YAI's projects

Today was reserved for visits to YAI’s main project sites. The first project was a community empowerment project done in partnership with the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The project was simple and consisted of two parts. The first was field research on the main social issues in some of the most conflict affected and at-risk urban communities. The second part was the development of special slogans targeting those issues that were then introduced to the people through community meetings and further disseminated on billboards, bumper stickers, radio programs, and tee-shirts.



After driving all around Greater Monrovia looking at the various billboards, we made our way to the J.C.N. Howard Memorial Playground. This playground, as with all others in Liberia, was severely dilapidated and so badly damaged during the civil war that it was nearly dangerous for children to play there. YAI’s founder and my friend, Kimmie Weeks, had particular attachment to this playground because it is where he played as a child growing up in Monrovia. As one of the organization’s first projects in Liberia, YAI renovated the playground and continues to maintain it. Now, hundreds of neighborhood children have a place to play and just be kids. It was so refreshing to see all of these children playing with real toys and on proper equipment as opposed to literally amusing themselves on the street or in ramshackle alleyways. While many could criticize this type of project, Liberia was so destroyed by the civil war that these basic projects are truly needed.


The last project I visited today was the Elwood Orphanage. Before YAI began supporting the orphanage, a courageous woman was simply taking children orphaned by the conflict into her home. As the numbers of children increased, she eventually had to move to a neighboring building, but it had no roof and no real facilities for the children. Now YAI supports Elwood and the building not only has a roof, but also windows, doors, a real classroom, and dorms for the boys and girls. There are nearly a hundred children living at the orphanage. They also have their own vegetable garden and little pig and chicken farm, with the goal of eventually becoming self-sustainable in terms of food.