We greatly appreciate your support on Giving Tuesday! As a result, you raised $420 on Facebook. Despite our best efforts, we did not benefit from the matching funds from PayPal. In fact, the number of donations within seconds of event start time exhausted the funds.
To sum it up, every dollar of your donation goes towards the development of your students enrolled in one of our eight vocational training courses. Thank you for making a difference and changing the lives of Liberian Youth for the better!
I served as the guest speaker at the Osseo Secondary Transition Center’s (OSTC) Large Group Activity on November 21. This school serves students ages 17 to 21 with varying abilities and disabilities. OSTC provides students needed assistance to transition from school to life. Also, their programs include expanding interpersonal and job skills and building confidence. This is why Jeri Levinson, the Special Education Teacher, invited me to share our work in Liberia. She further explained that our centers share a common mission in preparing young people to be independent.
I spent the first 20 to 25 minutes sharing stories and photos of our programs. Before each course slide, I asked how many of them had dabbled in the given trade. Their responses resulted in auto mechanics, computers, cooking, and sewing as the most popular ones. I then explained how and what our students learned in their given trades such as:
Auto mechanic students learn how to use and convert parts from other types of vehicles. I further explained how people ship vehicles from the U.S. and elsewhere but do not include the spare parts.
Catering students bake their cakes in our charcoal powered oven, a converted upright freezer. Also, they use a coal pot to cook meals.
Tailoring students use a treadle machine to sew clothes, uniforms, etc.
I also shared some of the challenges that our students face. This includes:
limited to no access to electricity and running water in their home,
high unemployment,
high inflation, and
little to no parental support.
Finally, I opened the floor to questions from the Osseo students, who face additional challenges of homelessness and poverty. They followed by asking several good questions about Liberia and how our students learn.
Three of the students volunteered to help. First, one boy named Dallas volunteered his graphic design skills. His first assignment is updating our banners for all our social media sites. Another two boys, Alex and Michael, will help with making videos. Their first assignment is to create marketing videos to promote our work. I look forward to working with these three teenagers.
As you can see, Uniting Distant Stars welcomes talent from anywhere. Hence, we allow people to shine their light for service to others.
Your generous support of 150 students enrolled in one of eight courses gives them the learning equipment, materials, and tools they need to spend at least 85% of their course time doing practicals. Can you believe that November 20 marked the eighth month of their year-long program? Well, our students know the clock is running down for their training and doubled their efforts in completing their practicals.
Our catering students worked together to bake your Thank You cake last week. This week’s assignment, our students worked on making and baking their individual cakes. Each student used their creative flair in decorating their cake in a unique color theme and design. As you can see, they did a beautiful job. Afterward, each student brought their cakes home to show to their families and friends. As a result of this assignment, they are ready to bake you a birthday, wedding, or any other special occasion cake.
Your students baked these beautiful cakes!
Our cosmetology students spent the whole day in their learning lab plaiting hair on Tuesday, November 20. Their instructor, Roseline Sonday, found clients within the community and assigned two students per customer. Their quality of work continues to improve and they are working with newer styles. These students are so dedicated to their craft that they work long hours to take full advantage of our training center. They too are eager and ready to give you a new hairstyle.
Your cosmetology students are demonstrating that Education is Better Than Silver & Gold.
Your continued investment is giving your students the needed learning materials and quality space to apply the skills they have gained during the last eight months. You should feel very proud of what you accomplished in making this possible.
In our October 11 article, “Making UDS Known to the Surrounding Community,” we highlighted the different marketing strategies employed to encourage people to stop and visit our center. One strategy involves our students doing their practicals outside our center and this gets us noticed. An example of this occurred on November 21. A 68-year-old Ghana man named Joseph walked by and observed our electrician students struggling to do an assignment. The students needed to bend pipes into 90-degree angles to route electrical wires in a building. As he watched them fail at their attempts, Joseph wanted to offer his help.
He immediately approached Kelvin Fomba, UDS Co-Founder & Director, and shared that he is an electrical engineer. Joseph then asked if we provided vocational training because he often sees our students at work. He further explained that he had a better way to bend pipes and wanted to demonstrate this to our students. Kelvin followed by welcoming him and stressing UDS is a school of learning. Also, he explained that we are always open to people willing to share their knowledge with our students.
Joseph proceeded to join our students and demonstrated his method for bending pipe. He first showed them how to fill the straight pipe with sand so it would maintain its round shape. Then, he put the pipe over the coal to heat it so he could bend it. The students watched in awe as he bent the pipe into a perfect 90-degree angle. Next, our students applied this low-tech process in bending pipes for their practicals.
Joseph showing your electrician students a simple way to bend pipe properly
Joseph expressed his gratitude to be able to teach our students an easier way to bend pipe. Kelvin in return thanked him for his help. He then explained our plans to install solar panels and some of the challenges with determining our needs. So, Joseph sat down with everyone and went over some of the basics for solar power. He plans to return soon to help our students and team to determine the number of solar panels and batteries needed to power our center.
Joseph sharing his knowledge about solar to your students
Finally, our Liberian team’s efforts to advertise our students work outside the center paid off with the visit from Joseph. It is our hope that more people will stop in and learn more about our activities. We welcome anyone who loves to share their knowledge and improve the quality of our student’s training. Remember, the welcome mat is always out for you.
Because we are a small and humble organization, your ongoing support of Liberian Youth is beyond measure…like trying to count all the stars in your lifetime. You are celebrated and honored by your studentsbecause you give them the opportunity to learn skills that will change their lives for the better. That is what we call Startacular!
On this Day of Thanksgiving, we want to express our heartfelt, overflowing appreciation and gratitude for the confidence, hope, and supportive learning environment you give to young men and women in Liberia!
Your catering student made this cake especially for you because without your support, they would not have come this far. Elijah Kotte (catering student) shares his thanks and appreciation to you on the behalf of all his fellow students.
Your Thank You Cake baked by your Catering Students
In the last 20 seconds of this video, Elijah says: “We are telling them Thank You because the knowledge they are imparting on us. If we were sitting out there, we would not learn how to do this. We thank them for the knowledge they imparted on us. This is the reason why we are telling them Thank You.”
