Coastal Connections

Coastal Connections

Written by Crystal Soderberg, UDS Communications & Outreach Coordinator
This past December, 75 Uniting Distant Stars members (both students and staff) were had the opportunity to embark on a two-day field trip to a satellite tech-school in Buchanan Grand Bassa County! Thanks to the generosity of our donors and one very giving sponsor, it was possible to give some of our students their first trip out of Monrovia.

If you are not familiar with Buchanan, it is about 2 hours down the coast of Liberia from Monrovia, towards their bordering country Cote d’Ivoire. Buchanan is the third largest city in Liberia, with a population of approximately 97,000 fewer people than the Monrovian capital. (Government of The Republic of Liberia’s 2008 National Population and Housing Census). The city is located right on the coast of the Waterhouse Bay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean, which houses a large fishing industry. Buchanan is also home to The Liberia Opportunities Industrialization Center, or, “LOIC.” This center was founded in 1977 and has many shared values with Uniting Distant Stars. As of 2013, they had 177 young people attending training courses in electricity, tailoring, carpentry and more. Both organizations aim to target post-war recovery and to educate and train their students for high-demand jobs in Liberia.

With everyone ready to go on the bus to LOIC, UDS students and staff readied themselves for a trip just over two hours long. No one was quite ready for the bus to break down on the drive and turn this into a five-hour trek. This bumpy start resulted in higher energy for the kickball and football games that the students played when they got into town. The men’s football jerseys were hand printed by UDS’ very own, Godfrey Solomon, who is a volunteer administrator.

UDS Kickball (left) and Football (right) teams.

After the games, everyone attended a short program for the LOIC student leader elections and feasted on food provided by our support staff. Following the elections, both our students and teachers had an opportunity to network with their peers. Our Liberian Co-Founder and Executive Director received a great deal of feedback from our students and teachers on the quality of education and support received by UDS. This gave them an opportunity to compare the two institutions and learn from each other.

UDS Kickball (left) and Football (right) teams.

As eventful as the day was, both teams gained valuable learning experience from this trip, both in visiting a new city and in learning about an institution that runs on similar values to their own. The UDS students and staff were fortunate to spend the night with family in the area before heading home the following day!
Backpacks for Peace: Project for Learning and Giving

Backpacks for Peace: Project for Learning and Giving

In the spirit of this season of giving, we welcome your contribution to inspire 20 youth in making 300 Backpacks for Peace through our innovative training program. The cost of making a backpack is approximately $10, so a generous gift of $50 will get us that much closer to our goal. For the second year in the row, Uniting Distant Stars will invite some of Liberia’s promising young men and women leaders to participate in the March 6, 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Forum Youth Festival organized by youthrive, a Minnesota-based non-profit.

Three Liberian youth modeling our backpacks in each color–white, blue and red
The Backpacks for Peace project will instill peace building within the community and re-spark their creative flame by using recycled plastic to make the backpacks.  The first phase of the program focused on teaching four trainees on how to sew the backpacks and care for the sewing machines as future trainers of this program. The goal of the first phase was to make 250 backpacks to be given to the students at our adopt-a-school program as part of our 4th Annual School Supply Drive.

Video shows launch of our first phase of this project on 09/26/14; narrated by Kelvin Fomba, UDS Co-founder and Country Director.

Twenty young men and women from primary to post-secondary education will launch the second phase of our backpack training program the beginning of January 2015 by making 300 bags that they will give to the beneficiaries of the Straight From the Heart Center in Liberia. This center was founded by Agnes Fallah Kamara-Umunna to provide a space for rehabilitation, reintegration, and reconciliation for youth who were on all sides of Liberia’s Civil War. Agnes is the author of the book “And Peace Still Did Not Come: A Memoir of Reconciliation”.

Photos: Left is project team lead and professional tailor Charles Mamba sitting at his machine on left that he has donated for this project. Next two photos show three of the four trainees.
We have already raised $590 towards our goal of $3,000 to buy four more sewing machines and the supplies such as zippers and thread, to make 300 backpacks. Our partner—African Dream Academy—has been donating the recycled plastic drinking water sachets, the primary material for the backpacks.
No
Items
Qty
Unit Cost
Total Cost
1
Machine
4 each
190
USD
760
USD
2
Zippers
600 yards
2
USD
1,200
USD
3
Thread
3 cartons
50
USD
150
USD
4
Scissors  
5 each
10
USD
50
USD
5
Machine needles
3 packets
25
USD
75
USD
6
Machine oil
8 bottles
4
USD
32
USD
7
Cloth Lining
3 rolls
50
USD
150
USD
       8
Participant
Benefits
583
USD
TOTAL
3.000
USD

Your contribution is not only tax-deductible; it is also developing a sustainable youth training program that teaches life-long skills in sewing and marketing a product needed by many Liberian youth. The need for rebuilding from the Liberian Civil War is still relevan, and it is even more urgent now due to the Ebola epidemic that recently devastated many families in Liberia.

Our team has been working hard and made nearly 200 backpacks when this photo was taken.
Please support our Backpacks for Peace service learning project with a donation by PayPal or by check to Uniting Distant Stars, Inc. and mail to:

Uniting Distant Stars, Inc.
4010 Lawndale LN N
Plymouth, MN 55446

Thank You For Your Generous Support

Campaign: Youth Leadership Workshop on Innovative Creative and Innovative Thinking – Liberia

Globally,
civil wars have stripped many young people in developing nations of their
childhood and sometimes their humanity. 
Conditioned by what they witnessed or by direct involvement as
conscripted child soldiers, many still resort to violence as the preferred means
of resolving conflict and solving problems. 
During peacetime, they are easily persuaded to participate in riots and public
protests over the lack of jobs or food or education.  A prime example is Liberia,
a tiny West African nation that sustained total destruction of its
infrastructure while civil war raged from 1989 to 2003.  The most devastating losses however were the
hopes and dreams of its youth.  Today some
young Liberians are graduating from college with little chance of finding
conventional employment.  The national rate
of underemployment/unemployment hovers around 85%.   Many pessimistically believe that their true
destiny is to be a vendor in the already saturated open-air markets.   Such a narrow view can only be broadened by
introducing creative thinking
Our
crowdfunding project is a revolutionary, invitation-only international youth
leadership workshop, to be held on September 13 and
14, 2013 in ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Monrovia, Liberia. It will:
  • Engage and inspire young Liberians to develop their own
    grassroots innovative projects that address problems they would like to
    solve.
  • Provide a collaborative and supportive space where our
    young participants can re-light their flame of boundless imagination and
    creative spirit that was snuffed out by war and suppressive institutions.
  • Guide our young participants to channel their energy
    into creative projects that can effect positive change in their lives and
    the people around them.
  • Assist Liberia’s future leaders, innovators, and educators
    to re-discover their potential and how they can make a difference.

 ECC Youth Group giving a message of hope for their peers in Liberia
The
workshop will begin with stories of real-life role models—young African boys
and girls who broke free of the chains of hopelessness and almost miraculously created
innovative projects with little or no
resources. These amazing youth include:
  • William Kawkwamba of Malawi, whose
    story is told in his book “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.” In 2001, when only 14
    years old, he built his first windmill to generate electricity for his house, using his inborn talent, an English-language text
    book, and items from a local scrap yard. 
    He did this despite a deadly famine that forced him to drop out of
    school. His second, more powerful windmill was built to help irrigate his
    family’s maize crops.
  • Duro-AinaAdebola, Akindele Abiola and Faleke Oluwatoyin, and Bello Eniola, four teenage
    girls from Nigeria who developed a process using human urine—an abundant and
    renewable resource—to power a generator with an initial investment of $64. They
    also found a way to eliminate the smell of “pee” to alleviate the concerns of
    working with a form of human waste.
  • KelvinDoe of Sierra Leone, who pulled electronic parts from trash dumps to make his
    own battery and generator.  He later created
    his own radio station and took the name “DJ Focus” due to his belief that focus
    is necessary to develop projects. He was invited to MIT as one of the youngest
    visiting inventors after his story was shared on YouTube.
Day
1: Our participants will analyze and discuss each of these inspirational
stories, reviewing the resources used and how projects were implemented. They will also
hear from Liberian social innovators like Alfred Sirleaf, who have successfully launched grassroots
initiatives. After exposure to these examples of
innovation, they will be encouraged to note down in sketches or words what resources
they can access for developing their own projects and addressing the problems
they hope to solve.
Day
2: UDS will provide an open lab environment where our budding inventors can
incubate their ideas, to be birthed into viable projects. They will be
encouraged to work independently and in groups to conduct experiments using the
resources they gathered to test their ideas. Additionally, they will hear about
opportunities to develop and grow their project from our Liberian partners:
  • Accountability Lab will introduce
    their Accountapreneurship Funds which provides small grants to “harness the
    creativity of citizens to solve problems in their own communities.”
  • The Business Start-up Center at the
    University of Liberia’s main campus, will share their services that “stimulate and
    develop young and ambitious entrepreneurs through Training, business plan
    competitions and facilitates access to finance as a way of promoting SME development
    and growth in Liberia.”
Also,
UDS will award seed money for the top two collaborative project ideas developed
by our young visionaries, who are ready to address the social or economic
problems within their communities. The best two projects will be determined by
the votes of all participants.
This
is a $2,500 project that will provide (click here to see concept proposal):
  • Food and transportation for all participants 
  • A one-night stay for the 8 attendees from the rural
    areas
  • Workshop materials
  • Two $200 seed grants
  • Other logistical costs
Your
pledge in supporting this project will aid and encourage our emerging youth
leaders to explore, develop and implement their creative and innovative ideas
that will help heal and rebuild their nation. No amount is too small to be part
of the journey that these young people will take in
reclaiming the gift they were born with and to give them the chance to become
contributing members of their communities and the world.
Listen to what Josh Tabla of the ECC Youth Group has to say about supporting this workshop.
We
value your involvement in this project and want to appreciate your pledge as
follows:
  • Pledge $5 or more: the Liberian
    youth will be forever gratefu

  • Pledge $20 or more:
o  
The Liberian youth will joyfully sing your name out loud;
o  
Your name will be listed on the Uniting Distant Stars sponsorship page for this
workshop as a supporter.
  • Pledge $50 or more:
o  
The youth of Liberia will repeatedly
chant your name while dancing in jubilation
o  
Your name will be listed on the
Uniting Distant Stars sponsorship page for this workshop as a supporter and
included on the 2014 annual report.
  • Pledge $100 of more:
o  
The Liberian youth will consider you
as their global auntie and uncle
o  
Your name will be listed on the
Uniting Distant Stars sponsorship page for this workshop, included on the 2014 annual
report, and added to the “banner of hope” that will be displayed during
this two-day workshop.
Please pledge by check or PayPal by
following the instructions below.
Checks: Make out the checks to ECC
and put UDS Workshop on the memo Line and send to
Uniting
Distant Stars
c/o
Heather Cannon-Winkelman
4010
Lawndale LN N
Plymouth,
MN 55466
*PayPal: Go to www.ebenezercommunitychurch.com
and scroll down to Contact Us box on the left hand side. Select Uniting Distant
Stars
in the Donation Category dropdown menu and then click the PayPal button
(see image below).
 

*PayPal
charges a 2.2% plus $0.30 per transaction fee that will be deducted from your
donation.
 Your generous pledge is tax
deductible through our fiscal sponsor Ebenezer Community Church in Brooklyn Park,
Minnesota.