The Founder/President of Cross-Cultural Care (C3), Dr. Robert Charles Montana, and wife, Teresa Mugica Montana, were over the weekend honored by scores of scholarship beneficiaries at a local hotel in Monrovia for their continued humanitarian assistance to the students in Grand Cape Mount County under the C3 health and education projects.
Cross-Cultural Care is an US-based international humanitarian assistance, non-profit organization collaborating with St. Timothy Government Hospital, Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County, since 2011 and continues to send expatriate medical volunteers from the US, including doctors, surgeons, dentists and nurses, to mentor and build the capacities of local health professionals.
The C3 Liberia Office is headed by Harris Kanneh as its Country Director.
The honoring and gowning of the C3 Founder/President and his wife, Teresa M. Montana, Coordinator for International Education and Senior Board member, was done on Friday, November 4, 2022 during a luncheon held by the C3 Liberia office to celebrate the scholars’ achievements made over the years under the institution’s health and education projects.
The event, according to the Hot Pepper reporter, was characterized by the sharing of experiences by the C3 scholarship beneficiaries following their respective graduation from universities and colleges in the country under the C3 sponsorship.
At the program, which was also centered on honoring, gowning and presenting certificates of honor and a painting (portrait) of the Montanas, the C3 scholars extolled their sponsors for the continued assistance to them which, according to the scholars, has greatly transformed their lives in society, as they are ready to give back to the county based on the MOU entered with the C3.
At the same time, three of the C3 scholars from the Smythe Institute of Management and Technology yet to be placed on job, as is the case with their colleagues from other higher learning institutions, appealed to the organization to exert efforts for their placement on job through the Ministry of Health.
The C3 scholars’ appeal to Dr. Montana was uttered by Hawa Kromah, who spoke on their behalf in a special remarks, in which the beneficiaries praised their sponsor for the humanitarian gesture which, to date, has impacted their lives.
In an acceptance speech for the honor bestowed upon them, the Montanas expressed appreciation for the honor and recognition accorded them by the scholars from Cuttington University, Adventist University of West Africa, Smythe Institute of Management and Technology, among others.
On the appeal from some of the scholars not yet placed on the job market, Dr. Montana said their concerns were genuine, but stated that C3 has been conferring with authorities of the ministries of Health and Education to begin to honor the MOU they entered into with them by placing the scholarship beneficiaries on jobs, in keeping with the MOU signed over the years.
Meanwhile, Cross Cultural Care Liberia Country Director, Harris Kanneh, used the occasion to reveal that C3 has continued to fund small projects at the St. Timothy Government Hospital in Grand Cape Mounty County.
He said the organization began supporting secondary education in Robertsport in 2017 by funding housing options for Peace Corps and ECOWAS volunteer teachers assigned to the Robertsport High School.
Accordingly, C3 has also established the Cape Mount County Scholarship Program, which has trained over 20 healthcare technicians at various universities in Liberia, intended to be deployed in the health system of the county.
To date, Kanneh disclosed, C3 is funding 10 high school teachers with bachelor degrees to teach at the Episcopal Elementary, Jr. and Senior High School in Robertsport, as the initiative aims to improve the academic standard of the institution and adequately prepare the students to pass the West Africa Senior Student Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), which will enable the students to enter higher institutions of learning to pursue their career studies.