Why West point?
Two civil wars followed by the worst Ebola epidemic in history may be behind Liberia, but improving the country's education system still has a long way to go.
The West Point slum community and its 75,000 residents have had more than their fair share of difficulties. Like our Founder Musa Sheriff, the large majority of residents have not been able to complete their education. Interrupted by two civil wars, many were forced to flee to neighboring countries to live as refugees for years. Not long after returning, the worst Ebola epidemic in history hit the country and nearly destroyed what was left of West Point after the wars. The densely populated slum was under police quarantine as Ebola spread rapidly taking the lives of many residents. The single government school in West Point was destroyed as residents protested its use as the Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) keeping all those infected inside the slum. The government school that was nearly destroyed is the first school we are partnering with -- it is the photo on the left.
It is time to rebuild and EWP is motivated to support in these efforts -- this is why our Founder Musa Sheriff is smiling outside the school.
After Ebola was finally over, generous sponsors rebuilt the school. Though it looks beautiful today from the outside, it is operating at max capacity and cannot meet the demand of the remaining 22,000 out of school children in the slum today. Moreover, the roofs are leaking flooding classrooms during rainy season, they lack sufficient desks and chairs for the number of students, there is no running water, no electricity and no school feeding program meaning many students come to school hungry and leave hungry.
We hope you will join us.
Together we can get children off the streets and in the class rooms where they deserve to be. This is our mission and we will not leave West Point until all children can read this sentence painted on bill boards across Liberia,
"If you can read this, thank a teacher."
When they can read this, you can thank yourselves as we cannot do this without your support.
To learn more about how you can get involved, click here.