya District and the Liberian civil war.
Mr. Aghailas then donated copies of the book to major institutions and heads of various organization as well as local leaders of the District.
He used the occasion to appeal to other Liberians around the World to find ways of investing in Liberia.
“You know I always tell people that home is where the heart is no matter how long you stay in the Diaspora if you have love for your Country home is where the heart is, so if you are in the Diaspora you haven’t thought of doing something back home start small; I am not saying everyone has the means that other people have to come and invest tens of thousands of dollars to start program but start small look from your own Town or your own Village and identify a need there,” Mr. Aghailas added.
Meanwhile, as part of the Foundation’s activities in the area,, teams from three clans in the District participated in a peace tournament including Waum, Tenkia as well as lower and upper Rankollie. Each team walked away with a prize.
The first winner walked away with L$20,000 and a trophy and the second place winner also walked away with L$10,000 while the third place winner walked away with L$6,000 as the fourth team won a cash prize of L$5,000, while a trophy was being awarded to the most valuable player respectively.
Mr. Aghailas disclosed that the tournament was meant to rejuvenate the excitement and unity among the young people of Foya District, promising to take same across the Country during other peace conferences.
For their part, citizens of Foya District have hailed Mr. Tamba D. Aghailas for initiating the peace conference, which they said has taken away the disunity that have long existed in the area.
The citizens then said this is the first time that a son of the district has organized a peace initiative bringing them together under one umbrella.
Citizens in the Foya District however, called on him to continue the process and even extend it to members of the Lofa Legislative Caucus, the County’s Administration and other politicians in the County.