Young professionals and Assistant Minister of State for Presidential Affairs pose during YBB youth on Acquaintance Day.
The Better Future Foundation (BFF) and Youth Beyond Barriers (YBB), recently held a Youth Acquaintance Day along with the prelude of YBB’s 2021 Summit.
It was attended by an array of young scholars and other distinguished personalities making thematic presentations on “The Need to Prioritize Cultivating Youth Mentorship and Development in Liberia.”
Held at the YBB Youth Enhancement Center for Peace, Democracy and Development which is situated at the campus of the New Hope Academy (NHA) on Peace Island in Paynesville, outside Monrovia, the forum brought together more than 150 youths, representing various high schools, colleges and universities as well as various communities in Monrovia and its environs.
Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Mohammed Kromah, Assistant Minister of State for Presidential Affairs encouraged young people in Liberia to embrace education which is light in darkness and adopt what he described as a “baby-steps approach” to attain success in life.
Quoting the Biblical Book, Proverbs 22:6, which underscores the need to train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it, Minister Kromah said “a baby doesn’t just wake up and start walking, otherwise, the baby will fall and sustain injuries.”
“All babies must start by learning to sit, crawl, stand up before walking and running,” Minister Kromah told the gathering of young people as they listened attentively to his presentation.
Moreover, Minister Kromah cautioned Liberian youths and students to cultivate good moral values including honesty, integrity, hard work, commitment and dedication, service to others, among others as they strive for achievement of their educational and other positive goals in life.
“Remain focused on your goals and submit to acquiring good mentorship,” Minister Kromah emphatically encouraged the young people.
He further told them to build their academic, technical and professional capacities to ensure quality leaderships and provision of basic services to their communities and country.
Minister Kromah used the occasion to frown against laziness being cultivated in the nation’s educational sector and other strata of the Liberian society.
According to Assistant Minister Kromah, laziness serves as an impediment or a disincentive to the success and progress of an individual, institution or nation, and as such, Liberian youths and students must eschew laziness which is fast becoming a culture as they strive for quality education and other capacity enhancement opportunities at home and abroad.
Other speakers at the occasion also included Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Liberia (UL), Haja Kabah, who attributed her reintegration into the Liberian society after her return from Ivory Coast, where she did her entire childhood education in the French languish.
Professor Kabah said “it was YBB and BFF that exposed me to youth leadership by helping me to break and go beyond the languish barriers from French to English.”
Similarly, Atty. Kojo Ross hailed BFF for immensely imparting his life through the opportunity to have served as National Coordinator of YBB, a foundation upon which he rose to have later served as Program Officer/Deputy Director of the Liberia Refugees Repatriation and Resettlement Commission (LRRRC); and now a promising lawyer.
Speaking earlier at the occasion, the convener of the forum, Augustine Arkoi, who is also Head of the Better Future Foundation (BFF), said the objective of the Youth Acquaintance Day was to create awareness among young people about the need to prioritize cultivating youth mentorship and development in Liberia.
He cautioned the youths to avoid the act of taking short-cut in life, and exhibit the endurance of good listening, comprehension, reading and analytical skills for possible chance of success in the near future.
According to Mr. Arkoi, the Youth Acquaintance Day was a prelude to the YBB Summit 2021 which seeks to integrate, organize, and set up a conglomeration of high school and university students, as well as young professionals of the Youth Beyond Barriers (YBB), to support the reconstruction and development endeavors of Liberia.
The YBB Youth Acquaintance Day ended with outdoor sports activities which pitched YBB soccer, kickball and basket teams against the New Hope Academy ending with victory for YBB in basketball and kickball, and for NHA in the soccer game.
The Kick Off of the football game was done by Mr. Sam Duo, a former manager of UBA Bank-Liberia, and current head of Human Resources at the APM Terminals Liberia, Ltd, Free Port of Monrovia.
Mr. Duo, a YBB veteran, who is also Executive Director of Calvary Empowerment Team, urged the youth to play for sustainable peace and development in Liberia.
He further cautioned the youth to use the BFF/YBB Acquaintance Day as a platform in the strengthening and enhancing of relations between and among young people.
BFF is a Liberian based CSO that is dedicated to promoting educational development; socio-economic, and international cultural understanding and cooperation.