Wolekemah Women’s Organization Parade

January 25, 2014

January 25, 2014 marks the 1^st Anniversary of the Wolekemah Women’s Organization of the nearby Village of Sinyea (one mile from me). I am invited as a “patron”. The parade starts at 7:00 am followed by a rally and program ending about noondish. The invitation reads that the organization believes me to be” a humanitarian and a cheer giver”. How can I resist?

 Drums are beating and women are chanting slogans as the parade winds for over four miles of hot, dusty trails and ramshackle buildings, with bystanders watching on the roadside dancing to beat of the drums and shouting words of support. With occasional stops for water and dancing, I (the only male, white or black) trail well behind taking pictures entranced by their dedication as well as endurance.

The parade and program are to raise money to construct a building for teaching reading and writing to the many illiterate village women, as well as, provide support for battered and abandoned mothers.  Village women are doing this on their own without any outside assistance. As an “honored patron” that means donating money, but how this done is a complete mystery to me.

 I am soon initiated as to the protocol. It starts with the pinning of ribbons on my shirt for a small amount (thank goodness I brought some Liberian money). A woman gets up to sing a solo with a basket in front of her. The first donor throws money in the basket and tells the singer “to shut your mouth”; she stops singing. The next person throws money in the basket and the singer begins; so the cycle goes. A short play follows depicting an illiterate woman who paid for her husband’s education. The husband gets a good job in Monrovia then abandons her with a very sick child and no support. The play ends with a member of the women’s organization providing succor and a chance at learning how to write her name.

The quests are the introduced to come to the dais to say a few words and say the amount of their donation to be put into the basket. My donation and that of an absent Peace Corps who could not be there in are in US dollars. Our donations seem to be the most generous. The emcee later remarks how donations in US dollars receive more applause than Liberian money which is becoming less valuable at an alarming rate.

During my brief remarks, I float the idea that as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I would like to assist the organization in obtaining a grant. I sit down for one second before a member comes to me asking me to attend their business meeting next Sunday. I guess I am now a member of the Wolekemah Women’s Organization of Sinyea Village.

I must confess that my motives for volunteering to assist them are not totally innocent. I need their assistance to implement my grant for the mentoring, and feeding of the village’s neglected children.