ACTIVA International Insurance, through partnership with REACH, has stepped up the effort to address the academic needs of less fortunate children through the payment of school fees for several less fortunate children in the country.
The beneficiaries were drawn from various counties and will be schooled at various high schools and universities.
In its drive to help these less fortunate, ACTIVA International Insurance over the weekend presented a check of L$925,000 to REACH, an organization catering to the educational and other needs of children in high schools and colleges across Liberia, who parents cannot afford.
Presenting the check to REACH Executive Director, Nesuah Beyan Livingstone, ACTIVA Managing Director, Austin W. Gahr, said it was the company’s way of catering to education, which is part of its several pillars of humanitarian services being offered through the ACTIVA Foundation.
According to him, ACTIVA International Insurance has a foundation that focuses on the need for health, education, awareness of women and youth empowerment.
Gahr explained how ACTIVA International Insurance continues to serve Liberians through its insurance benefits, and continues to remain committed.
Benefiting students and their parents of the ACTIVA-REACH partnership opportunity will have to sign a biodata form that will commit them to making maximum use of the opportunity by scoring the desired grade point.
Gahr maintained that ACTIVA International Insurance, through the REACH partnership, has identified and selected beneficiaries for school-fee payment.
Providing an overview of ACTIVA’s operation in Liberia, Gahr said the company started in 2012 as a subsidiary of ACTIVA Group, with the highest gross premium rating in Liberia.
“ACTIVA is there to help you reach somewhere, by taking you from down and helping you get up,” Gahr said.
“ACTIVA offers life and non-life insurance services. Just recently, we paid about a million dollars in claims.”
Besides Liberia, he noted that ACTIVA Foundation is also keen on several other activities in some other countries around the world.
For her part, REACH Executive Director of REACH, Nesuah Beyan Livingstone, making remarks at the ceremony provided an overview of REACH activities and noted that her ideas stand from the struggle she and her siblings endured while attending school in Liberia years back.
As a result, Livingstone said she cannot sit and continue to see so many children who can contribute to Liberia’s growth suffer, and therefore she has embarked on the process of reaching out to ACTIVA International Insurance and others to help.
According to her, this was REACH’s first partnership with an established and recognized institution in Liberia, which is from an annual donation that will benefit 22 students in Liberia.
She assured that they will utilize the amount given to them for the schooling of these students for this 2023/2024 academic year, as well as college students.
During the event, Livingstone disclosed that these beneficiary parents are faced with drawbacks to getting daily bread, lest to speak about schooling.
She added that, besides the current 22 beneficiaries, there have been other students who have been sponsored by REACH over the last ten years.
At the same time, giving an account of some beneficiaries, she spotlighted Divine Kanneh, for instance, noting that his mother has a health complication and his father is unemployed, while at the same time the parents of Sam Kollie, who was taken from Margibi by the group, are faced with similar financial constraints and were unable to pay medical bills for him.
Accordingly, Kollie was spotted with a deep wound on his right foot and REACH had to intervene in helping the lad seek medical attention, while he is benefits from an education opportunity.
Another beneficiary, Prescelia’s single mother does a backyard garden and has to sell before getting meals for the family. Prescelia is also a beneficiary.
Francis Tarweh, a beneficiary, on the other hand, was taken by the REACH because his father abandoned his mother and has since not returned. Tarweh was one of several children whose mother had to struggle for them.
Most of these children, according to Livingstone, have been sponsored by REACH for the past ten years, going forward.
The new number of beneficiaries now adds up to the total number of 100-plus children whom REACH has been supporting.
She told ACTIVA International Insurance that their involvement has created a change in the life of this student.
Livingstone informed students that the opportunity they have been given through the partnership of ACTIVA International Insurance should not be abused, but they should make maximum use of it.
Livingstone further added that there are benchmarks for those benefiting from the education opportunity to meet, and that students have to do all academically to meet them.
She admonished them that others are craving to get such an opportunity, so beneficiaries should take it very seriously, to serve as help for others.
Meanwhile, Livingstone said the stories of the beneficiaries are touching, and noted that ACTIVA will continue to provide the opportunity for the students.
Responding, some parents of beneficiaries expressed contentment over the opportunity provided to their children.
Timothy Kolleh, Sr., City View Community, hailed Livingstone and ACTIVA for the opportunity to less fortunate Liberian students.
“What you have said is very important, and we will try our best as parents to advise our children to study to meet up with grade point,” Kolleh said.
He told his fellow parents that when such an opportunity pops up to invest in children, they should also help to guide their children.
Abigail Teah, another parent, lauded the ACTIVA family for accepting the children who are benefiting from the opportunity, and noted that it serves as a liberation for her.
Price T. Jallah, another parent, said his son was at the point of death, with a wound on his foot, when Livingstone came to his rescue by addressing his medical needs. Jallah is also a beneficiary of the opportunity provided by ACTIVA International Insurance.
Meanwhile, George Stevens, Jr., a college student at Starz University, who is a current beneficiary, commended ACTIVA International Insurance for proving the opportunity, and assured that they will make maximum use of it.