Monrovia — A Liberian philanthropist Prince Woods who is currently residing in the United States of America has cautioned fellow citizens based in the US about the importance of a collective effort in developing their local communities back home.
Mr. Woods serving as "KEYNOTE SPEAKER" at the 2022 Logan Town reunion conference in the United States of America recently, encourage citizens particularly those from Logan town, to focus more on community initiatives; which he says will help build Liberia.
He says the call to develop Logan Town, requires the mobilization of resources, mainly the finances, and the ability to identify the needs and the skills for resource matching needs.
He further notes, that to be successful in whatever they want to do, there must be specific achievable goals and objectives set which are measurable with outcomes.
He has at the same time described the challenges in Logan Town as numerous, but indicated, that the story can change if only, Liberians in the diaspora decide to use the little they have to improve the lives of the citizens in the various slum communities with a focus target.
Woods notes, that the mechanism of transparent implementation with defined goals and objectives of the intended project or development, should be identified with a specific purpose and timeline for implementation.
He says it is a fact that Liberians are good at what he described as a "Photo app."
"I must remind all of us that the photo app must not be our challenge, and calling at this gathering; The hopes of the Logan Town family back home will rise, and they will be happy when they hear about our gathering here," Mr. Woods noted.
He challenged his colleagues to work together constructively if they must achieve their targeted goal.
Woods sees the abandonment of local communities in Liberia as not a good idea, disclosing, how it is one of the main reasons the country's developmental drive is on a slow pace.
"If we focus on the local communities by empowering the less privilege and building human capacity, we can have a better Liberia than what it is now" Woods noted.
Woods who is a giver to society with a direct focus on the less fortunate, frowned on the living conditions of the people noting, how the rivers are not overflowing, but the people are drowning in poverty, there is no bush fire, but citizens in local communities are inflamed by wildfire of suffering, and there is no heavy downpour of rain, but the communities are flooded with the scarcity of learning resources and other empowering opportunities.
These conditions he says, have allowed young girls in the communities and the country at large, to sell their bodies just to get school fees and other needs.
Because of these situations, Mr. Woods described livelihoods for the majority, as at the mercy of nature, and admonished his Friends to give it thought by being truthful in engaging them, and not to pretend in the usual Liberian way, that those are not important issues to look at.
He called on all those who were present for the conference to start to treat the ordinary people from the slums as partners, and not as mere recipients, but must give them an ownership role in whatever project or development they will decide to do for the people.
The Liberian philanthropist who is also the founder of the "The Prince and Taywah Woods Foundation" a humanitarian group he and his wife have managed for several years in Liberia, has pointed out the need for they as citizens living outside of the country to start to support and help those who cannot afford back home; something he notes, his foundation has started to embarked on already.
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The foundation has provided and continues to provide educational scholarships, and food, and render other assistance to needed slum areas in the country.
The program which was under the theme: "Developing a community through a Collective effort", brought together several Liberians who were born or relied in Logan town, and later traveled to the US.
The gathering was organized to discuss issues affecting their local community, and find a way forward, on how they as citizens with upper hands could collectively assist the people of Logan town.
