RESPECT International Blog

“Youth In Africa (YIA) is a group helping to empower the street kids and disadvantaged young people of Liberia. After discovering RESPECT International through a joint program between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), YIA expressed its interest in the letter exchange program in November 2008.” (Whitwham)

A member of YIA will be interviewed for RESPECT International to promote awareness and discuss their aims and aspirations. The letter exchange program in which the youth of Liberia will exchange letters with Canadian students, will also raise awareness and highlight the problems they face.

The YIA has its base in Monrovia, Liberia, and was established in 2007 in Sengal. “Membership is open to every Liberian who exhibit a strong moral attitude and are ready to work for the promotion of the positive image of Liberia.” (Whitwham) Currently, there are arond 500 young people from many communities in and around Liberia.

Their aim is to unite all Liberians in order to create a strong, wholseome, well-educated, respected youth.

The work is primarily directed towards building a youth centre for troubled teens and to run computer programs across the country. Education and training gives children a purpose and useful work experience. Also available is tutoring in leadership with a focus on Liberian civil rights efforts.

They seek to reduce alcohol and drug use among the youths and run cross country trips to expose the young people to new people and places.

YIA needs more funding for school fees, a car, computers and better facilities. There is also a need to improve interpersonal relationships with many of the young people and it is hoped that participation on the letter exchange will go some way to achieving this.

“The work of the organization is represented by their emblem, which includes the colours yellow, green and white. Yellow signifies a new dawn after a period of darkness, green represents freshness and a new beginning and, finally, white stands for accountability, transparency, purity and oneness in achieving goals.” (Whitwham)

The full artical by Barny Whitwham can be found here.

For more information on the letter exchange click here.

Or visit our website.