MONROVIA – The relief and development organization of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church International has begun the establishment of school awareness clubs to promote the fisheries and aquaculture sector amongst students in primary and secondary schools in Liberia. Church Aid Inc. (CAI), pilot initiative kicks off at the Mother Tegeste Stewart Apostolic Pentecostal School in Brewerville, Montserrado County and was consummated today with the election of the leaders from amongst members of the awareness club dubbed as the “Fisheries and Aquaculture Awareness Club” – (FAAC)
Speaking at today’s meeting, the Chairman and CEO of Church Aid, Bishop Kortu K. Brown said that the purpose of the fisheries and aquaculture awareness club is “to help raise awareness amongst students on fisheries and aquaculture as a vocation, a food security imperative, an agricultural production intervention, a bolster for household, community and national economic development, an intervention on environmental protection, amongst others”. The Pentecostal cleric said that “bolstering food production is a major preoccupation of post-civil-war Liberia.
However, to achieve this, we must diversify the intervention. There has been a lot of national and local focus on farming on land than in other features of the earth e.g., fishery, aquatic environments (creatures growing or living in or often found in water), etc. The second concern is that there is not much effort made to provide awareness to children especially in primary and secondary schools about the need to pursue a ‘wholistic’ food security strategy” in the country.
Amongst the ten-person awareness team presented by the school administration after a series of engagements with the students, the team elected their leaders today comprising Mr. Thomas Karbei – Chairperson, Miss Naomi Gbeyan – Co-Chairperson, Mr. Kpetay Jallah – Secretary, Miss Felecia Dunbar – Assistant Secretary, Mr. George D. Parker – Treasurer, Miss Ambe Hill – Chaplain and Mr. Freddy Tugbeh as Public Relations Officer. The meeting was attended by authorities of Church Aid and the school.
Speaking on behalf of his colleague, the chairperson of the MTSS fisheries and aquaculture awareness club, Student Thomas Karbei, a member of the 11th Grade class, thanked his fellow students for electing him as the head of the awareness campaign in their school and promised to mobilize his fellow students including students in other schools to promote their interest in fisheries and aquaculture, adding, “I didn’t have interest in agriculture before until about two weeks ago when the Church Aid Executive Director, Mrs. Miatta R. Sirleaf, spoke at our Career Day program on the importance of pursuing a vocation in agriculture. I was moved and decided to take interest in agriculture”. Mrs. Sirleaf is an agriculture technician trained in Liberia, Japan and The Philippines.
The fisheries and aquaculture awareness club, is working with Church Aid and the Mother Tegeste Stewart Apostolic Pentecostal School to plan their formal installation program and conduct their first awareness in collaboration with other stakeholders in this sector including the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NAFAA), Ministry of Agriculture, United Nations agencies, civil society groups, etc., on the role of students in the promotion of fisheries and aquaculture and environmental protection in the country.
