Heroes of COVID-19: YALDA Liberia feats orphanages
The Liberia West Africa branch of Youth Alliance for Leadership and Development in Africa (YALDA) organization according to Washington DC-based consultancy and news website TheAfricanDream.net in the United States (US) is officially their July 2020 pick for “Heroes of COVID-19” for positive community engagement amidst the pandemic through their support of youths and children in Liberia.
By this feat, YALDA Liberia becomes the seventh organization or individual to be adjudged as a Heroes of COVID-19 since the initiative began in April of this year on the backdrop of the fact that the world, facing a dark period amid the fight against the virus SARS-CoV-2 (novel coronavirus or COVID-19) still shines multiple glimmers of lights of hope.
YALDA Liberia on July 11, 2020, engaged a total of 151 persons totaling 76 males and 75 females across 3 orphanages in Liberia through interventions and activities that highlighted its effort to contribute to the fight against COVID-19. They executed their self-funded projects on the premise of creating COVID-19 awareness and to donate food items to less privileged institutions especially orphanages where they felt people needed the most but got the least of attention. Food items donated included: 14 bags of 25kg rice, three and a half cartons of bath soap, 3 tins of oil, 8 packs of the food seasoning vita cube worth $34,440 Liberian Dollars (LRD) among other items.
According to Mohammed Kerkulah who is Executive Director and President of YALDA Liberia in a chat with TheAfricanDream.net, “We also gave out 10 bags of 25kg rice given to us by the Liberia National Youth Taskforce Against COVID-19 (NAYOTAF) through the country’s Ministry of Youth and Sports. The three beneficiaries of our donations were: Americans for African Adoption INC, Children Relief, and Standing Side by Side. These institutions were all extraordinarily glad, and the mothers of the respective orphanages danced and sang with the children as they expressed their gratitude to all sources of those items and even prayed for them to prosper in all they do.“
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Mr. Kerkulah went on to give special thanks to the Chair of NAYOTAF, His Excellency Mohammed Kamara, and President of the Liberia National Students Union and their entire teams for the recognition and nomination which led to YALDA Liberia being part of the process as a beneficiary to receive some of the items.
“These items came at a very vital time and we felt the best persons for us to give them to were these children at the orphanages. They needed to feel love and affection amidst this pandemic and with help from my fellow executives and volunteers, we were able to play our small roles in making this possible. We want to be able to do more, but for now, this is a start, and this recognition of our work by TheAfricanDream.net all the way in the US serves as motivation for us to keep doing our best because you never know who is watching,” said Mr. Kerkulah.
Congratulations to our July 2020 Heroes of COVID-19 for their timely donations as some of the orphanages were running low on some of these items and were struggling with so many children with little support. Because these organizations like these orphanages thrive based on humanitarian support from good citizens and organizations, TheAfricanDream.net is of the hope that YALDA Liberia’s example inspires benevolence across Liberia and Africa — we all could use a little bit of help and love through these rather unusually difficult times across the globe.
YALDA is an international youth organization established at Harvard University in the US in 2004 by African students for the purpose of empowering, inspiring, and connecting young African leaders to the commitment of the welfare of Africa. The Liberia branch was established in February 2020. Official Website for YALDA is www.yaldafrica.org.
To explores ways of assisting or networking with YALDA Liberia email kerkulahmohammed@gmail.com and
yaldaliberia@gmail.com for more information and click this link for more about past Heroes of COVID-19 across Africa.
Written by Oral Ofori
Oral Ofori is Founder and Publisher at www.TheAfricanDream.net, a digital storyteller and producer, and also an information and research consultant.
