01/27/2024 Virtual Tea Time Recap: Learn about the Pay It Forward Challenge
The fun continues with our seventh quarterly Virtual Tea Time held on January 27, 2024. We had 15 attendees, three in Minnesota and the rest in Liberia. The hour-long event included introductions, guest questions to the UDS staff and students, and new vocational student questions to the Minnesotans.
Introductions started in Minnesota and then in Liberia. Everyone was asked to share their name, affiliation with UDS, and passion. Here are the introductions of the Liberian staff and students (Click on the instructors’ names to watch their introduction video).
UDS Liberia Introductions
Kelvin Fomba, UDS Co-Founder & Director in Liberia. He views himself as a humanitarian working on making education and vocational training affordable and accessible to children and youth.
Godfrey Solomon is a UDS Administration & Academic Teacher. His passion is developing young minds because they are the nation’s future.
Myrtle Stoe, UDS Business Manager/Registrar & 2019 Hotel Management Alum. She loves to serve and is grateful to work at UDS to help the public.
Emmett Kilby, UDS Electrician Instructor & 2022 Computer Alum. He is passionate about becoming an engineer and opening a large electrical company to brighten his country.
Stephen Nyankun, UDS Mathematics and Physics Teacher (grades 10th & 11th) & Electrician Student. He also has a BSC in Mining Engineering from the University of Liberia. His passion is to help others by teaching- not pass through the same suffering he experienced.
Sarwo Manobah, New UDS Computer Student. Her passion is to serve people through computers.
Taylor Mulbah, a UDS Academy 7th Grade Student. His passion is to help Liberians with knowledge and serve people.
Annie Y Toe, UDS Cosmetology Student. Her passion is to help people in Liberia to braid their hair.
Marrion Massaquoi, UDS Electrician Student & Sponsored by a Star Champion. Her passion is to electrify the country and help other people.
Christiana T. Won, UDS Computer Student & Sponsored by a Donor. Her passion is to learn computers to the fullest. Then, help others, youth like myself, so that today or tomorrow, we can be useful in society and help make our country up to standard when it comes to a computer literacy program.
Loresh Mendin, UDS Electrician Student. He is passionate about electricity and wants to help brighten his community, city, and nation.
Mohammed Gbettu, UDS Administration & Media Person, and 2020 UDS Computer Alum. He videotaped the others, so he was not captured on video. He thanked everyone for blessing UDS!
Guest Questions
Branko Tambah, Founder of Tambah Foundation, asked, “What is holding you back from your true potential?” Annie (Cosmetology) responded by saying it is hard to pay for learning materials. Myrtle (Bsn Manager) also shared how people can volunteer to pave their way to earn money. She provided an example of volunteering at a salon; you will have a job once you graduate.
This led Branko to provide a “Pay It Forward Challenge.” Up to five students can submit a letter explaining how they would take $50, turn it into $100, and give that other $50 to someone else. He also recommended this could be a team effort.
Paul Ostrow, UDS Board Treasurer, asked, “How did the students learn about UDS?” He received a few answers as follows:
Stephen answered, saying he had heard about UDS from a friend and observed how well we took care of the students. He then learned about UDS from our 10th Anniversary Parade in June 2023.
Christiana answered she heard about us through a neighbor’s daughter. What encouraged her to join UDS was based on the daughter’s output. She believes she can do better :-)
Marrion answered she had heard from her sister.
Loresh answered that his friend, who did not attend the school, told him about it. His friend shared that the school does great things, and people are doing something after they leave.
Paul added to his question by asking, “How can UDS attract more students?” Godfrey answered that Monrovia is not Liberia. The country is comprised of counties, and we need to expand our training to other ones. He shared an idea about “Skills on Wheels” that could include non-electricity training such as soap-making and tie-dyeing. Kelvin called it mobile training. We have had a strong interest from other countries that want us to expand in their area.
New Student Questions
Stephen asked us, “Where did the vision come from to support this organization?” Heather answered that she had lived in Liberia for two years and that she knew young people were hungry to learn. Paul shared how he had met a friend from Liberia and visited Bong County to help with that program, and he came to UDS because of the vision. Branko explained how he liked our approach to training youth.
Christiana asked two questions. 1) What are your future plans for UDS, especially with scholarship students? 2) How will you increase enrollment and help empower youth? Heather started with the first question by saying that the scholarships are based on sponsors. She then responded to the second question that they are trying to find a US vocational training school to establish a sister relationship and find businesses that want to sponsor a course that would make it more affordable.
We all had a wonderful time getting to know each other and asking questions to continue to improve our program. Our next Virtual Tea Time is April 27, 2024. We hope you will join us.