First Lady, Her Excellency, Clar Marie Weah, has embarked on a major project, valued at over US$100,000, to boost the women empowerment initiative of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) soldiers’ wives.
The construction of a modern vocational training center, to be used by the wives of AFL soldiers for conducting skill-training programs, is in fulfillment of Weah’s commitment to the wives of AFL soldiers following their request during a meeting with them on the eve of Armed Forces Day, earlier this year.
The project, which is being funded by the Office of the First Lady, kicked off Saturday, October 3, 2020, with the clearing of the project site at the Edward Beyan Kesselly Barracks, paving the way for the official groundbreaking and commencement of the initiative.
Dozens of women, along with their husbands, were seen in a jubilant mood as a heavy-duty front-end loader entered the Edward Beyan Kesselly Barracks and began clearing the designated site for the construction of the project.
Speaking to reporters, the Army Wives Association Secretary General, Alfreda Nmah, expressed gratitude to the First Lady for her commitment to the empowerment of women and girls in Liberia.
Nmah described the First Lady as a “dependable person” who means what she says.
“I think she’s somebody that is dependable; that can stick to her word,” said Nmah, emphasizing that, considering the harsh economic challenges owing to the covid19 pandemic, the First Lady could have turned down or postponed the project, but chose to be a “woman of her word”.
Nmah, who is also the administrator of their women empowerment program, disclosed that the First Lady’s intervention will enable them to have their own facility, offsetting one of the biggest hindrances to the smooth operation of their vocational skill-training program.
She disclosed that, owing to the lack of their own facility, they are compelled to only conduct classes during the afternoon hours, following the end of daily academic activities of the junior high school at the barracks.
“We should have been having classes in the morning and in the evening, but because the building is not ours we only come after 2:00 O’clock in the afternoon,” the Army Wives Association Secretary General averred.