A MARCH 2, 2022 approximately 4:00 p.m. CET telecommunications meeting between some government officials of President George M. Weah’s administration and Liberian students fleeing the Russia-Ukraine conflict has produced relief in the families of the students and the Liberian public after much concern about their wellbeing at the commencement of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The meeting produced the assurance that the students had the full support of the George Weah government, that the government is fully committed to ensuring that they are safe, recognizing their resilience thus far.
MINISTER KEMAYAH APPEARED in the meeting via telecommunications and informed the students that President Weah has instructed the Ministry of Education to liaise with their families and create a database that will provide record on each student to enable the government to adequately respond to their welfare.
THE LIBERIAN STUDENTS, mostly studying medicine in Ukraine, informed their government leaders that they were badly in need of feeding and lodging for at least three months to help them get back on their feet because their evacuation was abrupt and everything they had were left behind as they fled for their lives.
“WE WANT AN extension of our stay in Poland. When we crossed into Poland, each person was given a 15-day stay because we enacted the Article 32 Act on foreigners, which allows you to enter Poland for 15 days without any document being required,” one of the students said.
THE MAJORITY OF students expressed their decision to stay and continue their education because most of their specialties are not offered in Liberia, and the medical students have gone far in their studies and fear that the A.M Dogliotti College of Medicine will not accept them or make them start from the third year.
THEIR CONCERN FOR their education and its relevance to the development needs of the country, Liberia, did not go unnoticed by the Weah officials. The Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Nathaniel F. McGill, seemed exceptionally pleased to find out how many Liberians were out of the country studying to become medical doctors and other related health professions.
DELIVERING A SPECIAL message from President Weah, Minister McGill told the students that the Liberian President will never neglect his citizens or see them in harm’s way in a foreign country and not come to their aid. He reassured the students that they were priority number one on the President’s working agenda for the day, and that the President kept checking for updates on the well-being of not only the students but all Liberians fleeing the situation in Ukraine.
