-A well-deserved commendation
Liberia’s quilt makers: They are not just creative but they weave together all sorts of designs and patterns that at the end of the day look as though it was designed by machine.
It is all their handy work done with needle and thread on wooden spools. Great women going way back in Liberian history, who have passed down this fascinating skills from one generation to another through schools such as the Maryanne Cheeseman School at the Education Ministry.
They have made quilts of masterpiece-designs right here in Liberia that have ended up on Presidential and Royal beds in rooms at State Houses and Palaces around the world—all made in Liberia.
It is against this backdrop that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has lauded the Associations of Liberian Women, who produced quilts for national and international use, urging them to work together and be strong in lifting Liberia.
“Let me commend you for what you have been doing and encouraged them to stay together and be strong in promoting Liberia,” a press release from the Executive Mansion quotes President Sirleaf as saying.
The Liberian leader was speaking on Thursday, October 26, 2017 at her Foreign Ministry office in Monrovia when she received in audience over 23 female quilters from different communities in Monrovia and surrounding settlements.
The quilters came from the Robertsfield Highway, Somalia Drive, Stephen Tolbert Estate, Caldwell, Barnesville, among other areas.
At a forum aimed at promoting Liberian women in business President Sirleaf urged them to organize themselves and also form a working group from each association to assess a site at the Jorkpen Town market on the 5thd Street, Sinkor designated for the women with a view to enhancing their skills and talents in order to enlarge their businesses.
She informed the women about efforts being made to also secure the Industrial Park where some of the women will showcase their quilts and move it to another level like the Kente clothe in Ghana.
The release said President Sirleaf pledged her continued support and thanked the women quilters for their contribution to Liberia including keeping the peace Liberia now enjoys.
“When I saw you doing the quilts, I decided to use it for national and international gift,” the President said on the eve of her 79th birth anniversary on October 29.
In separate remarks, the heads of different groups including Alice Daniels, Bennetta Flammah, Mande Davis and Batties Page commended President Sirleaf for recognizing the efforts of the women by showing interest in promoting and enhancing their skills, which they terms as a welcomed development.
The women quilters further appealed to President Sirleaf for additional support in promoting quilts both nationally and internationally, especially by securing a place for them to operate their businesses, where they will freely produce their quilts.